Who will be back for 23-24

[Itsux2beaewe]

Who returns? Wenzel has confirmed he is back next year.

The below is from the Star Tribune.

“ Maldonado and Hunter Thompson are both out of eligibility after playing six seasons together. Linder has a total of five scholarships to fill at the moment with Ethan Anderson, Max Agbonkpolo and Jake Kyman entering the portal again after transferring to UW from USC and UCLA.

More roster attrition is expected after a disappointing last-place finish for the Pokes. Ike and Noah Reynolds (concussion) were not with the team in Las Vegas.”

All I want for Christmas is Ike to be back in the B&G.

[stymeman]

I can see Wenzel, Reynolds, Ike, Oden, Dusell, Foster, Powell, Barnhart, Talich and any adds from the portal... i see this group stay intact and see what happens in 23-24. I think they all seem to be bought in with Linder and I don't see any jumping ship...it might be another interesting year one way or another....guess we'll find out here soon

[OrediggerPoke]

I doubt Kenny Foster returns for another year (his extra Covid year). I believe he graduates.

Wenzel ‘s announcement wasn’t surprising for multiple reasons (all indications are he gets along well with the coaching staff). Notably, he has already used his transfer and would have to sit out a year to go to the portal again (other than as a graduate transfer).

[laxwyo]

Having Reynolds come back and be healthy is really important. Are we a good team if Ike comes back but we don’t have Reynolds? I doubt it.

[307bball]

This comes down to Ike and Reynolds I think. Is it a coin toss that they stay? So hard to predict.

[LanderPoke]

Why would Reynolds leave? Did I miss something?

[307bball]

Why would Reynolds leave? Did I miss something?

I would imagine for the same reason that any of our top players leave. I don't think you've missed anything. It's getting to the point that anybody that can improve thier NIL situation dramatically will do it. I confess I'm pretty naïve to what is available to the top players out there, but when you see the best guys consistently leave mid to low level programs ... you get suspicious. Maybe we will look back at the first few years of this player movement era and think "why were we worried" but so far it has pretty much sucked.

[LanderPoke]

Why would Reynolds leave? Did I miss something?

I would imagine for the same reason that any of our top players leave. I don't think you've missed anything. It's getting to the point that anybody that can improve thier NIL situation dramatically will do it. I confess I'm pretty naïve to what is available to the top players out there, but when you see the best guys consistently leave mid to low level programs ... you get suspicious. Maybe we will look back at the first few years of this player movement era and think "why were we worried" but so far it has pretty much sucked.

Reynolds is an OK player, but he is limited athletically. He was a good player on a dog poop team. I mean, someone had to score some points. Look at what happened when he tried to take it to the rack against good competition - shot block city. His three point shooting cooled off to a point where he could not even be considered a good three point shooter by the end of the season. Maybe concussions had a lot to do with his decline, but I doubt many high profile teams, ones that can offer NIL $$, will be beating down the door to get Reynolds.

[Itsux2beaewe]

I can see Wenzel, Reynolds, Ike, Oden, Dusell, Foster, Powell, Barnhart, Talich and any adds from the portal... i see this group stay intact and see what happens in 23-24. I think they all seem to be bought in with Linder and I don't see any jumping ship...it might be another interesting year one way or another....guess we'll find out here soon

I’ll be really happy if we retain these guys. I think it’s a great foundation to build on.

[andersonj]

I would imagine for the same reason that any of our top players leave. I don't think you've missed anything. It's getting to the point that anybody that can improve thier NIL situation dramatically will do it. I confess I'm pretty naïve to what is available to the top players out there, but when you see the best guys consistently leave mid to low level programs ... you get suspicious. Maybe we will look back at the first few years of this player movement era and think "why were we worried" but so far it has pretty much sucked.

Reynolds is an OK player, but he is limited athletically. He was a good player on a dog poop team. I mean, someone had to score some points. Look at what happened when he tried to take it to the rack against good competition - shot block city. His three point shooting cooled off to a point where he could not even be considered a good three point shooter by the end of the season. Maybe concussions had a lot to do with his decline, but I doubt many high profile teams, ones that can offer NIL $$, will be beating down the door to get Reynolds.

I think most of the remaining players like the coaches and will return. On Reynolds, I believe he is a little better than OK but he does face challenges playing defense consistently and has a few ball-handling problems. If the coaches will work on his skills with him, he would really help. Hey, don't forget that portal gives and it takes away. Several teams were much better because of the transfer portal.

[Pokes4L]

I can see Wenzel, Reynolds, Ike, Oden, Dusell, Foster, Powell, Barnhart, Talich and any adds from the portal... i see this group stay intact and see what happens in 23-24. I think they all seem to be bought in with Linder and I don't see any jumping ship...it might be another interesting year one way or another....guess we'll find out here soon

I think this is slightly too optimistic.. I think we lose at least a couple of our better guys from this roster.

[bladerunnr]

I can see Wenzel, Reynolds, Ike, Oden, Dusell, Foster, Powell, Barnhart, Talich and any adds from the portal... i see this group stay intact and see what happens in 23-24. I think they all seem to be bought in with Linder and I don't see any jumping ship...it might be another interesting year one way or another....guess we'll find out here soon

I’ll be really happy if we retain these guys. I think it’s a great foundation to build on.

We won 9 games. other than Ike and maybe Reynolds, there isn't a player on our team that would see other than token minutes on any of the 4 teams left in the MW tournament. Barnhart isn't a D1 player. Powell has some athleticism, but he has no post up skills that I can see. And frankly, I doubt anyone leaves (other than Ike) because they will not be sought after. LInder has a huge job ahead because even if Ike returns, we need at least one big impact player a la Drake Jeffries to even have a hope of competing to be in the top 1/2 of the conference next year. If Ike doesn't return, we need a miracle find ( kind of like a basketball version of Josh Allen).

[Ronalduw]

I think one point that is not discussed enough about potentially losing our best players, Ike and Reynolds, is health. Both, when healthy are tremendous player. But in reality, Ike has missed more college games than played due to injuries and Reynolds' season ended because of multiple concussions. I wonder the impact this would have on other teams recruitment of them in the portal. I would be more concerned if both players played the entire year healthy and we ended our season the same.

[ZapPoke]

I would like to see them both back next year, but I am concerned that the injuries have taken a toll on them physically or mentally. Years ago Ugo Udezue was a monster until he got injured. When he came back he just wasn’t the same. Thankfully his cousin Uche stepped up. Does Ike have a cousin we could recruit?

[Ronalduw]

No, his daughter joined the UW VB team. Uche does have a son that is a legit 6'8"

[307bball]

If the Wyoming basketball team had zero returning players next year... Would we be worse?

[Itsux2beaewe]

If the Wyoming basketball team had zero returning players next year... Would we be worse?

Yes, imo. The guys here at a minimum understand Linder, the coaches, the program, Laramie, etc. Starting over would be a set back.

[Adv8RU12]

Starting over would be a set back.

A setback from finishing last in the conference?

[Itsux2beaewe]

Starting over would be a set back.

A setback from finishing last in the conference?

Can you name a team who would have won a conference championship with injuries to half the bench, not to mention a conference pre season POTY pick on the bench?

[bladerunnr]

A setback from finishing last in the conference?

Can you name a team who would have won a conference championship with injuries to half the bench, not to mention a conference pre season POTY pick on the bench?

No. But they wouldn't have finished DFL either. We were awful even when we were at full strength. And if you think it can get even worse with all of these marginal players, then next year may be Linder's last. It cannot be acceptable to win less than 10 games 2 years in a row. Is there one returning player on this team that could start on any other team in the conference? Perhaps. But it's not cut and dried.