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Joser Game

L

LawPoke

Well-known member
The first half in Vegas was ugly. We are getting torched by a terrible Joser squad.

While I’m of the mind that Wicks’ time is better spent recruiting than futzing around in Vegas knowing we have no chance to win the tourney, I’m very disappointed in the effort and IDGAF attitude. At least show up and try.
 
Too little too late. You can’t get off the bus after the first half is over. Wicks has his work cut out for him. Burman and his horrible line of previous hires has gutted our program at the absolute worst time.
 
I still think we are better than what we showed. Our starting 5 were pretty talented. We had Cole Henry that started at Northern Iowa when they won 2 conference championships. Obi is obviously good. Jordan Nezbitt is a top 100 recruit coming out of high school. Dontae Allen went to Kentucky out of High school. I really thought they would do a bit more this year. I was expecting a 5 to 7 finish and beating a few top teams in the conference. We were close to that this year but couldn't close very well in tight games.
 
Itsux2beaewe said:
Not trying to say there shouldn’t be some accountability, but what could we expect? Linder left at the worst possible time, what an A$$. Wicks had little to work with. Disappointed, but I didn’t expect a lot. Probably got more than I expected from what there was to work with.
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Absolute horseshxxt. We had 2 very talented freshmen, Kael Combs and Cam Manyawu. Both hit the portal for NIL money. As far as I'm concerned, Linder was forced out. He got the players here, and we don't have the money to keep them. And if you think Wicks is going to turn this around without a lot of money, then you're in for a lot of disappointment. What do you think next year's team will look like? Other than 1 player, who's going to hit the portal, there isn't a player on this team that would ever see the floor on any of the 6 best teams in our league.
 
bladerunnr said:
Absolute horseshxxt. We had 2 very talented freshmen, Kael Combs and Cam Manyawu. Both hit the portal for NIL money. As far as I'm concerned, Linder was forced out. He got the players here, and we don't have the money to keep them. And if you think Wicks is going to turn this around without a lot of money, then you're in for a lot of disappointment. What do you think next year's team will look like? Other than 1 player, who's going to hit the portal,
LawPoke said:
Too little too late. You can’t get off the bus after the first half is over. Wicks has his work cut out for him. Burman and his horrible line of previous hires has gutted our program at the absolute worst time.
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there isn't a player on this team that would ever see the floor on any of the 6 best teams in our le
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I've said this before, if you are a Wyoming basketball fan the worst thing that has happened is that Burman became athletic director. He sees football as the driving force and basketball as secondary. The winning percentage in conference games is 36% during his tenure as athletic director. The revolving door of coaches are all on him, yet he still cashes his checks for $551,000 annually. The fan base should be outraged.
 
I struggle to get excited about Wyoming hoops anymore. Most seasons for the past 20+ years have felt like Koenning, Glenn and Sawvel football seasons. 4 or 5 rough seasons and a mediocre one sandwiched in between.

It’s tough being much more than a casual fan.
 
bladerunnr said:
Absolute horseshxxt. We had 2 very talented freshmen, Kael Combs and Cam Manyawu. Both hit the portal for NIL money. As far as I'm concerned, Linder was forced out. He got the players here, and we don't have the money to keep them. And if you think Wicks is going to turn this around without a lot of money, then you're in for a lot of disappointment. What do you think next year's team will look like? Other than 1 player, who's going to hit the portal, there isn't a player on this team that would ever see the floor on any of the 6 best teams in our league.
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Actually it’s not.

Linder knew exactly what he was doing timing wise. He left when he did in the year to inflict as much damage as he could on his way out. You’ll never convince me he hadn’t had it planned for a long time. He acted like a petulant spoiled little child. He was/is an a$$ and I hope he never sees the inside of the AA again.

We’ll agree to disagree. He’s an a$$.
 
Itsux2beaewe said:
Actually it’s not.

Linder knew exactly what he was doing timing wise. He left when he did in the year to inflict as much damage as he could on his way out. You’ll never convince me he hadn’t had it planned for a long time. He acted like a petulant spoiled little child. He was/is an a$$ and I hope he never sees the inside of the AA again.

We’ll agree to disagree. He’s an a$$.
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My main issue with Linder was buying into the 3 “power conference” players that weren’t exactly spectacular performers in the P12.

Their “agent” said he would do everything he could to damage recruiting. A factor? Who knows.

Linder’s last 2 years sent the program into the downward spiral seen so frequently the past 2 decades.
 
Unfortunately, I'm afraid we will continue to see almost a complete roster turn over year after year regardless of the coach. And without fat NIL cash, doubtful that we will be able to land (and keep) a group of players capable of a top 3 finish in the conference. Super pessimistic but getting more realistic each day.
 
Itsux2beaewe said:
Actually it’s not.

Linder knew exactly what he was doing timing wise. He left when he did in the year to inflict as much damage as he could on his way out. You’ll never convince me he hadn’t had it planned for a long time. He acted like a petulant spoiled little child. He was/is an a$$ and I hope he never sees the inside of the AA again.

We’ll agree to disagree. He’s an a$$.
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Since I never met him, I can't comment on his personality. Linder was complaining about lack of NIL funds from early in his last season. Did he leave at a particular time to make things even harder for his successor? I don't know. But he recruited talent. And we couldn't keep it here. If we had, this year would have been a lot different. A spoiled child acts that way because he is spoiled. Linder was not "spoiled" at Wyoming. He never had the support any of the better teams in the conference have.
 
The real barometer for success this season was always whether or not Wicks could keep the players bought into his philosophy even while the losses mounted. Unfortunately, I don't think he accomplished that. A lot of the things I loved about this team at the beginning of the season (scrappiness, effort level, grittiness) slowly disappeared as the season went on.

Our talent level was on par with a 9th place finish. Outside of Obi, we just didn't have very good basketball players. That much was fairly obvious early on. I knew once we got into conference play that we were likely to see a lot of losses. What I was hoping for is that Wicks was able to keep the players bought in anyways.
 
bladerunnr said:
Absolute horseshxxt. We had 2 very talented freshmen, Kael Combs and Cam Manyawu. Both hit the portal for NIL money. As far as I'm concerned, Linder was forced out. He got the players here, and we don't have the money to keep them. And if you think Wicks is going to turn this around without a lot of money, then you're in for a lot of disappointment. What do you think next year's team will look like? Other than 1 player, who's going to hit the portal, there isn't a player on this team that would ever see the floor on any of the 6 best teams in our league.
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bladerunnr said:
Since I never met him, I can't comment on his personality. Linder was complaining about lack of NIL funds from early in his last season. Did he leave at a particular time to make things even harder for his successor? I don't know. But he recruited talent. And we couldn't keep it here. If we had, this year would have been a lot different. A spoiled child acts that way because he is spoiled. Linder was not "spoiled" at Wyoming. He never had the support any of the better teams in the conference have.
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Fiction from my point of view. Even if Linder Bonaparte had the NIL money, he was going to lose good players. Many players grew tired of his attitude pretty quick. More than half/most of the defections under Linder were not related to NIL.

I will give Linder credit for one thing - he was terrific at making up excuses. Maybe running for Congressional office is in his future.

Very much looking forward to Sunny being given a real opportunity to assemble a team.

PS - how is it even a question of the timing of Linder’s tantrum and leaving making it difficult on Sunny? The portal had closed and most good portal players had already landed on teams. But once a coach leaves, that opens up a new 2 week window for all of Wyoming’s remaining players to leave (including signed players) outside of the regular portal period and sign with new teams. So Wyoming was in a spot where it would lose everyone it had but would have to fill a team from a pretty damn empty cupboard.
 
For what it’s worth the players who are gone that played this season and points/rebounds:

Combs - bench 3/1 Drake 30-3
Manyawu - starter 7/5 Drake 30-3

Sirtautus- bench 2/1 Radford 20-13

Theodosiou- starter 13/4 12-19 Loyola MD

Powell - starter 10/7 13-19 Rice

Barnhart - bench 2/1 SoDakSt 20-12

Agbonkpolo - starter 10/4 Montana ST 15-18

Bowen - bench 2/1 Denver 11-21

I would think that Manyawu, Powell, Theodosiou and Combs would have had the program at .500 presuming Wicks had been able to sign the best of what he did to compliment these 4 players.

Manyawu is the franchise type player. I do wonder how much anyone else got in NIL to be lured away. I really doubt most got anything but a new place to play.

Only Manyawu and Combs significantly improved their access to competitive success. The rest vacated a caustic atmosphere.
 
OrediggerPoke said:
Fiction from my point of view. Even if Linder Bonaparte had the NIL money, he was going to lose good players. Many players grew tired of his attitude pretty quick. More than half/most of the defections under Linder were not related to NIL.

I will give Linder credit for one thing - he was terrific at making up excuses. Maybe running for Congressional office is in his future.

Very much looking forward to Sunny being given a real opportunity to assemble a team.

PS - how is it even a question of the timing of Linder’s tantrum and leaving making it difficult on Sunny? The portal had closed and most good portal players had already landed on teams. But once a coach leaves, that opens up a new 2 week window for all of Wyoming’s remaining players to leave (including signed players) outside of the regular portal period and sign with new teams. So Wyoming was in a spot where it would lose everyone it had but would have to fill a team from a pretty damn empty cupboard.
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I saw all I needed from Jeff Linder at a Make a Wish Foundation NIL appearance with his team. While he complained about a lack of NIL, he did nothing to foster an environment that would create any fundraising inertia. At the very place that could get him what he said he needed and wanted, he stood in the back of the room pouting, with his arms crossed. His players appeared happy to be there and engaged. Every other coach, including Sawvell, were ebullient in their interactions with fans and the crowd. Not Napoleon, though. He was too busy fashioning the shiv that he was about to stick in Wyoming's back. He might be a great basketball mind, but if he doesn't have a captive roster, he is horse pucky. Guy couldn't build culture, loyalty, and excitement around a program with a roadmap.
 
LawPoke said:
I saw all I needed from Jeff Linder at a Make a Wish Foundation NIL appearance with his team. While he complained about a lack of NIL, he did nothing to foster an environment that would create any fundraising inertia. At the very place that could get him what he said he needed and wanted, he stood in the back of the room pouting, with his arms crossed. His players appeared happy to be there and engaged. Every other coach, including Sawvell, were ebullient in their interactions with fans and the crowd. Not Napoleon, though. He was too busy fashioning the shiv that he was about to stick in Wyoming's back. He might be a great basketball mind, but if he doesn't have a captive roster, he is horse pucky. Guy couldn't build culture, loyalty, and excitement around a program with a roadmap.
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Agree except I think Linder sucks as a coach. He never made adjustments
 
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