Summer of 2015 basketball articles,

[CowboyCO]

No way does Moemeka Reshirt. Redshirt a kid from Florida with that much talent and he'll transfer. The winter will eat him up.

Moemeka has already gotten the message about defense. He will block a lot of shots and is a much more complete player than Naughton at this stage. Naughton has D-1 size and came from a great HS coach, so I think his size and defense puts him in the starting lineup.

I see us with a three guard lineup, with Justin James playing 2 and 3. Justin James is just too good not to play. We saw Josh bring the ball up the floor a lot during the title run, so I actually am expecting to see both him and Conway pushing the ball up the court.

I have to be honest about Washington. I know he redshirted after his freshman and I hear he's good, but I don't know how he fits in. It may be that he starts and Conway comes off the bench to learn. That being said, the tape on Conway bringing the ball up the court is impressive. The kid is QUICK and knows how to deliver the ball to scorers.

[Wyo2dal]

For the first time in a long time it sounds like we will actually have some depth but I wouldn't be surprised to see some redshirts none of us expected.

[seattlecowboy]

No way does Moemeka Reshirt. Redshirt a kid from Florida with that much talent and he'll transfer. The winter will eat him up.

Moemeka has already gotten the message about defense. He will block a lot of shots and is a much more complete player than Naughton at this stage. Naughton has D-1 size and came from a great HS coach, so I think his size and defense puts him in the starting lineup.

I see us with a three guard lineup, with Justin James playing 2 and 3. Justin James is just too good not to play. We saw Josh bring the ball up the floor a lot during the title run, so I actually am expecting to see both him and Conway pushing the ball up the court.

I have to be honest about Washington. I know he redshirted after his freshman and I hear he's good, but I don't know how he fits in. It may be that he starts and Conway comes off the bench to learn. That being said, the tape on Conway bringing the ball up the court is impressive. The kid is QUICK and knows how to deliver the ball to scorers.

I agree that I don't think Moemeka will redshirt. I would say he is the best big we have actually besides Herdon but the reason you may see Barnes or Naughton playing in the 5 spot is because they have bigger frames. Moemeka to me is more of a 4 than a 5. I could see him coming in to replace Herndon off of the bench.

[cali2wyo]

I'm not going to try and predict the lineups, but we have a lot of depth on paper... It could be exciting! If we want speed, Conway, Adams, and Washington could be the fastest 3 guys on the court for either team! If we want shooters, lieberman and gorski can light it up consistently (Washington also showed glimpses of shooting ability at times during his freshman year) and Adams and mcmanamen have proven to be clutch shooters (mwc championship and border war, respectively).

Only question I have... Isn't this mcmanamen's 4th year in the program? He redshirted after his freshman year, correct? I've seen a couple guys saying this will be his 3rd year in the program, I wanted some clarification...

[seattlecowboy]

I'm not going to try and predict the lineups, but we have a lot of depth on paper... It could be exciting! If we want speed, Conway, Adams, and Washington could be the fastest 3 guys on the court for either team! If we want shooters, lieberman and gorski can light it up consistently (Washington also showed glimpses of shooting ability at times during his freshman year) and Adams and mcmanamen have proven to be clutch shooters (mwc championship and border war, respectively).

Only question I have... Isn't this mcmanamen's 4th year in the program? He redshirted after his freshman year, correct? I've seen a couple guys saying this will be his 3rd year in the program, I wanted some clarification...

Yes correct his 4th.

[BeaverPoke]

J-Mac will be a RS-JR, so yes this will be his 4th year in Laramie.

I totally agree about not red-shirting the Florida frosh. That's a huge risk.
"Here kid, welcome to McIntyre Hall, it should keep you warm when it's 0 degrees out and you just got done shooting hoops by yourself at practice and sitting by yourself at the end of the bench during games watching everyone else play."

No way you RS him.

[laxwyo]

I think they'll know more once they start real practices

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Can we afford to redshirt any of our bigs? I'm not so sure we can especially when MWC play hits. The Pokes are heading into this season with zero proven bigs. It might be an all hands on deck scenario all year long just to see the cream rise to the top. The redshirt stuff should play itself out in preseason practice. Once the team goes at each other usually the weak links become apparent. Sometimes the kids see it a little differently and refuse the redshirt like Barnes did last year, but I like that Shy gives them the choice. Is this a 4 page pre pre season bball thread?

[joshvanklomp]

If anyone was wondering, Rashad Muhammad (SJSU) transferred to Miami.

[McPeachy]

If anyone was wondering, Rashad Muhammad (SJSU) transferred to Miami.

Miami Florida...yep. But really, other than when he torched us a couple of times last year, it matters none.

[calpoke25]

McManemen is a nice player off the bench for 15-20 minutes a night, but if he's starting I think we are in trouble. I don't think he has the athleticism to play starter minutes on a good MW team. I've seen him get smoked a few too many times.

I hear a lot of talk about depth but if history has shown anything it's that Shyatt tends to find about 7 guys he likes and rides them for better or worse, he has mentioned this several times on the record. Maybe this year will be the year he has to spread the minutes out more.

[Cowboy Junky]

Our best team is one with Mcmanamen on the floor. Hes not wearing Wyo on his jersey, he's got it pumping through his veins.

He can shoot the team out of a slump because of his Wyoming pride. He won us multiple games last year with clutch shooting.

To me, you have to have veterans on the floor with all the youngsters. Hes going to pile up minutes barring injury.

Oh yeah, he can do this.....

[DVDA]

Our best team is one with Mcmanamen on the floor. Hes not wearing Wyo on his jersey, he's got it pumping through his veins.

He can shoot the team out of a slump because of his Wyoming pride. He won us multiple games last year with clutch shooting.

To me, you have to have veterans on the floor with all the youngsters. Hes going to pile up minutes barring injury.

Oh yeah, he can do this.....

The poop this guy says.

[BeaverPoke]

Our best team is one with Mcmanamen on the floor. Hes not wearing Wyo on his jersey, he's got it pumping through his veins.

He can shoot the team out of a slump because of his Wyoming pride. He won us multiple games last year with clutch shooting.

To me, you have to have veterans on the floor with all the youngsters. Hes going to pile up minutes barring injury.

Oh yeah, he can do this.....

+1

JMac needs to be starting. He is one of the leaders of the team.

[Adv8RU12]

Realistically, Adams and Herndon are the only sure thing starters.
But the competition is fierce for the other three and I don't think
it will be decided until 8 to 10 games in the season.

[calpoke25]

We will have to agree to disagree on J Mac. He deserves a lot of credit for developing into a MW role player from Torrington but I think that is his ceiling.
His FG percentage dipped from 49% in OOC to 36% in conference. His 3 point % went from 38% OOC to 29% in conference.
That backs up my oberservation with my eyes that he struggled to score against MW level defenses and got burned a few too many times on defense. Yes he hit that clutch shot against CSU and the miracle prayer in the tournament and that's great. A good team needs someone like that....... Off the bench.

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Competition for playing time and starting slots should be extremely fierce this year. Honestly only Adams can viewed as a sure fire starter to me until I see the strides everyone else has made. Even Herndon has a lot to show us still because he was far from the finished product last year. Hell what if some of these frosh bigs are studs and push for more playing time? What if Barnes has developed more then anticipated? The guard/forward positions seem like they could go about any which way. Our team is definitely in enigma mode right now in my eyes, but the mystery excites me because I feel like there is major upside to everyone. It's an open canvas kinda season coming up.

[WYCowboy]

This is going to be an exciting season. I have never seen this much depth on a Wyoming team. I doubt we will see any more team collapses when a starter goes down for any reason. We are entering a new level of ceiling for Wyoming Basketball and the end result of this season could be all over the spectrum. With the coaching staff we have, there is no doubt in my mind this team will not disappoint. Coach Shyatt may have only used 7 players in rotation previously, but I doubt that will be the case this season.

[BeaverPoke]

This is going to be an exciting season. I have never seen this much depth on a Wyoming team. I doubt we will see any more team collapses when a starter goes down for any reason. We are entering a new level of ceiling for Wyoming Basketball and the end result of this season could be all over the spectrum. With the coaching staff we have, there is no doubt in my mind this team will not disappoint. Coach Shyatt may have only used 7 players in rotation previously, but I doubt that will be the case this season.

If we exceed expectations this season, and finish in the Top 3 in the MWC and/or win a MWC Title and get back to the Big Dance, our expectations are going to be through the roofs for the next couple seasons.

Exceed the expectations now, the ceiling is unlimited in the future.

[nwpoke]

Are the summer workouts done? How did the guys look? Will our perimeter play make up for way inexperienced bigs? who impressed?

Not that I would know exactly how it feels, but I feel like I've been dating a cheerleader - lots of hype, insunuations...Here we have a little insight, a lot of conjecture (me included!) and little actual reporting. A little help, please, for those of us in need of a hoops fix?

Thanks!