The Sky is the Limit for this team

Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:13 am

So after that display I'm riding into a near psychedelic euphoria with brown and gold visions in my head. All those dunks must've be illusions right? We didn't just hold a possible NCAA tourney bid team to 9 points in a half did we? I must be tripping my face off right now. What's that? I'm not high, this is REAL. Oh poop.........I think it's time for some new predictions.

I think we're gonna be conference champs this year. We win the MW conference tourney for good measure. After comfortably making the NCAA tourney with a decent seed the nation learns of the Cowboys as we march into the sweet 16. Can we make the elite 8? Not sure, it sorta depends on the luck of the draw. The only thing I fear are the REAL 10 best teams in the country that may have a combo of these things.....NBA lotto picks, more depth, insane athletic ability, and play as even more of team then we do (Is this even really possible??????? Do I have to scratch this?)

So what say you Pokes nation? How far do you think this team goes this year? Am I overreacting?

One final thought. We have 2 hurt players right now who may still yet contribute. Gorski and Washington. I remember reading somewhere that Gorski was the most ready to play Freshmen that we had. I thought Washington looked like he had potential last year if he just played within the system a little more, improved his game, and matured. I mean dude's just a kid, what if he has fire in his belly to improve like the rest of our guys??? Could we be 12 deep?

The Sky is the limit and you know that you can have
what you want, be what you want, have what you want, be what you want

Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:32 am

Dude... hell yes!
I absolutely agree. This team is amazing. I believe there are at least 2 NBA players in the starting 5 and maybe a 3rd or 4th somewhere on the bench.
Coach Shyatt is a poor Luke Martinez decision and bad luck Larry Nance injury from having back to back Big Dance appearances.
This team has been on the cusp of greatness for a while.
It is time for it to show with a season where we exceed expectations!

Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:05 am

I too am skeptical about Elite 8 but I think this is our year to win the MWC, the MWC tournament, and win atleast one game in the tournament. All that said, we have to take care of business now and let that stuff come. This could be a year on the level of McClain's run through the tournament.

Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:28 am

The starting 5 are veterans and know eachother extremely well. Grabau may not put up fancy numbers, but his ball control and play calling is pretty good. Adams may not be as good at ball control as Grabau, but his athleticism is almost unrivaled and is a threat both inside and out. Hankerson learned from his stupid mistake last year, and is also not so timid anymore. And is playing like a fullback or a linebacker, just going through people and is making assists all over the place. Cooke may not do much outside the paint, but is quick, athletic, a good rebounder, and will take it to the rim every time. Nance is one of the best players in the nation, particularly on defense. He started out as a freshmen and has only improved immensely every year. Although he can make outside shots, he's an even bigger threat down low.

And for once in Shyatt's current tenure here, we actually have good, solid depth that can contribute. This had been our Achilles's heel the last several years.

Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:56 am

Cosmic Cowboy wrote:I think we're gonna be conference champs this year. We win the MW conference tourney for good measure. After comfortably making the NCAA tourney with a decent seed the nation learns of the Cowboys as we march into the sweet 16. Can we make the elite 8? Not sure, it sorta depends on the luck of the draw. The only thing I fear are the REAL 10 best teams in the country that may have a combo of these things.....NBA lotto picks, more depth, insane athletic ability, and play as even more of team then we do (Is this even really possible??????? Do I have to scratch this?

This team has two things that will work in their favor come tournament time.

-A Larry Shyatt-coached defense that can be dominant
-An ability to dictate the tempo of the game

Those two things are huge

Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:57 am

We will be tough this year but for all we know Colorado could end up sucking. They don't really have any outside shooting and Pitt exposed them in the NCAA tourney last year. So we should probably be cautious for a couple of more weeks and see where we are at. I do think we will compete for the MWC title though. Not sure about getting into the NCAA tourney or how many games we will win but I am very optimistic.

Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:12 pm

seattlecowboy wrote:We will be tough this year but for all we know Colorado could end up sucking. They don't really have any outside shooting and Pitt exposed them in the NCAA tourney last year. So we should probably be cautious for a couple of more weeks and see where we are at. I do think we will compete for the MWC title though. Not sure about getting into the NCAA tourney or how many games we will win but I am very optimistic.

Ahh, the voice of reason.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:01 am

Hey Beaver I love your positive spirit and undying enthusiasm for the squad. I might not even be as high on this team as you are but I'm pretty damn close. I'm not sure if we have NBA guys are not. That's always been really hard for me to judge as it takes a keen eye that follows both levels of hoops.

I mean I thought Nance was NBA caliber last year but with a knee injury you never know how that plays out with big money involved. I can still see him being at least a 2nd round pick though and if my visions of a sweet 16 run possible elite 8 come true well maybe he goes in the 1st round. As far as Adams goes I think he needs to work on his J a little more. His kind of D and athletic ability is welcome on any team. Only problem is at NBA level you face nothing but 6'4ish guards who are also insanely athletic and knock down shots all day long. If the guards aren't that tall they are lighting quick with HOPS. The NBA is maybe the hardest pro sport to break into. There just aren't that many spots and your competing against the world these days. However a big tourney run would also put Adams on the map as well.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:14 am

Let's get this next game first. I agree that this team looks pretty damn good but if we are a tourney team, we need to dismantle cal and SMU in the road. Then we need to sweep the weaker MW teams and hold home court against the better ones

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:21 am

This is all true. CU often seems overrated to me anyways. They could've had an off day a little as well but I mean we just straight up sunk their battleship. We will find out more as these weeks progress but I'm having trouble not going outta my mind as fan after that performance!!! It's hard not to feel like this either I mean we're talking 12 years since we've been close to this caliber of team. Including those infamous years we spent in the Schroyer blackhole were all the light of all that is good in college bball was sucked into unimaginable darkness. Lucky for us we discovered that on the other side of the Schroyer blackhole there is the Shyatt system, a place where all good things grow, a place with an abundance of life and energy.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:42 am

I just bought our MWC Tourney tickets.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:44 am

Is there any type of package that includes flight etc for the mw tournament?

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:48 am

Cosmic Cowboy wrote:Hey Beaver I love your positive spirit and undying enthusiasm for the squad. I might not even be as high on this team as you are but I'm pretty damn close. I'm not sure if we have NBA guys are not. That's always been really hard for me to judge as it takes a keen eye that follows both levels of hoops.

I mean I thought Nance was NBA caliber last year but with a knee injury you never know how that plays out with big money involved. I can still see him being at least a 2nd round pick though and if my visions of a sweet 16 run possible elite 8 come true well maybe he goes in the 1st round. As far as Adams goes I think he needs to work on his J a little more. His kind of D and athletic ability is welcome on any team. Only problem is at NBA level you face nothing but 6'4ish guards who are also insanely athletic and knock down shots all day long. If the guards aren't that tall they are lighting quick with HOPS. The NBA is maybe the hardest pro sport to break into. There just aren't that many spots and your competing against the world these days. However a big tourney run would also put Adams on the map as well.

Assuming Nance stays healthy and returns to where he was, then improves on that, he is an NBA player.
And Adams, next season will tell if he is an NBA guy or not. He has incredible hops and can likely out jump most NBA players, and his athleticism might get him a shot, and his skills may get him on a team.

Then the young guys, obviously it's WAY too soon to tell if any are even going to contribute on the D1 level much less go pro, but with the track record of Shyatt, and the physical build of players like Herndon, he has a chance. Obviously, let's see how things shake out the next 2-4 years.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:54 am

Looking at it right now, we end the season with 22-25 wins. The tournament selection all comes down to RPI at that point, so I have just become a HUGE CU fan for the rest of this season.

I know Shyatt and hopefully the team will take the one-game-at-a-time approach, but that's never been my style.

Final Four!

WW

Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:35 pm

Cosmic Cowboy wrote:I mean I thought Nance was NBA caliber last year but with a knee injury you never know how that plays out with big money involved. I can still see him being at least a 2nd round pick though and if my visions of a sweet 16 run possible elite 8 come true well maybe he goes in the 1st round. As far as Adams goes I think he needs to work on his J a little more. His kind of D and athletic ability is welcome on any team. Only problem is at NBA level you face nothing but 6'4ish guards who are also insanely athletic and knock down shots all day long. If the guards aren't that tall they are lighting quick with HOPS. The NBA is maybe the hardest pro sport to break into. There just aren't that many spots and your competing against the world these days. However a big tourney run would also put Adams on the map as well.

Right now, I think Nance is the only NBA caliber player on the team.

Just hope that people don't get hurt feelings if guys are undervalued in the draft process. There are two things that work against guys that will lead to being undervalued early on.

1. Wyoming isn't exactly a NBA hotbed, and not a lot of people have seen the program...yet.
2. Offensive system isn't conducive to getting guys a lot of hype. If you weren't at the game and saw Nance only scored 10 and grabbed 5 rebounds, you wouldn't consider it a great game from him.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:00 pm

I think that Herndon looks better than nance did as a frosh. Of course, Nance played almost 18 minutes. Extra year helped.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:55 pm

laxwyo wrote:I think that Herndon looks better than nance did as a frosh. Of course, Nance played almost 18 minutes. Extra year helped.

Let's not forget that Nance was recruited to Wyo before any of the current foundation had been laid.
Adams came a year later.

Soon, if we improve the way we think will, we will be getting even better recruits. It could lead to freshman that are ready to play right away, start right away, and then start sending players to the NBA.

The "re-birth" of Wyo hoops might be all because of Nance, Grabau, and Adams. If it wasn't for them the following recruiting classes would have never been so good.

"If you build it they will come"...Nance built it.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 3:48 pm

Don't forget about coach Shyatt's role in "building it". I mean we're looking at a redemption story for the ages here. His crew were the ones to recognize and sell Nance/Adams. The way we play is a credit to him as well. He's brought in the perfect team chemistry of guys and pulled all the right strings. It's hard for me to find the words for what he's done. Talk about making amends and then some.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:52 pm

It's a long season. I've watched every MW team play a little this season at least once. I see no team I wouldn't have Wyoming favored over as of this moment. Pokes are a legit contender.

[KNOCK ON WOOD TO POINT OF BLOODY KNUCKLES]

Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:01 pm

The "sky is the limit" might be a stretch at this point. I am in that euphoria after the big win also, but I do live in Kentucky, went to the Louisville game and have seen all the UK games so far. I would say at this point if we run up against either of those it might be ugly. Kentucky is basically a college team with 7-9 NBA players right now. They may lose a game or two, and hopefully one of those is in the Tourney, but otherwise they are just TOO good. Louisville is stacked as well and their guards will keep them in every game, except maybe Duke. Another out of this world stacked team. I can TOTALLY see Wyo making the NCAA tourney and maybe sneaking into round 2 but beyond that, hard to say at this point. We will learn a lot with SMU and Cal and will be easier to speculate. Go WYO!