College Basketball Betting Guide

The UTEP Miners men’s basketball team plays for the University of Texas at El Paso.  The campus is located in El Paso, Texas, and the team is in the NCAA Division I category and plays in the Conference USA.  The miners home stadium is the Don Haskins Center and fits around 12,000 fans.  One notable thing about the home stadium is that the seats are placed very close to the court and the Miners fan section is placed right behind the opponents bench.  This has caused some problems over the years, but for the most part it has just sealed “The Don” as one of the hardest places to play in the country.  Many top rated teams will seek out a neutral stadium in order to agree to play them.

The UTEP Miners have won their conference tournament 5 times, and have made 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.  They have made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen 3 times, and the Final Four once.  They hold one NCAA National Championship, which they won in 1966.

The 1966 National Championship was one that will always be remembered.  The Miners beat Kentucky 72-65 and it was the first time that a team of five African-American players won a championship title game.  The buzz was mostly centered around the fact that the five from Maryland played an all white Kentucky team.  This was during the same time as the Civil Rights Movement, and made quite a national stir.  Some of the notable players that have played for the Miners over the years include Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis, Greg Foster, Tiny Archibald, and Jim Barnes.