Hankerson

[NowherePoke]

You're completely wrong on this. Bailey was offered a scholarship out of East. He didn't walk-on to the team. He held a press conference where he signed his LOI and put on the Wyoming hat and everything. Yes, Steve McClain was the coach when he signed, but he wasn't ignored by Shyatt either.

Wyoming was the only place Bailey was going to play. That's not a gigantic recruiting win for McClain.

Why do you love Steve McClain so much? He destroyed our basketball program and got fired. His only successes were within 4 years of Larry Shyatt's departure. What does that tell you?

This is my recollection as well. Bailey signed and was on scholly from the beginning (under McClain), but he had limited scholarship offers coming out of HS.

 

[NowherePoke]

I've stated my thoughts on Hankerson before. He will be the Pokes best player next year and will be a top wing player in the conference.

I believe Shyatt is a good basketball coach, but I have my doubts he can recruit the level of talent to Laramie that is required to compete for a conference title. Outside of Nance and Hankerson, I do not feel he has recruited any other players with the talent to start for a title contending MWC team. Shyatt has made several comments since arriving for his 2nd stint at UW regarding not being able to recruit the high level talent to UW and how much he enjoys recruiting the kids without all the hype. I understand his point, and agree with him to a certain extent, but building a title contender without any high level talent is a mighty difficult task. The talent level in the MWC has increased dramatically since Shyatt's first stint at UW, and I think he is finding that out quickly. The answer isn't as easy as UW focusing more on higher level talent, because Shyatt is right, UW isn't going to win those recruiting battles. I've thought about the best approach to recruiting for UW and here is what I have settled on...

I believe UW should target 1-2 transfers from major programs every year. These are kids that were all elite prospects coming out of high school...guys that UW would of had no shot at winning the initial recruiting battle, but can bring in as transfers much more easily. Not all of these players will work out, but doing this would greatly increase the level of talent on the team. Next, I think UW needs to look to the JC ranks more often. Many of the guys who come out of the JC ranks were only there to begin with because they didn't qualify for NCAA basketball out of high school because of grades. Larger programs tend to shy away from these players because they can get the same level of talent out of the high school ranks. Again, this is a way to increase UW's chances of landing more talented players that they wouldn't have had a shot at in their initial recruitment. In my opinion, Shyatt should recruit the high school ranks for those specialty/role players that every team needs. Those types of guys can be every bit as important to a team as the stars, but UW has a much better shot at landing guys like that straight out of high school.

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts you guys have.

You do realize that he recruited the guys who won our only MWC championship, right?

1. We have two MWC titles (00-01 was a tie, 01-02 the Pokes won outright).

2. The 01-02 team that won the league outright (and a NCAA tourney game) included only one Shyatt recruit in the starting line-up (Josh Davis) although you have to give Shyatt some credit for Uche since he recruited Ugo.


Shyatt left the team on solid footing with recruits such as Davis, McMillan, Blakes, Jones, and Ugo, but....that was 15 years ago. He has struggled thus far in his second tenure at UW to recruit at that level.

You can make a positive case for each of our players and their potential and skills. However, as a group we simply don't have the talent level of most MWC teams. I wish I was wrong, and I know it sounds kind of dickish to criticize the basketball talents of young men whose athletic feats in kindergarten likely exceeded my life total, but the results speak for themselves. I can't honestly look at our team and say they lack effort or understanding or commitment on both ends of the floor. If only it was that simple.

 

[McPeachy]

McClain did not RUIN our program. Schroyer did.

Eh, nope. It was a group effort. Oh, toss Burman in there also...as he should own it all honestly. Granted, I think he "righted" the ship...but still. Bucky was failing, then Slick entered and got extended, and here we are...digging out of a monster fucking hole.

 

[BeaverPoke]

McClain did not RUIN our program. Schroyer did.

Eh, nope. It was a group effort. Oh, toss Burman in there also...as he should own it all honestly. Granted, I think he "righted" the ship...but still. Bucky was failing, then Slick entered and got extended, and here we are...digging out of a monster fucking hole.

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

 

[McPeachy]

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

True...he shared one, and won one outright. Then he shit himself. He lost it. Whatever "it" was. There are a lot of coaches who have followed the same path. Like Phil Fulmer. And Rollie Mossemino. And Gene Chizik. And...and...and...

 

[BeaverPoke]

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

True...he shared one, and won one outright. Then he shit himself. He lost it. Whatever "it" was. There are a lot of coaches who have followed the same path. Like Phil Fulmer. And Rollie Mossemino. And Gene Chizik. And...and...and...

Was the MWC down those years? Was it all Bailey and Davis? Would that team compete for the MWC this year? Would they dominate the MWC this year?

A lot of it all comes down to the weakness of the conference those years.

 

[NowherePoke]

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

True...he shared one, and won one outright. Then he shit himself. He lost it. Whatever "it" was. There are a lot of coaches who have followed the same path. Like Phil Fulmer. And Rollie Mossemino. And Gene Chizik. And...and...and...

Was the MWC down those years? Was it all Bailey and Davis? Would that team compete for the MWC this year? Would they dominate the MWC this year?

A lot of it all comes down to the weakness of the conference those years.

That plays a role, no doubt, although I think the 01-02 team showed in the NCAA tourney that they belonged. The league didn't have the depth that it has now though.

 

[Wyo2dal]

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

True...he shared one, and won one outright. Then he shit himself. He lost it. Whatever "it" was. There are a lot of coaches who have followed the same path. Like Phil Fulmer. And Rollie Mossemino. And Gene Chizik. And...and...and...

Was the MWC down those years? Was it all Bailey and Davis? Would that team compete for the MWC this year? Would they dominate the MWC this year?

A lot of it all comes down to the weakness of the conference those years.

That plays a role, no doubt, although I think the 01-02 team showed in the NCAA tourney that they belonged. The league didn't have the depth that it has now though.

How can you say it didn't have the depth then that it has now? You aren't actually trying to say that Utah & BYU were not better than their replacements? While UNM, UNLV, SDSU might not have been as Strong BYU, Utah and Wyoming were. I would say overall the depth has been relatively similar.

 

[BeaverPoke]

2001-2002 MWC Standings

1. WYO 21-8 (11-2)
2. Utah 21-8 (10-4)
3. UNLV 20-11 (9-5)
4. SDSU 21-11 (7-7)
5. BYU 18-12 (7-7)
6. NM 15-14 (5-8)
7. CSU 12-18 (3-11)
8. AFA 8-18 (3-11)

I would say for only having 8 teams it was pretty damn deep. 5th place team byu won 18 games and went 7-7 in MWC play.

BTW...in 2007-2008 CSU went 7-25 and 0-16 in MWC play hahaha. that is great.

 

[J-Rod]

BTW...in 2007-2008 CSU went 7-25 and 0-16 in MWC play hahaha. that is great.

LMAO.....and the newbies into the conference thought their first years were rough.

 

[stymeman]

He sounds very "with it" from the Larry Shyatt show, I think we are truly going to be impressed with him next year(hoping)

 

[BeaverPoke]

I think he is gonna come in and be a MWC POY canidate.

The offense should be really really good next year. Grabau, Adams, Hankerson, Cooke and Nance....that starting 5 will be able to score. Especially Adams, Hankerson and Nance. The 3 JR Juniors will be able to rebound quite well.

How about this Hankerson for MWC POY next year, Nance will get it as a senior, then Adams will get it as a senior.
And with a couple Sweet 16s and an Elite 8, recruiting to Laramie, Wyoming will never be a hard place to recruit for hoops again!

 

[SDPokeFan]

You're completely wrong on this. Bailey was offered a scholarship out of East. He didn't walk-on to the team. He held a press conference where he signed his LOI and put on the Wyoming hat and everything. Yes, Steve McClain was the coach when he signed, but he wasn't ignored by Shyatt either.

Wyoming was the only place Bailey was going to play. That's not a gigantic recruiting win for McClain.

Why do you love Steve McClain so much? He destroyed our basketball program and got fired. His only successes were within 4 years of Larry Shyatt's departure. What does that tell you?

Hope this works, heres a video that starts with Marcus signing with hat and all like you stated.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_obhF7zrQQ[/youtube]

Great video. It makes me somewhat sad, though. Makes me long for the days our program was worth a ****.

 

[NowherePoke]

Yeah I'm not saying McClain was a god's gift but I don't think he by himself ruined the program.

He did win 2 MWC titles.... as much as the haters want to say he ruined the program he still has more MWC titles than any football coach or b-ball coach at wyoming. Even more than Coach Joe from the womens program.

True...he shared one, and won one outright. Then he shit himself. He lost it. Whatever "it" was. There are a lot of coaches who have followed the same path. Like Phil Fulmer. And Rollie Mossemino. And Gene Chizik. And...and...and...

Was the MWC down those years? Was it all Bailey and Davis? Would that team compete for the MWC this year? Would they dominate the MWC this year?

A lot of it all comes down to the weakness of the conference those years.

That plays a role, no doubt, although I think the 01-02 team showed in the NCAA tourney that they belonged. The league didn't have the depth that it has now though.

How can you say it didn't have the depth then that it has now? You aren't actually trying to say that Utah & BYU were not better than their replacements? While UNM, UNLV, SDSU might not have been as Strong BYU, Utah and Wyoming were. I would say overall the depth has been relatively similar.

In 2000-2001, the MWC was a one bid league. Wyoming won a share of the regular season title and yet played in the NIT. In 01-02, the MWC had three bids, but only because SDSU won the conference tourney as a 6 seed (they were seeded 14th in the NCAA). Only two at-large teams that year and the outright champ (us) had an RPI in the high 50's. The league maintained a conference RPI between 8 and 10 during those years. The last place team had an RPI in the bottom 10% of D-1.

In 2012-2013, the MWC will be at minimum a four bid league. The last place team went 14-0 in OOC play and has a RPI of 60. The overall conference RPI will be either 1 or 2 at the end of the season. Five different teams have been ranked during the course of the season.

This year's Wyoming team had a better OOC RPI (which factors in the weak SOS) than the 01-02 team, had more quality OOC wins (CU was a better win than any OOC win from 01-02) and currently has about the same RPI as the 01-02 team....yet, they are in last place. Luke Martinez is good, but he isn't enough to bridge the gap between 11-3 vs. 2-7. The strength of the league plays a role.

It's not about the additions, it's about the organic growth. This is the best CSU team possibly in their entire history, and certainly in most of our lifetimes. This may be UNM's best team ever (will likely earn their highest NCAA seed, they have to prove it in March to earn it though), which is saying something (unlike CSU). UNLV has multiple NBA players and SDSU is a Top 25 team. There are 5 Top 50 RPI teams in the MWC right now. In the years we won the league there were one (and we weren't it).

The 00-01 and 01-02 versions of the MWC had some parity, but no quality depth.

 

[Wyo2dal]

That is the growth of the conference as well, Remember in 01 the MWC was 2 years old. Honestly I think even with the same members we have today in the same rankings in 01 we would not be a 4 bid league because a new conference barely 2 years old just isn't going to get the attention.

I agree the growth has helped a ton absolutely but a conference two years old and small conference at that just isn't going to get the attention no matter how good the OOC wins are. 10-12 years later the conference has proven it's worth.