If you are old you remember UTEP in the WAC days. Fred Reynolds, Tim Hardaway, Wayne Campbell, Tiny Archibald, Antonio Davis, Jeep Jackson. In the heyday of Wyoming basketball, UTEP won 5 straight WAC titles. As a fan you had total respect for UTEP. There is a certain nostalgia to being a Wyoming fan during that time. UTEP was a huge part of it. Remember when we played the WAC tournament at the Marriott Center in 1988. UTEP took out BYU in the semis and probably the highlight of my Wyoming fandom we chanted "where are you - BYU?!!!!" at the Mariott Center. We took as much joy in seeing UTEP win that semi final as we did in winning ours. I honestly don't think Wyoming could have beat BYU in the final. UTEP was just a tougher team for BYU.
As Wyoming struggles to maintain relevancy it's easy to relate to UTEP's struggles.