Griz basketball receives high grade from ESPN
7/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The University of Montana men's basketball program received high marks in ESPN's recent Prestige Rankings for Division I men's basketball programs.
The ESPN Research Department reviewed the records of 300-plus DI men's basketball teams, using several criteria. The final results were based on a points system, which provided an unbiased ranking for every team's success dating back to the 1984-85 season (the start of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field).
Montana was 76th in the rankings, tied with former Big Sky Conference member Nevada and Old Dominion, whose current head coach is former Grizzly player and mentor Blaine Taylor.
The top five teams in the Prestige Rankings were: Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Arizona.
Some of the criteria for the rankings included success in the NCAA Tournament, win-loss record overall and in conference, league tournament titles, players drafted in the NBA, NIT berths, number of All-Americans and number of losing seasons.
The Grizzlies finished ahead of such teams as Pepperdine (T-80th), Notre Dame (T-86th), Texas Tech (T-90th), DePaul (95th), Tennessee (99th), Boise State (tied for 109th with Cal), Wyoming (T-111th), Oregon (T-115th), Washington (T-124th) and USC (T-132nd).
The next highest Big Sky Conference team was Weber State, which was 89th, while Northern Arizona tied with Eastern Michigan at 136th, and Montana State was 155th.
The ESPN Research Department reviewed the records of 300-plus DI men's basketball teams, using several criteria. The final results were based on a points system, which provided an unbiased ranking for every team's success dating back to the 1984-85 season (the start of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field).
Montana was 76th in the rankings, tied with former Big Sky Conference member Nevada and Old Dominion, whose current head coach is former Grizzly player and mentor Blaine Taylor.
The top five teams in the Prestige Rankings were: Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Arizona.
Some of the criteria for the rankings included success in the NCAA Tournament, win-loss record overall and in conference, league tournament titles, players drafted in the NBA, NIT berths, number of All-Americans and number of losing seasons.
The Grizzlies finished ahead of such teams as Pepperdine (T-80th), Notre Dame (T-86th), Texas Tech (T-90th), DePaul (95th), Tennessee (99th), Boise State (tied for 109th with Cal), Wyoming (T-111th), Oregon (T-115th), Washington (T-124th) and USC (T-132nd).
The next highest Big Sky Conference team was Weber State, which was 89th, while Northern Arizona tied with Eastern Michigan at 136th, and Montana State was 155th.
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