UTEP basketball: Hoop Scoop ranks UTEP’s class of 2015 among the nation’s best

The subscription based website Hoop Scoop has rated UTEP basketball’s recruiting class for 2015 as the 12th best recruiting class in the nation according to their scoring system.

Hoop Scoop released their top-60 recruiting classes yesterday, and UTEP notched 26 points which is a 4.3 talent average per recruit in their scoring system.

Ahead of the Miners was Kentucky which came in at the top with 43 points, Duke came in second with 36 points; other teams also ranked ahead of UTEP were Florida State (34), Ohio State (34), Washington (32), Arizona (28), Texas A&M (28), Syracuse (28), Auburn (28), Memphis (27) and Kansas State (27).

No other Conference USA school cracked the top-60 according to the UTEP Athletics website.

A total of six UTEP signees were included in the rankings. The eligible 2015 signees are JUCO transfers Dominic Artis, Lee Moore, and high school signees Josh McSwiggan, Christian Romine, and Paul Thomas.

Kelvin Jones is also considered a 2015 signee but will be Prop 48 student-athlete this coming season and will work on eligibility for the 2015-16 season.

Both Artis and Lee Moore were ranked in 247Sports’ top-30 JUCO players for 2015. Paul Thomas is a four-star recruit and one of the highest rated high school players out of Texas, and Romine has been a three-star prospect for the past two seasons.

Josh McSwiggan is currently playing with the Great Britain 20 and under team, and was ranked the seventh best player out of the UK in his age group.

UTEP had the daunting task of replacing more than 50 percent of its scoring, and rebounding from a year ago all while replacing four impact players.

Once UTEP signed Artis, perception changed on the outlook for 2015-16. 247Sports ranks UTEP’s 2015 class as the 43rd best in the nation, and now the buzz of a nationally acknowledged recruiting class by two respected analysts and websites may raise the expectations just a bit on Glory Road.