Concerned?

[thirtyseven]

Should we be concerned that we only scored 5 points in the last 10 min against OSU?

We were in the game until that point. I understand they are a top ten team but my concern is that in conference play when all the other coaches know what we are going to do will we still have problems scoring? No problems with our defense i know it will only get better but what about our O?

[BeaverPoke]

Should we be concerned that we only scored 5 points in the last 10 min against OSU?

We were in the game until that point. I understand they are a top ten team but my concern is that in conference play when all the other coaches know what we are going to do will we still have problems scoring? No problems with our defense i know it will only get better but what about our O?

Possibly. We need Nance to be our go to guy like he was, but we clearly need a "next" guy.
Grabau puts up lots of points. Adams has that ability to score.
Even Hankerson does. Hopefully he starts getting more comfortable real soon.

[ProudWYOAlum]

We just went cold. No one on the remaining schedule has the inside presence or shot blocking ability that Ohio State has. That was an elite 8/Final Four team we played.

They will do the same thing to Big Ten schools on that court.

We only play UNLV and SDSU once each this year. They are the only teams with comparable athleticism to OSU.

I'm not concerned at all.

[BeaverPoke]

I would say I am worried about UNLV...but has anyone actually seen what are doing this season?
And, we do get SDSU in Laramie.
And New Mexico, well they might not have that athleticism, but they are skilled basketball players. And well coached.
Or...were...
No defense down in the land of Breaking Bad.
They used to shut us down, but they can't stop anyone now.

[seattlecowboy]

It was actually worse than that. We only scored 7 points the last 14:17 of the game.

I wouldn't be concerned though. Ohio St. is as good defensively as about anyone in the country. Aaron Craft is the best defensive point guard in the country and it was a road game. That is what Ohio St. does to even the best of teams is shut them down defensively. There isn't any guard in the MWC that will guard Wyoming's back court anywhere close to what Aaron Craft did.
There isn't anyone in the MWC who can do what Ohio St. did really. New Mexico and SDSU play good defense also but not at the level of Ohio St. Part of the problem also was we couldn't hit a 3.

Wyoming is improving piece by piece each game. By the time conference rolls around I think Wyoming can have a great chance to finish in the 4-5 range. Maybe they will surprise all of us and finish 3rd.

[seattlecowboy]

I would say I am worried about UNLV...but has anyone actually seen what are doing this season?
And, we do get SDSU in Laramie.
And New Mexico, well they might not have that athleticism, but they are skilled basketball players. And well coached.
Or...were...
No defense down in the land of Breaking Bad.
They used to shut us down, but they can't stop anyone now.

I watched UNLV play Illinois last night. UNLV does have individual talent but they are not coached very well. They were up by 10 last night and blew the lead at home and lost by 2. UNLV just comes down the court as fast as they can and spots up guys around the 3 point line and they let it fly. If you can get back on defense and make them play a half court game they aren't that good honestly. They aren't good because of the coaching.

The way Wyoming is playing as a team they can definitely beat UNLV this year.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

I am not concerned. It really felt like the first half we were playing off emotion and adrenaline. It looked like in the second half the team went through a collective adrenaline dump. We'll learn from it and move on stronger and better. We know we can play with the best in the county now we just have to learn how to play within ourselves and control our emotion on the court. We'll be fine, I actually prefer having losses to GREAT teams now then to run into conference undefeated and lose to GOOD teams and have the wheels come off. I think were in a better place now than last year.

[BeaverPoke]

I am not concerned. It really felt like the first half we were playing off emotion and adrenaline. It looked like in the second half the team went through a collective adrenaline dump. We'll learn from it and move on stronger and better. We know we can play with the best in the county now we just have to learn how to play within ourselves and control our emotion on the court. We'll be fine, I actually prefer having losses to GREAT teams now then to run into conference undefeated and lose to GOOD teams and have the wheels come off. I think were in a better place now than last year.

+1

[uwaluminidaho]

Concerned? Unless I missed it, concerned that Shyatt didn’t get Jack Bentz into the game at OSU. Certainly there was opportunity to get Jack in to play a few minutes. Don’t you think Jack would have liked to go nose to nose with Aaron Craft for a couple of sets? That was a bad move on Shyatt’s part.

Concerned? A question for all: Does Shyatt’s contract have a bonus pay clause for attaining 20 wins per season? And Shyatt makes up the schedule? If so, sounds like a license to steal…er ah , I mean, a sweet deal!

Concerned? Seems like we schedule more and more OOC patsies, and as always, with the excuse that we can’t get anybody to come to Laramie. We’ll, if that is truly so, (‘called everybody in the country’ I believe was close to the Shyatt quote) then UW needs to spend some money on getting teams to come to Laramie. Spend enough, and the word will get out. Good teams would come to Laramie for a competitive game as a means to increase their own RPI. Home and aways should be easier to schedule if $ ease the hassle of traveling to Laramie. Ultimately, to bring better non conference teams to town, UW needs to get more competitive in conference play. 8 -8 in conference this year will be a big push for our current roster, and yet, do I dare say it, we would still be just average.

Concerned? The fact that we were 16-2 in last year’s OOC and finished up the rest of the way with only 4 wins.

Go Pokes, down a different road.

[WYCowboy]

Concerned? Unless I missed it, concerned that Shyatt didn’t get Jack Bentz into the game at OSU. Certainly there was opportunity to get Jack in to play a few minutes. Don’t you think Jack would have liked to go nose to nose with Aaron Craft for a couple of sets? That was a bad move on Shyatt’s part.

Concerned? A question for all: Does Shyatt’s contract have a bonus pay clause for attaining 20 wins per season? And Shyatt makes up the schedule? If so, sounds like a license to steal…er ah , I mean, a sweet deal!

Concerned? Seems like we schedule more and more OOC patsies, and as always, with the excuse that we can’t get anybody to come to Laramie. We’ll, if that is truly so, (‘called everybody in the country’ I believe was close to the Shyatt quote) then UW needs to spend some money on getting teams to come to Laramie. Spend enough, and the word will get out. Good teams would come to Laramie for a competitive game as a means to increase their own RPI. Home and aways should be easier to schedule if $ ease the hassle of traveling to Laramie. Ultimately, to bring better non conference teams to town, UW needs to get more competitive in conference play. 8 -8 in conference this year will be a big push for our current roster, and yet, do I dare say it, we would still be just average.

Concerned? The fact that we were 16-2 in last year’s OOC and finished up the rest of the way with only 4 wins.

Go Pokes, down a different road.

It doesn't look like we are scheduling all patsies - tOSU, SMU, DU, NCU, & Jackson St. are all tough competition.
I don't think the stats from last season mean much with what went on just as we were heading into conference play.

[BeaverPoke]

Yeah if the Luke Martinez fiasco doesn't happen, we beat Boise, don't lose to Fresno, and probably win a handful more of games.

But...that was then, this is now.

Hard to sound convincing when you mention #7 Ohio State on the road, and scheduling patsies in the same post.

[seattlecowboy]

Concerned? Unless I missed it, concerned that Shyatt didn’t get Jack Bentz into the game at OSU. Certainly there was opportunity to get Jack in to play a few minutes. Don’t you think Jack would have liked to go nose to nose with Aaron Craft for a couple of sets? That was a bad move on Shyatt’s part.

Concerned? A question for all: Does Shyatt’s contract have a bonus pay clause for attaining 20 wins per season? And Shyatt makes up the schedule? If so, sounds like a license to steal…er ah , I mean, a sweet deal!

Concerned? Seems like we schedule more and more OOC patsies, and as always, with the excuse that we can’t get anybody to come to Laramie. We’ll, if that is truly so, (‘called everybody in the country’ I believe was close to the Shyatt quote) then UW needs to spend some money on getting teams to come to Laramie. Spend enough, and the word will get out. Good teams would come to Laramie for a competitive game as a means to increase their own RPI. Home and aways should be easier to schedule if $ ease the hassle of traveling to Laramie. Ultimately, to bring better non conference teams to town, UW needs to get more competitive in conference play. 8 -8 in conference this year will be a big push for our current roster, and yet, do I dare say it, we would still be just average.

Concerned? The fact that we were 16-2 in last year’s OOC and finished up the rest of the way with only 4 wins.

Go Pokes, down a different road.

We never played 18 ooc games last year. Might want to check your facts their buckeroo. There are so many things wrong with this post it is comical.

[fromolwyoming]

Lets not forget, last year we had what, 1 or 2 guys off the bench that could actually contribute on a regular basis. In terms of depth, we had none.

[BeaverPoke]

Well the Pokes went 14-0 in regular season OOC games.
Went 1-1 in the MWC Tourney.
And 1-1 in the CBI.
So, I can see where the 16-2 came from.

But I wouldn't call CBI or MWC Tourney, especially not MWC Tourney, OOC games.
Technically the CBI games were OOC games, and the MWC Tourney games don't count on the MWC regular season record.

But regardless, the Pokes fell apart once MWC play started.
Obviously losing Luke was the biggest factor.

Boise beat us on a buzzer beater, we win that game with Luke, no doubt in my mind.
We lost 49-36 in Fresno (36 points total!!!!!), right after Luke got charged with the felony.
If you watched that game, you could see the teams morale was non-existent. We might not have even need Luke to win that game, but rather him just not be charged with the crime right before.
We lost to AFA in an ugly game at the AA, by 9 points, that we would have had a very good chance to win if we had Luke.
We lost to Boise by only 7, in Boise. Nance didn't even play that game, and McManamen started that game.
We also only lost to NM by 4 points at home. With Luke, we probably win that game.
We lost to AFA by 6 in the Springs, and again with Luke, we have a really good chance at winning that game.

That is a good chance to win 6 more, at the very least win half of those 6, making the team anywhere from 7-9 to 10-6 in MWC play.

But I think in the end it will only help the team this season.
They got a brief taste of what they know they can accomplish by being in the Top 25.
It enabled Adams to be a starter all season, now, this season we are already seeing a lot better play out of him, and he just knows what he needs to do.
Plus, with the additions of Granberry and Hankerson, this team has a lot more depth, and talent.
Plus, the chemistry as well. It is so much better.
This team should at the very worst only go .500 in MWC play this season.

[kansasCowboy]

I can seriously see where the guy was coming from still. We may have had two 20 win seasons, but we're still not great. That is not OOC though. Our OOC has actually been tougher since we have brought in Shyatt than it was under Shroyer. Our teams have fizzled in conference play. We have been mediocre through the last couple seasons playing in arguably one of the toughest bball leagues. Every year we've showed progression. This year we have depth for the first time, and they play as a team, moreso, than I've seen at Wyoming in a LONG time. I think this year we may actually surprise a lot of people.

[ProudWYOAlum]

Tomorrow's game will show a lot about this team. Tough loss to a big time program, can they return home and take care of business?

[WyoExpat]

We have been mediocre through the last couple seasons playing in arguably one of the toughest bball leagues. Every year we've showed progression.

I guess we sometimes forget that our record in conference has been against a much tougher set of opponents, top to bottom, than we have been used to over the previous couple decades. .500 in the MWC last year was more impressive than .500 in the old WAC or even the MWC of ten years ago. We get some credit for contributing to the conference's quality over the past couple years. All of that said, I want to see us win the thing again, soon. I do not expect it this year.

I can't help but think about the attrition of Coach Shyatt's recruits over the past couple years. For some reason, it was the guys that had the size we now lack that left.

[NowherePoke]

Concerned? Unless I missed it, concerned that Shyatt didn’t get Jack Bentz into the game at OSU. Certainly there was opportunity to get Jack in to play a few minutes. Don’t you think Jack would have liked to go nose to nose with Aaron Craft for a couple of sets? That was a bad move on Shyatt’s part.

Concerned? A question for all: Does Shyatt’s contract have a bonus pay clause for attaining 20 wins per season? And Shyatt makes up the schedule? If so, sounds like a license to steal…er ah , I mean, a sweet deal!

Concerned? Seems like we schedule more and more OOC patsies, and as always, with the excuse that we can’t get anybody to come to Laramie. We’ll, if that is truly so, (‘called everybody in the country’ I believe was close to the Shyatt quote) then UW needs to spend some money on getting teams to come to Laramie. Spend enough, and the word will get out. Good teams would come to Laramie for a competitive game as a means to increase their own RPI. Home and aways should be easier to schedule if $ ease the hassle of traveling to Laramie. Ultimately, to bring better non conference teams to town, UW needs to get more competitive in conference play. 8 -8 in conference this year will be a big push for our current roster, and yet, do I dare say it, we would still be just average.

Concerned? The fact that we were 16-2 in last year’s OOC and finished up the rest of the way with only 4 wins.

Go Pokes, down a different road.

So much wrong with this post, I don't even know where to start. This reads like another "friend of steve" posting. I thought we only got those on GWG. Anyway...

1. Bentz - Shyatt's job is to win basketball games, not give up possessions by putting in a walk-on. It wasn't a blowout, so no reason to put him in.

2. Schedule - It's weak, it's an issue, but it's slightly better than his predecessor's schedule. McClain scheduled better though. If it is as simple as money (it's not), than I don't see that as Shyatt's fault. He does not control the budget available for purchasing home games. Beyond that, it's more complicated. We do need to increase those funds, but they will be of marginal assistance in procuring home and home arrangements which are what we really need.

3. Conference Record - 8-8 would be a significant improvement. It would also be better than any of Heath's seasons or McClain's last 4 seasons. RPI/Sagarin is a better measure of overall team performance and each of Shyatt's first two seasons were our highest RPI years since 02-03 (when we still had Donte/Uche and Bailey played part of the OOC). This year will probably tread water at best in RPI/Sagarin and likely see an uptick in MWC record due to a number of factors (MWC decline, Pokes get a lighter MWC schedule slightly by not playing SDSU and UNLV twice, and my assumption that the Pokes won't lose their leading scorer right before conference play). However, the roster is nicely set to compete for a Top 50 type RPI positioning next year.

4. Last year's OOC/Conference Split - The reason is obvious (Martinez), but the 16-2 number also reads like someone that just looked up the overall record and conference record and listed the difference but didn't really follow the team. Anyone that followed the team would know that the regular season OOC was 14-0 and would never lump MWCT games in with OOC record.

[NowherePoke]

I can seriously see where the guy was coming from still. We may have had two 20 win seasons, but we're still not great. That is not OOC though. Our OOC has actually been tougher since we have brought in Shyatt than it was under Shroyer. Our teams have fizzled in conference play. We have been mediocre through the last couple seasons playing in arguably one of the toughest bball leagues. Every year we've showed progression. This year we have depth for the first time, and they play as a team, moreso, than I've seen at Wyoming in a LONG time. I think this year we may actually surprise a lot of people.

I think it's a little more complicated than saying we fizzled in conference play. In Shyatt's first year, the Pokes went 6-8 in a tough MWC which was honestly as good of a conference performance as we had in the previous 8 seasons and was in-line with the RPI expectations of the OOC performance.

The second year was complicated by injuries/suspensions/etc.

I do like the way this year's team plays together and shares the ball. Really nice ball movement...however, I don't think the Pokes are tough enough on the glass and I think we will be held back by our lack of front court depth and limited offensive options in the post.

[NowherePoke]

We have been mediocre through the last couple seasons playing in arguably one of the toughest bball leagues. Every year we've showed progression.

I guess we sometimes forget that our record in conference has been against a much tougher set of opponents, top to bottom, than we have been used to over the previous couple decades. .500 in the MWC last year was more impressive than .500 in the old WAC or even the MWC of ten years ago. We get some credit for contributing to the conference's quality over the past couple years. All of that said, I want to see us win the thing again, soon. I do not expect it this year.

I can't help but think about the attrition of Coach Shyatt's recruits over the past couple years. For some reason, it was the guys that had the size we now lack that left.

Interesting point about the loss of a couple of big men from Shyatt's first class (Marshall and Ajayi). In hindsight, Marshall leaving was probably for the best. He hasn't really panned out (currently averaging 5 ppg/3 rpg in a limited role at D2 CSU-Pueblo) and his departure opened up the scholarship that was used for Derek Cooke.

Ajayi is a little more interesting. His scholarship basically went to Matt Sellers so we are getting little to no production out of that scholly. He is averaging 1.5 ppg and 4.0 rpg for a surprisingly salty EMU team that has a number of high major transfers. I think as a player he actually could be a contributor at UW with defense/rebounding/fouls off the bench. He has proven to be a high level rebounder at both the JC and D1 levels (his rebound rate at EMU is higher than any current Poke). However, he seemed to be an issue in the locker room and it's always tough to gauge how much that stuff matters, but he may not have been worth the trouble as EMU is his 4th school in 3 years.