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What do we do to make sure that doesn't happen again?

Cosmic Cowboy

Cosmic Cowboy

Well-known member
Hey guys I'm still feeling burned by that scorching yesterday. What areas does this Pokes team need to work on against Boise St and other teams to make sure we don't get a shellacking like that again? 2 areas that jump out at me are this.

1. On offense we have to find a way to at least threaten the paint some more. Why can't we run multiple guys to the basket in attempts to get easier buckets, draw fouls, and move the defense? I understand part of it is athleticism with skillz but I think we have enough of that to at least find a way to threaten with this at times.

2. Lineups have to get a little bit better to counter opposition. I feel like a combo of pick 2 bigs (Herndon, Dalton, Naughton, deep 4th Barnes) needs to be on the court more then we see it. I know we want to argue for James more too which should help topic 1 as well, but my concerns are more on paint D. I do think Shyatt hasn't made some right lineup tweaks lately at the right moments. If we start getting slaughtered on the boards why not just send in Naughton or Barnes to foul a little, push em around, see what happens? We need to make statements like that and force them to shoot outside more. Then when they get used to that shift it up again. I really don't like watching us getting outmuscled without at least trying to throw a little muscle back at times. Hell Dalton wants to scrap and he's the skinniest dude of the bunch!!!
 
It's too easy for the opposition to get into the paint, especially by the dribble. There never seems to be more than one person covering an opponent in close. But look at when Josh tries to go in. He mostly has at least two on him and so often loses the ball. Larry need to do some defensive correction about this, IMHO.
 
CosmicCowboy, I agree lets go Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman on the inside, force teams to shoot outside and beyond the arc. Cowboys need a Dennis Rodman rebounder that is always around the rim. Naughton could be that guy.
 
Have to put the ball in Adams hands as the pg so he has more time to balance out getting shots for himself and creating for others. Adams w the ball can make so many more easy opportunities for the others.
 
davidwyo said:
CosmicCowboy, I agree lets go Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman on the inside, force teams to shoot outside and beyond the arc. Cowboys need a Dennis Rodman rebounder that is always around the rim. Naughton could be that guy.
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Important thing to remember about these guys is they don't really average minutes. If your not needed then make yourself needed. Key to this is intelligent fouling. Stuff that doesn't cost you points and might save you points. Yes whack the shit out of a dude low to make sure he doesn't get the auto 2. If he's a big good chance he misses 1 of 2. It also just negates people wanting to go back to get whacked again. WE ARE TOO SOFT with that small lineup. Gotta mix it up for some minutes even though we are a small ball shooter squad.

It's almost about changing our identity for just 3 mins or so then fooling then into thinking that's how we roll. The other part is maybe that's how we should roll. At times Naughton has looked effective, Dalton has really come on lately, Herndon is a must (when he has a good game we win), and Barnes can at least muscle. I'm just in favor of seeing 2 bigs out there together more period. Get them off the O glass. Figure out how to make that happen. It's one of the most crucial things for us to win down the stretch IMO.
 
I love the defense first philosophy Shyatt has. I do think he needs to loosen up a bit when the team gets hot though. We got hot quite a few times in that game - and we could have put some hurt on the score if we focused on getting a quick transition, shooting a quick basket, and trying to rebound.

I'm not saying I don't like how Shyatt does it. I think he should put some special options out there when we are shooting hot to focus on shooting hot. Regardless - defense first!
 
Having Shyatt play the right players would more than anything else he could do. Having a 6' defensive liability out there does nothing for anyone on O or D.
 
I'm going to defer to coach shyatt on player time. Would I like to see much more of certain players? Yeah. But I think we've determined that this team would be up and down a lot. This was a big down
 
We just need to embrace that this team is very unpredictable. We just need to realize the guys who got embarrassed by Boise were the same guys who won at the Pit for the first time in a decade. This team can't win every single game, even if LanderPoke is in charge of the player rotation.
 
cali2wyo said:
We just need to embrace that this team is very unpredictable. We just need to realize the guys who got embarrassed by Boise were the same guys who won at the Pit for the first time in a decade. This team can't win every single game, even if LanderPoke is in charge of the player rotation.
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Not one person can tell me that Lieberman, Washington or Gorski is better than James. James is probably our second or third best player. Of course we are going to suck 1/2 the time when a top three player doesn't play.
 
cali2wyo said:
We just need to embrace that this team is very unpredictable. We just need to realize the guys who got embarrassed by Boise were the same guys who won at the Pit for the first time in a decade. This team can't win every single game, even if LanderPoke is in charge of the player rotation.
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We have been dealt a certain hand but we can play it a lot of different ways. My 2nd point about lineup rotations has actually been the most critical part for the wins the Pokes have scored this year. Look back at that win in the Pit. Who played? Dalton 30 mins, Barnes 10 mins, Naughton 7 mins (with only 4 fouls in the stat sheet), and James with 12 mins. I believe that's the key right there. We spelled those guys in long enough to mix up the feel of the game. Boise State game who played? Dalton 16 mins (INJURED), Barnes 3 mins, Naughton 3 mins, and James 7 mins. We don't mix it up, stay small too long and get thrashed in the paint while allowing them to get real cozy/comfy to knock down shots all over.

It's more then just up and down from the players. It's the rotation synergy in relation to the teams we play. Shyatt has to outmaneuver the other staff with a few different styles of play. He has to deploy them properly on a knife edge too. It's not easy but that's why he's coach. We have to keep other teams a little more off balance or we are the ones that go off the rails.
 
Maybe no more blowout losses this year, but let's face it this team is 10-14 versus D1 teams this year.

Shyatt can scramble all kinds of different lineups he wants or any poster suggests and the fact remains that there was some poor recruiting lapses when the opportunity was there. Almost all Shyatt recruits the past few years have been early signees and the recruiting did not seem to address an area of greatest need - an inside game and a kick butt PG.

There is a reason why Larry Shyatt is 35-44 in MWC games these past 5 years. Not only did he start with a dysfunctional program thanks to the end of McClain and Schroyer eras, but outside of Larry Nance Jr. and Derrick Cooke there has been ZERO big man development efforts that are paying dividends at the present.

All this talk about the youngest team when you look at it in numbers of FR and SO's, but do not forget that McNanamen is a 4th year player and Herndon is a 3rd year player. Those guys absolutely needed their RS years to be where they are at now.

In 11 years of D1 head coaching, the style of Larry Shyatt ball has produced exactly 2 conference winning season. Those two seasons were 97-98 WAC Cowboys and the 14-15 MWC Cowboys. That means Larry Shyatt has 9 years of coaching non-winning teams in conference play.

Joe Glenn produced one winning conference season in 6 years, won a bowl game and found the door.

Dave Christensen produced one winning conference season in 5 years, was 1-1 in bowl games and found the door. Dave by the way was .410 in MWC play while Larry Shyatt is a whopping .443! Different games but nearly the same amount of sadness at the outcomes for the UW fan.

Sorry - but losing more games than winning in MWC play is not something Larry Shyatt has demonstrated thus far he can accomplish. What really pisses me off is that just down the road the sheep under Eustachy have won .578 of their MWC games the past 4 years. Yes - Eustachy has won 37 games in 4 years to date and the basketball genius at UW has won 35 in 5 years. Eustachy would have to go 0-17 to equal the Shyatt record to date.

Shyatt MWC 35-44
Eustachy MWC 37-27

Not only would I like to avoid bad losses, I would like to see teams win in conference play more often.

Just had to vent. I am having a difficulty believing Shyatt is going to do anything special at UW any time soon. Next year may be challenging to get to .500 in MWC as well.
 
Once again, this is a rebuilding year. A year in which we can win on the road at UNM an NMST and lose at home to Nevada, etc. This kind of roller coaster season is what you will get when you have a total of TWO upperclassmen playing. One senior and one junior. The rest are still underclassmen and still learning. Boise, who was picked to win the MWC, starts all upperclassmen and has upperclassmen coming off the bench.

The fault Shyatt has in this situation is the uneven class. His team won the MWC tourney last year with 6 seniors. When you lose 4 starters and senior leadership and return mostly underclassmen, there will be growing pains.

This is still a team that can put it all together in March. And,will have just as good of a shot as most other teams at winning the tournament again.

Lastly, Shyatt hasn't lost to Eustachy in head to head games FWIW (the record vs MWC teams is skewed due to suspensions and injuries to Wyoming starters since Larry took over).
 
I guess I'd just like to see a little better effort on the defensive end of the floor. I realize there's no Nance and Cooke to own the paint like last year, and Leonard Washington before that, but as was evidenced in the 2nd half against Boise St, the defensive intensity was non-existent and Boise got everything and anything they wanted against us. I believe we had the lead down to like 3 or 4 midway through the 2nd half, and there was a stretch of 3 brutal turnovers, one by Trey, and I think a couple by Aka Gorski where the lead went from 3-4 to 9 in a matter of seconds and it snowballed from there.

The up and down nature of this season continues, a big part of the loss to Boise as well was Josh, JMac, and Herndon shooting 2-18 in the first half. There's gonna be games that the shots just don't fall, but Shyatt and co. have always prided themselves on the way they play on the defensive end of the floor. I think this teams biggest shortcomings are on that defensive end, and was glaringly apparent esp that 2nd half saturday.
 
I believe Eustachy inherited a solid program after the nerd left foco for Nebraska. Shyatt inherited an extreme dumpster fire so you can't really compare the two
 
laxwyo said:
I believe Eustachy inherited a solid program after the nerd left foco for Nebraska. Shyatt inherited an extreme dumpster fire so you can't really compare the two
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Yes actually you can. He rebuilds his team every two years. Shyatt on average had far more continuity yet far inferior results. Shyatt, in his head coaching career, has never EVER finished above fourth in conference play. EVER. He has never won a regular season conference championship. He has never won an NCAA tournament game. EVER.

I don't know. I really like Shyatt but the results can be better. Like I said on a different thread, last season took a ton of mounting heat off his seat. Outside of a miracle run last March, he has done nothing here
 
ItSucksToBeACSURam said:
laxwyo said:
I believe Eustachy inherited a solid program after the nerd left foco for Nebraska. Shyatt inherited an extreme dumpster fire so you can't really compare the two
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Yes actually you can. He rebuilds his team every two years. Shyatt on average had far more continuity yet far inferior results. Shyatt, in his head coaching career, has never EVER finished above fourth in conference play. EVER. He has never won a regular season conference championship. He has never won an NCAA tournament game. EVER.

I don't know. I really like Shyatt but the results can be better. Like I said on a different thread, last season took a ton of mounting heat off his seat. Outside of a miracle run last March, he has done nothing here
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+1
I absolutely agree. Shyatt has achieved a decent win/loss record due to some really bad OOC schedules. It is easy to pad your win/loss record if you play shit teams OOC and mostly home games in the OOC. The reason I bring this up is that Wyoming used to go on the road in the OOC, and had no problem playing teams either on their home courts or neutral sites. Just as an example, if you look back in history at some of the Brandenburg years (80-81, 81-82, and 82-83), our OOC was much more difficult.

For instance, in 1980 we played:
Nebraska - Away
Stanford - Home
Boise State - Away
USC - Away
Oklahoma - Neutral
Houston - Away
UNLV x2 - Home and Away

In 1981:
Nebraska - Home
Portland - Home
Missouri - Away
Colorado - Away
Illinois-Chicago - Neutral
American - Neutral
UNLV - Away

In 1982:
Tulane - Neutral
Memphis - Away
USC - Away
No. Carolina Wilmington - Neutral
Indiana - Away
Nebraska - Away
Colorado - Home
Illinois-Chicago - Away

I was never sold on Shyatt as a "great" head coach. When one looks closely at his record, he has done OK OOC, but poorly in conference. The next few years will be critical.....if we don't have better conference results, I fear his time in Laramie could draw to a close sooner, than later.
 
CowboyNV said:
ItSucksToBeACSURam said:
laxwyo said:
I was never sold on Shyatt as a "great" head coach. When one looks closely at his record, he has done OK OOC, but poorly in conference. The next few years will be critical.....if we don't have better conference results, I fear his time in Laramie could draw to a close sooner, than later.
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You could have stopped at "never sold on Shyatt" and we could have interpreted the rest. It is fine to not like the coach. But you say when one looks closely, his conference record is poor. How close did you look? Win and losses I assume. If you were to look close, you would understand that we have lost key players each of the past 3 years. We lost Luke Martinez for the season after starting 15-0. He was our best player that year and the Pokes were ranked #25 when he kicked a kid in the head. We lost Larry Nance, while in 3rd place and working toward the top of the ranking, two years ago. Last year, prior to winning the MWC tournament (but you want better conference results, not titles if I read correctly) we lost both Nance and Herndon to mono. We didn't lose them for the entire season, but long enough to lose conference games and slip in the standing.

Shyatt isn't going anywhere. His job is secure, so no need to worry about losing him. Next year he returns all but one player from the 4th youngest team in the US. I would expect better results.....as one normally would when all but two players are underclassmen.

We are the reigning MWC champs you freaking whiners!!!!!!
 
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