End of Season Thoughts

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WYO1016
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First, I'll quote myself from an early season thoughts thread and respond:
WYO1016 wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:30 am We've seen 3 games from the Pokes so far. Yes, 2 were against cupcakes on our home floor, and one was against a not-great Washington team on the road, but I've seen enough to have a feel for the team.
  • Ike is unstoppable. It's been a while since we've had such an impactful post presence.
Teams figured him out towards the end of the year, but I stand by that it's been a long time since we had such a good post presence.
  • Maldo is hands down the best player on the team. Can carry us to a win when needed.
And did carry us a lot of the year. Wore down as the season went on, but what a great player.
  • We'll win a lot of games with the 3, but can survive without them. That Washington win showed what we can do when shooting goes cold.
We did win a lot of games with the 3, but couldn't hit one to save our lives towards the end of the season.
  • We have a deep bench. There are 8 guys that average double-digit minutes per game. That's without Foster in the mix.
I was WAY off here. We had a solid 8 man rotation, but still missing some big pieces.
  • Rebounding is MUCH improved. That goes hand in hand with our improved defense. Playing tough D like that will keep us in any game this year.
Rebounding was a strength this year for sure. Pretty good indicator of when we won or lost.
  • Our free throw percentage is flat out bad. Only one guy making them at more than an 80% clip. Ike needs to clean that up in a hurry or he's going to get hack-a-Shaq'd all season.
He did get this cleaned up in a hurry. Not a great free throw shooting team, but not bad.
  • Turnovers are a problem right now. That can be fixed, but it needs to be a focus.
Never got fixed, unfortunately

I'm going to say this is a 20 win team. 20 wins on the nose, in fact. They aren't great (yet), but they're going to be pretty good. We'll probably finish 5th in the conference. We'll be a tough out for any team, though.

Can't believe that I undersold them at 20 wins. Also undersold the final finish. We were not an easy game for anyone but Arizona this year.
With all that said, here's what I see happening in the offseason and what we need next year.

All of the seniors will be back. Until last night I had Maldonado leaving, but I don't think there's any chance in hell he wants that to be his last performance in the brown and gold.

We'll get news on a Linder contract no later than April 1.

We need at least one more true post player. Someone that can absorb contact, clean the glass, and protect the rim. Nelson ain't it. Thompson is a stretch 4. The paint isn't his strong suit. Barnhart has the height, but needs some bulk. I'm curious to see how Barnhart and Becker look next year.

We MUST get at least 2 point guards. Ball handling was a glaring weakness this year. Reynolds showed some good things. I'm willing to bet that Bowen has some handles, too. Hopefully Dut can get his legs under him.

We won't see an offense like this again next year. This was still a very young and inexperienced team overall. I expect to see a lot more movement and a lot less isolation next season.
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Hell of a season, Pokes! I'm excited about Wyoming basketball again, and MAN does that feel good!
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LanderPoke
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Great post. Lots to be excited about.
307bball
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Good post WYO2016 .... I like the idea of going back to look at what you posted in the past...it inspired me to do the same.

I said on Dec 9th after the AZ game:
307bball wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 7:59 am Well...the AZ game was definitely a harsh dose of reality. There is definitely a gap between merely solid, well-coached, "good" teams and teams in the elite category. I'm still of the opinion that this Wyoming team fits neatly into the MW somewhere just outside of the top three.
Nailed that one
307bball wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 7:59 am I hate to say it, but the hated Rams are no joke and SDSU will be in that top three as well...can Wyoming be that third team?...it's definitely on the table.
Was right about the rams and SDSU but I Did not think BSU would gel like they did. Those three turned it up right as we plateaued.
307bball wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:51 pm This Wyoming team could easily slip due to Injuries, Covid, or a lot of other reasons. We've figured out one way to play that I think will be pretty effective against 3/4 of the MWC...namely posting up Maldo and Ike and forcing opponents to load up to stop that. That strategy, coupled with the solid defense and rebounding that we've seen so far should propel us to some pretty good results....the problem is, if teams figure out a way to neutralize that ... and we can't evolve ... even the lower MWC teams will copycat that strategy and make life difficult. Not to mention the possibility of a young team losing focus for a couple weeks and dropping some games that they shouldn't. I suspect that Linder will do a good job of avoiding that, but I can't rule it out.
This is almost exactly what happened down the stretch....sadly.

Following that loss to AZ, this team seemed to find it's footing and really posted some impressive results. By the time of the SJSU game, I had all but forgotten my earlier projections and was feeling very good about this team...that probably explains why I'm so bummed after a really pretty good season overall. I had reset my expectations after the first 20 games and then had them not met.

I feel like we are all saying versions of the same thing...great first 2/3 of the season .... bad last 1/3. Overall good.
stymeman
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From an insider source,.I'm hearing that probably Hunter T and Drake should be back for another season for a solid nucleus. Hunter M will probably try his hand in pro ball overseas. Im hearing rumblings of the transfer portal rearing its ugly head too....do we sign Linder long term ????? Im hearing he's hard to play for. I myself really had fun with this group, seeing the 13 live games i saw, including the 2 in LV and the play in in Dayton.
We shall see but hoping for more good stuff next year as well. Thanks for a fun season!!!
307bball
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stymeman wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 am From an insider source,.I'm hearing that probably Hunter T and Drake should be back for another season for a solid nucleus. Hunter M will probably try his hand in pro ball overseas. Im hearing rumblings of the transfer portal rearing its ugly head too....do we sign Linder long term ????? Im hearing he's hard to play for. I myself really had fun with this group, seeing the 13 live games i saw, including the 2 in LV and the play in in Dayton.
We shall see but hoping for more good stuff next year as well. Thanks for a fun season!!!
Super jealous of you for getting to see all of those games.

Ye gads do I hate the transfer stuff!
Adv8RU12
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stymeman wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 am From an insider source,.I'm hearing that probably Hunter T and Drake should be back for another season for a solid nucleus.
I can't see why good players, but not NBA candidates, would not want a free ride in graduate school.
Old-Bull
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I posted this on the needs thread but I just want to see everyone come back more than anything.

With the addition of a true back-up center in Caden Powell, that will allow Hunter Thompson to shine at the stretch 4 if he comes back. I don't think he will come back. If not, we really could use a stretch 4, since it's the position that really makes Linder offenses explosive.

I still think we need a ball handler that excels in transition, can handle pressure, and that has the defensive ability to guard quick shifty guards. Have him bring the ball up and then if you want to use Maldo to trigger the offense you still can.

I don't think the roster needs an overhaul. It just needs a few tweaks to be conference championship capable.

Oh yeah, I would love to see Kenny Foster get healthy and have some luck so he can play a full season. He looked frustrated and checked out on the sideline several times this year. I sure hope he's not leaving, but could understand if he does.
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