has anyone on campus...

[NowherePoke]

I would argue that our lack of aggressiveness on the boards is due to our lack of depth in the post. You have to fly to the ball to get rebounds, which sometimes means running people over. We have a grand total of 2 big men that play, so they can't afford to be in foul trouble.

I wholeheartedly agree with you...which leads us back to my point on Barkley being a lot shorter than most post players....it should be up to the WHOLE team to crash the boards, especially the defensive boards. Since we rarely run, why aren't there 5 guys going to the boards on the defensive end of things? Rebounding is an art form, and it is obvious that Wyoming does not study great rebounders or their techniques. We are relying on pure height, when we should emphasize strength, aggressiveness, and technique.

Part of the problem in my mind is Shyatt's insistence on getting back on D at the expense of attacking the offensive glass.

Defensive rebounding is a little more complicated, but not much. It mostly comes down to the total lack of help from the guards. Nance is 18th in the country in Defensive Rebounding %. He is very aggressive on the glass. He averages 9.1 rbg in 31.8 mpg playing for a team that is one of the slowest in the country in terms of tempo (# of possessions). On any other team in the MWC, that rebound rate would mean averaging a double double. We haven't had a player average that level on the glass since Justin Williams (who was on a whole other level, Top 20 nationally in Offensive and Defensive rebounding percentage).

Interestingly, Nance's rebounding percentages on both sides of the court are almost identical to Uche's numbers in 2003.

My point is that, the problem isn't really our big men. Cooke actually has a higher rebound rate than Nance. Our problem is the complete lack of impact on the glass from our guards and the fact that we often play 4 guards with none of them attacking the glass.

Luke and Paco were much more effective at helping out on the glass than our current group.

In my mind, the Pokes are missing two key ingredients:

1. An impact 4 man. To your point, height doesn't matter. One of Wyoming's greatest rebounders, Reggie Slater, was probably about the same size as Barkley, but he was strong, wide, and knew how to position himself to own the glass. We need someone that can be aggressive on both ends of the court. Someone in the Tyson Johnson mold. That would allow Cooke to fill his more natural role as a rebounder/energy guy off the bench.

2. An athletic wing. We need an aggressive, athletic wing that can take it to the rim and also assist on the glass.


Of course, we don't have either, so I don't know what my point is.

 

[JimmyDimes]

...seen Granberry or Hankerson dunk????.....anywhere???. Those have to be the most vertically challenged brothas on the planet. Seriously. If Hankerson was a four star kid outta high school then Marcus Bailey was a 12. Dax Crum was a better four star kid...ouch. Drop the shoulder left, drive to the right is his ONLY effin move!!!! Every coach knows that now. Granberry waits for clearance from the bench to shoot a shot. Dude, that's the only reason you're here. SHOOT THE DAMN BALL!!!!...it'
s probably the only clean look during the possession.



...and why was the last play designed for Larry Nance?????...was he going to create a look for himself???.....really???
I love the kid but he does not have a SINGLE consistent, tangible basketball skill. Not one. Sobey had a better chance of creating a decent look than Nance, and that's not saying much. In the last two minutes he took some of the most amateurish shots in the history of D1 basketball.

We were exposed badly.

When does the outdoor track season start??


Seriously

There was a Hankerson dunking sighting in the first half of the Boise game last night. Just in case it went unnoticed.

 

[tweaked]

Again, I think Shyatt has this ship headed in the right direction but I agree with most of what has been said in this thread. Trey needs more floor time. His redshirt is being burned--make it count, the kid will make some mistakes but he will penetrate and present some dynamism in our offense that at times is lacking. And the kid can shoot. I know Grabau is steady but damn look at his stats last night: 40 minutes, 0 points, 2 assists. Trey would do better than that. Let him make a few mistakes and leave him on the damn floor--let the kid gain some confidence and pick up on the speed of MWC play. I think there would be a fairly impressive learning curve there.

And an athletic 4 is a priority as well as some talent at the 5, which may have been addressed in next years recruiting class. In early recruiting, Shyatt has had to gamble and lost on most of those (agree with JC on that one). But I think that will change and may have already changed.

Disagree about Sellers: we may be able to get a few minutes (and lots of fouls during those minutes) out of the big fella but he is too slow and he is just outclassed by most of the MWC bigs. Cooke has the athleticism but is just too raw offensively to expect anything other than some clean up around the rim. He has energy, and can defend the post well with that energy--but don't expect much more out of him than that. So again agree about our limitations there.

Larry Nance is legit--all about confidence with Larry. Think he will be first team all mwc next year. Because of our lack of depth teams focus on him but he will continue to be a defensive presence and should open up outside shooting.

And yes, yes, yes! Granberry shoot the damn ball! You are giving up too many looks--the team needs you to do what you do.

I still think this team could get it going and surprise a lot of folks by ending up in the 4 spot in the MWC this year--which would be huge. Of course, we could end up in the 6 or 7th as well. But remember Shyatt's first full recruiting class (first year was hurried and shortened) are sophomores and several are redshirting. We're building a program here, and given where we were at, that takes some time.

 

[Wyo2dal]

I'm sorry but none of you understand or even appreciate what has been done defensively, You think crashing the boards and rebounds is going to give us wins? We don't give up transition points which is one of the biggest factors of being defensive minded at play.

We don't crash the boards because it's not the game plan to crash them. The game plan is get back defensively and make sure we don't get beat in transition. We are doing 100% what the game plan is and we are doing it successfully.

"The key to this game were 50-50 balls on the defensive glass," Shyatt said. "Sometimes stats can fool people. We got outrebounded, but we don't go the boards so we can slow down opponents on offensive. We got those 50-50 loose-ball rebounds tonight."

 

[BeaverPoke]

A couple things I am noticing: This team can play with ANYONE.
I've said that before. Right now in our "close games" we are 2-5.
South Dakota and Boise State are the wins. CU, DU, SMU, Nevada, and New Mexico are the losses.
We are just a few made shots away from being 15-1 and 3-0 in MWC. We are also a few missed shots away from 8-8 and 0-3 in MWC.

Our defense is one of the best there is. Whether it is the tempo, or just skilled defenders, or a combo of both, we are good because we hold teams offenses back.
If Nance makes that 3 pointer in Boulder in game 2 of the season when we were down 3 in the final minute, maybe the team gets that confidence to close out games for the rest of the season and maybe we really are a 15-1 team.
But, he didn't.
We have all been saying it all season, where are Granberry and Hankseron? If both of them show up we could be that 15-1 team.
If one of them shows up we may be somewhere between our 10-6 and that potential 15-1.
We are consistent in Nance scoring and getting boards and Adams getting his 11 points.
Some "X-Factors" are Adams turnovers, Grabau showing up (great when he is on, bad when he isn't).
Some other "X-Factors" are Granberry and Hankerson and Washington.
Then something that can put us over the top are Cooke actually making free throws.

Our D, Larry Nance, Josh Adams (his defense is great, and can score), and Grabau being smart with the ball will keep us in games.
Adams limiting turnovers, Grabau scoring, Hankerson and Granberry showing up, and any production from Washington are what we need to keep winning games in the MWC.

This off week should help. Let them get into a groove with their new class schedules, and figure out some things to work on.
Washington should see some time against SJSU, AFA, and Nevada.
People wanted Trey in up at Boise and I am glad he wasn't. I just think road games against teams like Boise aren't the place to get your first REAL taste of MWC play.

Wyo should come out and take it to SJSU, then go steal one in the Springs.
We should be above .500 next wednesday.