@ Air Force Academy

[DocHolliday]

I think this team is good but not great...in a year in which the MWC was more stout we'd already be out of it -- and we're the beneficiaries of having a pretty good team in a conference that is having a down season lets face it.

I also don't believe we are a great defensive team - and as someone alluded to previously, I believe our defense is made to look much better due to one of the most stone age offenses you'll ever see in the modern era.

While I very much like Larry Nance I don't consider him to be 'great' and believe there are better players in the MWC.

I like Shyatt too, but I believe his whining about what 'some people' were saying following the loss to SD State a few weeks ago didn't reflect well on him - then again maybe I'm making too much to do about nothing in that case.

No doubt that this has been a fun season and I like the grit of this team - but in reality this is not an NCAA Tournament quality team.

 

[seattlecowboy]

I don't know if Air Force had a shot contested the entire game. That has nothing to do with Nance.

Actually it has a lot to do with Nance. I am not saying we would have won. We may have lost anyways but without Nance in the lineup it completely screws up the defensive rotations. No Nance down low makes it easier for teams to take it to the rim and then you have our guys sagging off of shooters or trying to help down low so when there is a dribble drive they get kick outs and ball rotations with our guys not where they would normally be and you get wide open shots. Which is what happened today.

In a zone defense same deal. Without Nance you have one less guy backing you up down low and you are getting ball rotations with more space everywhere on the floor leaving shooter more uncontested and wide open for shots.

Oh well it is what it is. Even with Nance they may have hit a lot of shots anyways. Who knows. Over and done with now.

Need to forget this one and hope we get hot down the stretch with a healthy Nance and Herndon.

I'm going to have to disagree with you a little. Don't know if you were at the game, I just left the game in person, and in person just so many looks where the WYO defender is 2-3 ft away from the Air Force player, the Air Force player rises for a shot and the WYO defender just casually raises a hand. No rotations, everyone is technically "in position." But just no contests on the shot attempts.

Okay. I was watching on TV. So if you saw it up close then you had a better look than me. So basically you are saying we were lazy on defense today? Just seemed like our rotations were screwed up watching it on the tv and then of course when we got down seemed like some of our guys kinda just started watching and never could get any fire back. It was a tough spot anyways after a big win over CSU and then having SDSU on deck next game.

Just going to have to forget this one and hope things will turn our way. Maybe we can get lady luck on our side when we head to Vegas for the MWC tournament.

 

[DocHolliday]

Biggest problem with this years team is that they just cannot shoot - period. Outside of Riley from the perimeter they are horrendously bad.

 

[seattlecowboy]

Biggest problem with this years team is that they just cannot shoot - period. Outside of Riley from the perimeter they are horrendously bad.

I would agree somewhat. I agree that Grabau is the only one that is consistent most of the time. Gorski, Lieberman and Mac can all shoot but two of them don't get to play enough most games to show it and Mac seems to either be on or off.

 

[joshvanklomp]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNAndyKatz/status/564177401782210560[/tweet]

 

[J-Rod]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNAndyKatz/status/564177401782210560[/tweet]

For some reason, I did not know this. That's good news for Boise State too, who has been without Drmic most of the season and was without Drmic AND Marks in their lone horrible loss vs. Loyola.

 

[Adv8RU12]

I believe our defense is made to look much better due to one of the most stone age offenses you'll ever see in the modern era.

Could Shyatt be personally responsible for the NCAA considering to move the shot clock to 30 sec.?

 

[Cuttslam]

I believe our defense is made to look much better due to one of the most stone age offenses you'll ever see in the modern era.

Could Shyatt be personally responsible for the NCAA considering to move the shot clock to 30 sec.?

NO

 

[CowboyNV]

Biggest problem with this years team is that they just cannot shoot - period. Outside of Riley from the perimeter they are horrendously bad.

Both teams shot 49 times. Air Force made 28 of theirs, the Pokes made 17. Pokes also went to the line 16 times and only hit 8. AF went to the line 8 times and hit 7. This game boiled down to hitting shots and the Cowboys couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Some of that was defense by AF, but there were a bunch of open looks that the Pokes just missed. Not sure what the answer is, but they better figure it out quick or else SDSU will open a real can of whoopass on us.

 

[ltcpilot]

From an AF fan....tough game, especially for those that traveled down I-25. Obviously one of the best if not THE best 40 mins we have played oveall with last game vs NM close to it. I know that you played without Nance and his 16ppg/7rpg and how that hurt you on both sides of the ball. Most here don't realize that we played without our #2 scorer (Kam Williams been out three weeks) and today without our go to guy and starter with 8ppg/5rpg Sr. Justin Hammonds who was a game time scratch due to injure..

I said taking care of the ball, denying your penetration and making FTs would be keys and indeed they were. Take care until the next time we meet and hope your players recover quickly as Mono is not something to be taken lightly.

Thanks for letting me stop by and talk hoops...Maybe we'll try it again in Vegas....Rick '77/LTCPILOT

 

[laxwyo]

You could put road cones out there and AF doesn't shoot like that 9/10 games. They were real on. That's it. When u shoot like that, you win.

That being said, I think some of you should just go ahead and end it. Swing by the Golden Gate Bridge and swan dive. You have nothing else to live for

 

[Adv8RU12]

While I very much like Larry Nance I don't consider him to be 'great' and believe there are better players in the MWC.

Nance is in the top 5 players in the league, IMHO. But there is category (if they have one) where he is number one. And that is importance to his team. Without Larry, the team just doesn't jell, even thought the other starters are fine players (except for Hank, lately). Name one other player on one other team that couldn't go at least at 85% without that player. Even if Nance makes it back for the tournament, he will be out of condition, so may not be a factor.

Shyatt could use the rest of the season to give a lot of minutes to the young players who will have to carry the load next year. This will give them an introduction to what they will have to do to compete successfully in the MWC.

And next year, we can forget about championships, but just enjoy the young'ins getting their feet wet.

Football anyone?

 

[DocHolliday]

While I very much like Larry Nance I don't consider him to be 'great' and believe there are better players in the MWC.

Nance is in the top 5 players in the league, IMHO. But there is category (if they have one) where he is number one. And that is importance to his team. Without Larry, the team just doesn't jell, even thought the other starters are fine players (except for Hank, lately). Name one other player on one other team that couldn't go at least at 85% without that player. Even if Nance makes it back for the tournament, he will be out of condition, so may not be a factor.

Shyatt could use the rest of the season to give a lot of minutes to the young players who will have to carry the load next year. This will give them an introduction to what they will have to do to compete successfully in the MWC.

And next year, we can forget about championships, but just enjoy the young'ins getting their feet wet.

Football anyone?

Here is where I will agree with you 100%...there is no player on any team in the conference more dependent on any one single player than Nance is to Wyoming.

And yes, I am ready for some football.

 

[calpoke25]

I guess was what was so discouraging was the way Air Force won. Someone said you could put up street cones for defense and Air Force wouldn't shoot that good. I disagree. Air Force is and always has been an excellent three point shooting team with some good backdoor cuts mixed in. They always are capable of knocking uncontested 3s down. It would have been one thing to lose because Air Force of all teams punished us down low with our lineups with no one taller than 6'4. But instead we just allowed them to do what they excel at. I would've said OK Air Force, beat us down low with a post game without 2 of our bigs. But we jus gave them their typical, preferred Air Force looks.

 

[bladerunnr]

I guess was what was so discouraging was the way Air Force won. Someone said you could put up street cones for defense and Air Force wouldn't shoot that good. I disagree. Air Force is and always has been an excellent three point shooting team with some good backdoor cuts mixed in. They always are capable of knocking uncontested 3s down. It would have been one thing to lose because Air Force of all teams punished us down low with our lineups with no one taller than 6'4. But instead we just allowed them to do what they excel at. I would've said OK Air Force, beat us down low with a post game without 2 of our bigs. But we jus gave them their typical, preferred Air Force looks.

It's pretty hard to keep a team from shooting 3's if that's what they want to do. If we come out to play them, they penetrate and shoot the midrange shot. They did that very well today. They had to be licking their chops when they found out Nance wasn't going to play. Cooke's not really a post up threat and we typically shoot like 3 blind mice on the road. Sometimes we get away with it, but not without Nance. I think last year proved that. So we regroup and try again. I'm going out on a limb and predict that we use every bit of shot clock on Wednesday. We need a score in the low 40s or even the 30s.

 

[J-Rod]

Come on now...talking football after one bad loss? That's ridiculous. This team can still achieve every goal they set. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2015 football could have a very rough season. We knew dating back to 2011 that 2015 was highly likely to be a rebuilding season. This basketball team has five losses all year.... I'm going to enjoy this team while it lasts. MW champs or bust.

 

[Cuttslam]

We are 1 and 7 when Nance is out of the lineup. Its very simple, NO NANCE NO CHANCE.

 

[BeaverPoke]

That was the most embarrassing Wyo game I have watched in a long fucking time.

 

[NowherePoke]

That was the most embarrassing Wyo game I have watched in a long fucking time.

Beginning of the end. Statistically, this is probably the worst loss in UW history , modern era(23 points to a sub 250 RPI opponent, can't find anything that matches it from at least the last decade). Although it being a road conference game makes it better than some of the Heath era OOC blunders (North Florida, Hampton).

Still, I think the best parallels are in FB. Cal Poly in particular. Highlighted the fact that we were basically non competitive at the MWC level with the exception of one player.

 

[kansasCowboy]

That was the most embarrassing Wyo game I have watched in a long fucking time.

Just think four years back... And now you should feel better!
Even this loss doesn't compare to the losses with Schroyer.
Yes, it sucked, but still not comparable. Plus, lots of young guys got lots of minutes. No it did not come together. Adams wasn't terrible today, I fact he and McM were our only spark. People complain that he doesn't, shoot enough, he did. They complain that he doesnt take over games, again, he tried to score, was almost always contested. AFA knew to stay on him tight, and make the young guys beat us with outside shots. That's exactly what happened.
He only had three TOs and two if them that I know of was him trying to dish down low to Cooke, again trying to make something happen.
But overall, it seemed all of current starters were lackluster today. Nobody played to their potential. I was happy to see Hankerson finally get out of his funk, too little too late.
Grabau 2-7, and people are calling him our reliable guy?
We had speed on the court we needed to be driving to the basket. Try for high % shots, if we don't get it there is a better chance for off reb, and foul calls.
And what the hell!!! What is going on with these young guys not making free throws. They are all supposed to be threats from beyond the arc, but they can't hit an uncontested fifteen footer!!! McM, Gorski both really need to work on this area before next year. You're both 6-5 guards, you should be 75% minimum from the line!