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Next Year

LanderPoke

LanderPoke

Well-known member
Next year is when we're going to see how good our coaches are. The cupboards will be comparatively bare to this year's team. Can they tailor an offense and defense so we'll be successful? Can they develop the raw talent that that's in the program?

I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised. I can honestly see us finishing .500 in conference or a little better.
 
I'm extremely excited for the future after this season. I think our style of basketball is about to become even more entertaining as we start to land some guys with a little more athleticism. Our coaches can clearly develop talent. If we can just land a couple of really athletic bigs in the next recruiting class we're going to be in business. Gotta say I love Shyatt and his system. We're Wyoming so we get to build these old school 80'/90's style programs were we get kids as freshmen and watch them build through their senior year. I LOVE that!!!!! :thumb: :thumb:

The fight our kids display clearly reflects the coaching staff as well. Can't ask for much more. Shyatt and company delivered everything we wanted in spades this year. Wyoming basketball is back!
 
From watching games at the NCAA's I've concluded that defense is important. But what is more important is shooters. Not just two or three, but all of them. Including those on the bench. I'm thinking you can instill the importance of defense and teach it when the recruit is here. But shooting skill is something he has to have when he arrives.
 
We will definitely be down, and how Adams plays, so will go the Cowboys. We've proven though that we cannot just win with Adams stepping up, so I will be curious to see who will step up with him.
McM I think will be similar to Hank this year. He doesn't like to drive to the basket often and likes to toss up the trey. So instead of 0-2 shots a game now, he will probably be busting out 3-7 shots a game. And he definitely needs to improve his free throw shooting or he really will be similar to Hank...
Herndon will be more productive next year, but I don't think by much. I think you may see him putting up Cooke type numbers now. Somewhere around 8 ppg and 6 rpg. Although I think he will be trending towards
Taking Nances position on the court.
Who will take Grabau's spot? This will be the battle between several! Trey will have his chance, Gorski or Liebs could step in here, or Maybe one of our incoming fresh. Conway or James. Or our JC transfer in Morris. Regardless we will need an effective avg of at least 8-10 ppg from one of more there.
Another big question is who takes over Cookes spot? I do not think we have any one big who will put up Nance type averages, maybe Cookes, and again we will rely on a few players to fill the role. Barnes I believe is the front runner here along with Tyrell Williams. I think we could see an effect 5ppg and 5 rpg from Barnes, maybe a little less from Williams. And we am have Naughton or Moemeka in the depth aswell, although I assume one of those guys will be red shirting.

All that said, after last years SOS issue, and us being in the tourney this year, I think our OOC schedule will be a little tougher this year, and our offensive and defensive production will be down comparibly. I think Boise will still be one of the top. SDSU doesn't look to be going anywhere. CSU will drop significantly. UNM and UNLV will be building back to the top and will always be tough. USU has the talent, but it depend on their new coach. Fresno and AFA continue to look like a tough middle of the pack conf foes, and SJSU will be quite a bit better next year just in talent alone.
We will be very young, but very talented.
Assuming we play at the top of our talent level, I think we could be anywhere from a 6 to 9 win conf team.
If our OOC will be a little tougher, we probably don't go 11-2 this year, probably more around the 8-5 mark. We will be finding our identity as a team.
That could put us at 14-17 (6-10) at worst, or 17-14 (9-9) at best. Either way, we will be competative and we will not be dropping off near as bad as we did under McClain. And he still had senior talent to work with.
I excited, mostly next year to see what players fill what roles and what players step up to leadership and All conf type play in their game.
Who will be the next big name here in Cowboy country? Adams, we already know will be on top, but who comes up behind him? Who will be the next Cowboy to start making their case for all time top numbers? That's what I'm ready for. And maybe we come together and gel better than expected, we may make another run to post season, it's never out of the realm of possibility.

Go POKES!!!
 
I think this team will surprise and hit 20 wins. Boise State is probably the league favorite with Drmic/JWIII returning + Paris Austin coming in. SDSU might be the favorite if they don't lose Malik Pope. They're losing a lot of leadership though. Like kansascowboy said, CSU will fall off a cliff. UNM gains a few transfers but loses Delaney/Greenwood. UNLV...I just don't know what to say. I don't see the MW improving dramatically next season. Not saying it will be easy, but the 2015-2016 Cowboys can hit the 20-win plateau IMO.
 
From the little I've seen so far, Shyatt seems to value experience, especially early in the season. Nance and Adams both came off the bench to open their freshman campaigns. Grabau hardly played as a freshman.

That's why I think the starting five to open the season will be Lieberman / Adams / McManamen / Herndon / Barnes. Washington could also start over Lieberman, based on his 13-14 experience. Simply put, these are the six most experienced players in the UW program.

With how deep the roster looks on paper, it will be interesting to see how Larry divides the playing time and how he handles the freshmen.

Honestly, I could probably make an argument for all five incoming players to redshirt. Probably won't happen because of the lack of post depth, but it could be as many as 4 of 5. To me, not only is it about the players in front of them, but about maximizing their full Wyoming Cowboy careers.
 
joshvanklomp said:
From the little I've seen so far, Shyatt seems to value experience, especially early in the season. Nance and Adams both came off the bench to open their freshman campaigns. Grabau hardly played as a freshman.

That's why I think the starting five to open the season will be Lieberman / Adams / McManamen / Herndon / Barnes. Washington could also start over Lieberman, based on his 13-14 experience. Simply put, these are the six most experienced players in the UW program.

With how deep the roster looks on paper, it will be interesting to see how Larry divides the playing time and how he handles the freshmen.

Honestly, I could probably make an argument for all five incoming players to redshirt. Probably won't happen because of the lack of post depth, but it could be as many as 4 of 5. To me, not only is it about the players in front of them, but about maximizing their full Wyoming Cowboy careers.
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Adams started his freshman year.
The first couple games he was on the bench, but then Grabau got hurt and Adams started for him. Then Grabau came back and Luke Martinez got suspended so Adams started for him.

The sophomores will be ready to play though.
Washington will be ready. Barnes will be ready. Herndon will be ready.
 
BeaverPoke said:
joshvanklomp said:
From the little I've seen so far, Shyatt seems to value experience, especially early in the season. Nance and Adams both came off the bench to open their freshman campaigns. Grabau hardly played as a freshman.

That's why I think the starting five to open the season will be Lieberman / Adams / McManamen / Herndon / Barnes. Washington could also start over Lieberman, based on his 13-14 experience. Simply put, these are the six most experienced players in the UW program.

With how deep the roster looks on paper, it will be interesting to see how Larry divides the playing time and how he handles the freshmen.

Honestly, I could probably make an argument for all five incoming players to redshirt. Probably won't happen because of the lack of post depth, but it could be as many as 4 of 5. To me, not only is it about the players in front of them, but about maximizing their full Wyoming Cowboy careers.
Click to expand...

Adams started his freshman year.
The first couple games he was on the bench, but then Grabau got hurt and Adams started for him. Then Grabau came back and Luke Martinez got suspended so Adams started for him.

The sophomores will be ready to play though.
Washington will be ready. Barnes will be ready. Herndon will be ready.
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I agree. I think this is the best group of incoming Freshmen he's had, and maybe the best in recent memory. I think we lean on Adams, McManimal, Herndon and the sophomores but really think we get a ton of production from Austin Conway, Justin James, and Jordan Naughton. I actually think we improve next season in terms of actual skill. We will never be able to replace the leadership, closeness, and experience were losing. What we can replace is talent, and the kids were bringing in are far more talented. I am super excited for next season. Is it November yet?
 
I think we take a decent step back. In our last 4 games we have a combined 11 points from our bench. And points is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we lose.

Others will step up and we will get points from someone other than Josh Adams, but I think we're going to take some lumps in the OOC, even against a weak schedule such as the one we had this year.

And I don't think Shyatt is going to speed up the tempo. We now have 5 seasons of evidence to indicate what his preference is in terms of tempo, if anything I think we may go slower if possible to limit possessions.

Once the recruits get into the system and our players get experience, I think the future is bright and hopefully some pieces can gel by conference season.

I see a starting lineup of:

Adams
Washington/Lieberman
Herndon
Barnes?
?????

I don't know who else. I hope James is able to contribute and jump into a prominent role. I don't know that Mcmanemen is a MW level starter currently. I think he can be a solid bench contributor, and maybe he makes another leap in his game this offseason.

Hopefully the team really works hard in the offseason and the recruits are able to contribute sooner rather than later. The future is bright, but next year I am a little unsure of.
 
joshvanklomp said:
Adv8RU12 said:
BeaverPoke said:
Barnes will be ready .
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Wouldn't that be a nice surprise. I hope so. But I think he will have more of a Sellers role next year. And the year after.
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Who do you suppose gets the 60 mpg departed by Nance and Cooke?
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I think Adams gets quite a few mpg next season (as he did this season), but spreading out the major mpg of Nance & Grabow (and Cooke) might turn out to be a good thing. By conference season and the end of the season our depth should be increased significantly. Our "off the bench" players should get quite a bit of experience by the end of the season.
 
Barnes, I really believe will be a force next year, moreso on the D side. I think he has the D intangbles like Nance to mess up opp motions sets and shots. O wise I look for most of our play to come from guards and forwards, but Barnes I think can avg around 5-8 a game. Herndon probably 8-10+ a game. They will be a younger version of Nance (Herndon) and Cooke (Barnes) we will have depth aswell. Williams I think will be the Sellers of the trio and we may have one of the incoming Fresh play. My money is on Naughton. I think Moemeka redshirts. James will be a young G/F hybrid.
We will not focus on our bigs as much this next year. I think we will have more cuts and screens and sets for the guards:
And we will have Adams doing what he does by getting his outside shots, taking it to the rim and either getting his dunks/up and under lay ups or dishing off to one of the bigs. I think Gorski/ Liebs andMcM will be more on the wings ready for open treys.
This group is young and are going to grow great together! I'm really excited to see how Shy and staff set up the pieces. D wise we will be quicker and scrappy. Look for Adams and Gorski, maybe even Washington to be the top leaders in steals next year. The potential is really high for the group we have coming back and coming in.
 
I'm so interested to see who redshirts next year. I mean can we even afford to redshirt any of the bigs? I don't know. Which guards make it? We're gonna be missing our guys from this year no doubt. I just get the feeling in another 2 or 3 years we're gonna be loaded up with a deep squad that's more athletic then this year's team as a unit. We already have a ton of speed at guard next year which should help creation around the floor. We know you gotta play d to see the court in a Shyatt system so its exciting to see how it'll look with more speed on the court.
 
I am super excited to see what we can do next year. A true test to see if we have turned a corner for the better or what will be seeing what we can do without Nance, Grabau, etc. I personally believe we will be ok if we are able to get the team to gel come Conference play. Again as several people have mentioned I fear we will struggle to score but I hope the bench can contribute a bit more next year.
 
Here is my break down on players.

Returning Starter: Josh Adams

Likely candidates to start: Herndon, McManamen,

Has potential to start or heavily contribute: Barnes, Conway, Washington, Tyrell Williams, Morris Marshall, Justin James.

This team has the ability to win a lot of games depending on how the OOC scheduling is, how Adams takes control of a team, how much of a true leader Adams becomes, how teams play him, and how much our players step up.

I feel that this coming season will show how good of coaches and recruiters we have at Wyoming. The freshman should be talented to contribute immediately. The sophomores should be a mix of talented (Trey) and developed (Barnes) to contribute. The juniors should be developed enough to play at a high level (McManamen and Morris). Our lone senior, providing we don't get any graduate players, will be marked as a potential player of the year in the MWC.

We will be a new team, different style, different tempo, etc.

There is this idea of that Shyatt has been building something. Think about it, every coach at Wyoming is always just building to get his style in play. McClain (after Bailey left), Schroyer, Shyatt part 2. Glenn, Christensen, Bohl. They never get there (I know it's too early for Bohl, just pointing out how we are building for his style).

But now? It's been built. We had the seniors. We won a freaking MWC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! We went DANCING!
It's been built. Wyoming and Shyatt have arrived. Now, it's time to stay there. Shyatt built it up throughout the last 4 seasons. We never really get this far. Coaches get fired before then. It's time to see if the coaches built something sustainable or not.

If Wyoming makes the Dance again, I think we have a GREAT coach because there is no way Adams could do it by himself (unless of course we go like 10-20 and win the MWC Tourney).
If Wyoming goes sub-.500 then we may have an issue.
I expect somewhere inbetween.
I would love to win another MWC Championship (regular or Tourney) and go Dancing again, but I am mostly interested to see how the team competes and transitions with new players, and see how we do in MWC play.

I think the goals should be: 20 wins, ABOVE .500 in MWC play, MWC Tourney Championship, Adams being named MWC POY, and Adams getting drafted.
 
kansasCowboy said:
Barnes, I really believe will be a force next year, moreso on the D side. I think he has the D intangbles like Nance to mess up opp motions sets and shots. O wise I look for most of our play to come from guards and forwards, but Barnes I think can avg around 5-8 a game. Herndon probably 8-10+ a game. They will be a younger version of Nance (Herndon) and Cooke (Barnes) we will have depth aswell. Williams I think will be the Sellers of the trio and we may have one of the incoming Fresh play. My money is on Naughton. I think Moemeka redshirts. James will be a young G/F hybrid.
We will not focus on our bigs as much this next year. I think we will have more cuts and screens and sets for the guards:
And we will have Adams doing what he does by getting his outside shots, taking it to the rim and either getting his dunks/up and under lay ups or dishing off to one of the bigs. I think Gorski/ Liebs andMcM will be more on the wings ready for open treys.
This group is young and are going to grow great together! I'm really excited to see how Shy and staff set up the pieces. D wise we will be quicker and scrappy. Look for Adams and Gorski, maybe even Washington to be the top leaders in steals next year. The potential is really high for the group we have coming back and coming in.
Click to expand...
This is mostly how I see it as well.
 
WYCowboy said:
I think Adams gets quite a few mpg next season (as he did this season), but spreading out the major mpg of Nance & Grabow (and Cooke) might turn out to be a good thing. By conference season and the end of the season our depth should be increased significantly. Our "off the bench" players should get quite a bit of experience by the end of the season.
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Sure, I get that. But someone has to play those minutes.

I'm not saying that Barnes will get the 35 mpg averaged by Nance. But I also think it's unrealistic that he'll get the 10 mpg role Sellers had for 15 games. He, or whoever starts in the post, will probably end up somewhere between 25 and 30 mpg.
 
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