We've got a Mountain to climb!

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I admit that I haven't really taken the time to watch much of the NCAA basketball landscape this year. Just getting older and busier with life, so I pretty much just follow the Pokes and get to know the MWC a little. I watched a few different games from the tourney yesterday and it bummed me out a little. Especially after watching a little over half of the Fresno/Utah game. The MWC was down this year and we were definitely more of a bottom half team. We have a long way to go before we're NCAA tourney caliber again. I mean Fresno would beat us 9 times out of 10 this year most likely and they just got waxed! The other part is even last year we were outmatched in the NCAA tourney with one of our best teams in years. I'm really wondering how far up the mountain we can climb? How in the hell are we gonna get to the NCAA and win a game again? We need a BIG TIME recruit with this scholly. I mean we were probably about the 180th best team in the country with Josh Adams this year....there is a lot of work to be done.

 

[rich22]

I admit that I haven't really taken the time to watch much of the NCAA basketball landscape this year. Just getting older and busier with life, so I pretty much just follow the Pokes and get to know the MWC a little. I watched a few different games from the tourney yesterday and it bummed me out a little. Especially after watching a little over half of the Fresno/Utah game. The MWC was down this year and we were definitely more of a bottom half team. We have a long way to go before we're NCAA tourney caliber again. I mean Fresno would beat us 9 times out of 10 this year most likely and they just got waxed! The other part is even last year we were outmatched in the NCAA tourney with one of our best teams in years. I'm really wondering how far up the mountain we can climb? How in the hell are we gonna get to the NCAA and win a game again? We need a BIG TIME recruit with this scholly. I mean we were probably about the 180th best team in the country with Josh Adams this year....there is a lot of work to be done.

I thought the same thing. Utah looked bigger at every position and it wasn't even close. I remember matching up with Utah pretty well in 01-02 years. I know Utah is in the PAC 12 now but I still think their team now is comparable to their old teams and we use to match up with them ok. This year, Fresno was more athletic than us in just about every way and Utah made Fresno look tiny and small.

 

[LanderPoke]

PAC-12 is getting shit on this NCAA tourney.

 

[rich22]

PAC-12 is getting shit on this NCAA tourney.

Yeah I was just looking at that. I thought that they were pretty good this year but PAC 12's only win so far was against Fresno.

 

[wiley wapiti]

NO shit!!!!!

You mean Dalton, Barns, Aka Gorski and the likes are not what the rest of these tourney teams are loaded with???? Who woulda guessed..... LOL of course I kid!!! We do have a long way to go, some of us have been saying this for some time now. We have the staff (maybe), we DON'T have the players. Its that simple....but what do we do, even our own are leaving town to play at other schools.

I really love Shyatt and what he brings to the game, but I find it more and more of a reality that he and the staff can not recruit, or seal the deal with the better recruits. There is just something missing with this staff and I don't know what it is. The X's & O's are there, but talent is not, and we can't get the talent on campus. Im watching this tourney right now and there are many small schools with much more talent than us. Why? Is it just Wyoming or Laramie? I don't know????

 

[307bball]

NO shit!!!!!

You mean Dalton, Barns, Aka Gorski and the likes are not what the rest of these tourney teams are loaded with???? Who woulda guessed..... LOL of course I kid!!! We do have a long way to go, some of us have been saying this for some time now. We have the staff (maybe), we DON'T have the players. Its that simple....but what do we do, even our own are leaving town to play at other schools.

I really love Shyatt and what he brings to the game, but I find it more and more of a reality that he and the staff can not recruit, or seal the deal with the better recruits. There is just something missing with this staff and I don't know what it is. The X's & O's are there, but talent is not, and we can't get the talent on campus. Im watching this tourney right now and there are many small schools with much more talent than us. Why? Is it just Wyoming or Laramie? I don't know????

You hit the nail on the head...I love Shyatt's teaching and leadership abilities...it's going in to every game knowing we have less in the cupboard in terms of talent that is getting old.

 

[LanderPoke]

Imo he overthinks recruiting. He's intent on getting kids that have "family values" and fit the "Wyoming profile" whatever that means. I think he misses out on talent because he disqualifies a lot of kids right off the bat.

 

[seattlecowboy]

The first time Shyatt was here back in 97 he ended up recruiting great and then again did good with Nance and Adams but seems like recruiting is getting worse instead of better. I guess last years class could be good but not impressed with Mueller honestly and not sure we are doing anything to get a big man that can do anything inside this year.

Musselman is kicking ass with his recruiting at Nevada. They will kick our butt next year unless we get a couple of impact big's.

This is what Nevada has coming in on top of having Cameron Oliver already.

These are transfers that can play next year.

Nevada - 6'7 F all MVC freshman team (from So Illinois)
- 6'7 F avg 15 pts and 8 rbs (from Brown U)
- 6'3 G avg 20 pts (from Missouri St)

They also have two top 150 rated recruits coming in on top of that.

How is it that Shyatt with some of his connections can't get us a couple of these type of guys but Nevada is getting them? Guess recruits would rather live in Reno than Laramie. We need to step up recruiting.

Musselman has only been there a year and is blowing us away in recruiting.

 

[Coeur d' Alene]

Nevada could get good. High ceiling. I'm glad they are in the same conference as Wyoming.

I agree with a lot said in this thread. The recruiting has gotten to specific to be effective. They've got everything decided already and that's the way it is going to be.

Boucher last year signed instead of Marshall would have been a night and day difference between what we saw and what would have been. But the weren't on him before the rest of the country so no chance.

Would that make you re think and look around? How you look at paying attention to the Wyoming JUCOs? Well if you looked around you'd have noticed Gillette college had a freshman bigbyWilliams. Now he's a sophomore and in the game tonight to advance to the national championship game. He would be a complete game changer for Wyoming. Too bad they didn't recruit him last year. Why would be listen to Wyoming now that everyone in the country is talking to him.

 

[LanderPoke]

The first time Shyatt was here back in 97 he ended up recruiting great and then again did good with Nance and Adams but seems like recruiting is getting worse instead of better. I guess last years class could be good but not impressed with Mueller honestly and not sure we are doing anything to get a big man that can do anything inside this year.

Musselman is kicking ass with his recruiting at Nevada. They will kick our butt next year unless we get a couple of impact big's.

This is what Nevada has coming in on top of having Cameron Oliver already.

These are transfers that can play next year.

Nevada - 6'7 F all MVC freshman team (from So Illinois)
- 6'7 F avg 15 pts and 8 rbs (from Brown U)
- 6'3 G avg 20 pts (from Missouri St)

They also have two top 150 rated recruits coming in on top of that.

How is it that Shyatt with some of his connections can't get us a couple of these type of guys but Nevada is getting them? Guess recruits would rather live in Reno than Laramie. We need to step up recruiting.

Musselman has only been there a year and is blowing us away in recruiting.

It's the NBA connections not a Laramie vs Reno thing.

 

[seattlecowboy]

The first time Shyatt was here back in 97 he ended up recruiting great and then again did good with Nance and Adams but seems like recruiting is getting worse instead of better. I guess last years class could be good but not impressed with Mueller honestly and not sure we are doing anything to get a big man that can do anything inside this year.

Musselman is kicking ass with his recruiting at Nevada. They will kick our butt next year unless we get a couple of impact big's.

This is what Nevada has coming in on top of having Cameron Oliver already.

These are transfers that can play next year.

Nevada - 6'7 F all MVC freshman team (from So Illinois)
- 6'7 F avg 15 pts and 8 rbs (from Brown U)
- 6'3 G avg 20 pts (from Missouri St)

They also have two top 150 rated recruits coming in on top of that.

How is it that Shyatt with some of his connections can't get us a couple of these type of guys but Nevada is getting them? Guess recruits would rather live in Reno than Laramie. We need to step up recruiting.

Musselman has only been there a year and is blowing us away in recruiting.

It's the NBA connections not a Laramie vs Reno thing.

Yeah I agree was just being sarcastic.

Still Shyatt shouldn't be getting worked this bad against Nevada.

 

[LanderPoke]

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I think we have to get one of 2 things with this scholarship.
1.We absolutely need a guy that is either at the level or damn close of our best bigs when him comes in as a freshmen, or is our best big if he's a transfer.
2. Ditto 1 if we get a ball handler/guard/shooter/slasher they have to be our best or damn close to our best at creating, penetrating, and scoring to the same extent as freshmen/transfer.

We're talking at getting a guy that can make us jump up about 40 slots in rankings alone. I mean that would put us in the top I don't know 150-140 teams in the country. Then to even get a whiff at the top 100 we are gonna need crazy leaps outta the rest of our guys. It's almost a team of just role players as of right now and that won't cut it. I'll hold out hope because look at Jmac's jump from soph to junior. We're gonna need that from our whole sophomore class this year. On top of that Conway and Moemeka are gonna have to come in at higher levels then Naughton/James did for us this year. That seems possible with their redshirts but this high 5 business is just a horrible lingering finish to the season.

I mean all of this seems pretty hard to me right now just scratching my head over it. Not totally unreasonable but kinda of a long shot. This is just to try to get near the top 100 too, not even the the top 50 which is NCAA dancing material. I agree I love our staff as far as all coaching aspects. I might even love last year's recruiting class depending on how it pans out next year. Still recruiting issues are the bugaboo no doubt. Especially loading up on bigs. We haven't been fully loaded their since the Baily/Davis team that won in the NCAA and guess why we won? Cause we NEVER got utterly dominated in the paint.

 

[American Horse]

Postby LanderPoke » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:25 pm

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

Would have to say the same about Branch (wrestling). At some point the question again comes up, "Why aren't coaches that are great in every other aspects, not getting great athletes to Laramie?"

 

[wyokoke]

Postby LanderPoke » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:25 pm

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

Would have to say the same about Branch (wrestling). At some point the question again comes up, "Why aren't coaches that are great in every other aspects, not getting great athletes to Laramie?"

Cause, to beat a dead horse, Laramie is not that attractive to a lot of kids. Especially the football/basketball studs who are largely from warm weather cities. Wrestlers (and other individual sports) are a little bit of a different story, but the same deal

 

[NowherePoke]

Postby LanderPoke » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:25 pm

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

Would have to say the same about Branch (wrestling). At some point the question again comes up, "Why aren't coaches that are great in every other aspects, not getting great athletes to Laramie?"

Cause, to beat a dead horse, Laramie is not that attractive to a lot of kids. Especially the football/basketball studs who are largely from warm weather cities. Wrestlers (and other individual sports) are a little bit of a different story, but the same deal

I am not going to disagree, but keep in mind we are losing kids from Sheridan, Gillette, Pine Bluffs, etc. I know very little about wrestling or where the recruits are from but it seems like the majority of the program's we compete against are in smaller Midwestern communities, so not sure that is a huge factor in that sport.

In terms of basketball I am sitting here watching another good NCAA performance from a team from Cedar Rapids, IA right after watching a great performance from a team from Nacogdoches, TX. We will never land Top 25 type classes or anything, but we can recruit quality players to UW.

 

[wyokoke]

Postby LanderPoke » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:25 pm

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

Would have to say the same about Branch (wrestling). At some point the question again comes up, "Why aren't coaches that are great in every other aspects, not getting great athletes to Laramie?"

Cause, to beat a dead horse, Laramie is not that attractive to a lot of kids. Especially the football/basketball studs who are largely from warm weather cities. Wrestlers (and other individual sports) are a little bit of a different story, but the same deal

I am not going to disagree, but keep in mind we are losing kids from Sheridan, Gillette, Pine Bluffs, etc. I know very little about wrestling or where the recruits are from but it seems like the majority of the program's we compete against are in smaller Midwestern communities, so not sure that is a huge factor in that sport.

In terms of basketball I am sitting here watching another good NCAA performance from a team from Cedar Rapids, IA right after watching a great performance from a team from Nacogdoches, TX. We will never land Top 25 type classes or anything, but we can recruit quality players to UW.

That's fair, but also the majority of in state kids we lose, regardless of whether it's football or basketball, are going to teams a level up on us. Boucher plays for a 1 seed. Thompson is going to a perennial tournament team. Bryan and Bartlett went to SEC and Pac 12 teams, respectively. Maybe I'm jsut forgetting someone, but I can't think of any in state kid recently that dogged us for similar, MWC type competition.

And I think you're right about it not being a huge factor with wrestling, and I also think the Big 12 logo will help with that in the next few years

 

[WYCowboy]

Postby LanderPoke » Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:25 pm

Shyatt is getting worked in recruiting. He's a fantastic coach, man and developer of talent, but not sure he can recruit.

Would have to say the same about Branch (wrestling). At some point the question again comes up, "Why aren't coaches that are great in every other aspects, not getting great athletes to Laramie?"

Cause, to beat a dead horse, Laramie is not that attractive to a lot of kids. Especially the football/basketball studs who are largely from warm weather cities. Wrestlers (and other individual sports) are a little bit of a different story, but the same deal

I am not going to disagree, but keep in mind we are losing kids from Sheridan, Gillette, Pine Bluffs, etc. I know very little about wrestling or where the recruits are from but it seems like the majority of the program's we compete against are in smaller Midwestern communities, so not sure that is a huge factor in that sport.

In terms of basketball I am sitting here watching another good NCAA performance from a team from Cedar Rapids, IA right after watching a great performance from a team from Nacogdoches, TX. We will never land Top 25 type classes or anything, but we can recruit quality players to UW.

That's fair, but also the majority of in state kids we lose, regardless of whether it's football or basketball, are going to teams a level up on us. Boucher plays for a 1 seed. Thompson is going to a perennial tournament team. Bryan and Bartlett went to SEC and Pac 12 teams, respectively. Maybe I'm jsut forgetting someone, but I can't think of any in state kid recently that dogged us for similar, MWC type competition.

And I think you're right about it not being a huge factor with wrestling, and I also think the Big 12 logo will help with that in the next few years

Johnson - Wake Forest?

 

[WyoExpat]

Is it just Wyoming or Laramie? I don't know????

I am afraid that Laramie, Wyoming has more to do with it that we want to believe. Look how university towns have boomed in population over the past 10-20 years except Laramie. It isn't just basketball players and football players who are flocking to universities other than Laramie. It is students in general and the businesses and jobs that follow them. UW maybe enrolls 1,000 more students now than it did 20 years ago. Other universities probably expect to expand enrollment by that much each year.

Look at Southwest Missouri State in Springfield, MO for example. No one is going to say Springfield is some hot metro area or dream destination. It probably has an inferior reputation to U.W. Even so, look at how it is growing by leaps and bounds while U.W. has remained stagnant. http://news.missouristate.edu/2015/...-increase-in-first-time-students-in-25-years/

 

[WyoExpat]

Imo he overthinks recruiting. He's intent on getting kids that have "family values" and fit the "Wyoming profile" whatever that means. I think he misses out on talent because he disqualifies a lot of kids right off the bat.

One would think that means kids who have enough mental toughness and understand commitment to others well enough to get through winter in Laramie. I would have thought that would also mean kids who know better than to undermine teammates by circulating a bong around half the team the weekend before Conference Tournament when all things become possible. (We weren't going dancing last year unless we won the MWC Tourney and the same was true for Fresno this year.)