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Wyoming beats Peru State

The game didn't sound bad at all, Granted it's a weak team obviously but I have hopes mainly because football looks like we could end winless which is really disappointing but the team looks like they don't care which is sad.
 
We did play pretty good defense in the 2nd half - holding them to 21 points. Usually defense is what lets up in a blowout, so hopefully that will be a good sign.

Cruz shot lights out tonight. 7-9 and 3-3 from 3. Jackson and M'baye shot great as well.
 
well...first game is up next week... against Kean.. lol not too much difference from peru st. Kean plays a local school in my city called Moravian. shouldnt be very difficult. Hopefully the 3 point shooting wont dip too much lower against better competition. we certainly missed that last year
 
granted it was peru state but 13 threes is ridiculous its nice to know we have that and we will get afam back and waddell, we could be decent this year if HS doesnt eff it up
 
Cruz & Gibson look like they will be good additions to the team. Cruz is a shooter and a scrapper. He will keep the defense busy on the perimeter guarding him. Gibson reminds me of Hobson from New Mexico - not quite the offensive skills, but very good rebounding (a rebounding machine) and defensive skills (not too bad on offense either). I'm worried about Waddell. Seems like he is always hurt - don't know the extent of his injury. Muojeke didn't get on the floor, so he is still a question mark.
 
TwoTone said:
I feel kinda wrong not having season tickets :| kinda. Dirty

It's not too late. I still think HS is a poor coach, but there are a lot of kids on this team that are easy to cheer for.

Alternatively, if you are like me and stuck 1000 miles away, I would recommend buying Cowboys for kids season tickets.
 
WYCowboy said:
Cruz & Gibson look like they will be good additions to the team. Cruz is a shooter and a scrapper. He will keep the defense busy on the perimeter guarding him. Gibson reminds me of Hobson from New Mexico - not quite the offensive skills, but very good rebounding (a rebounding machine) and defensive skills (not too bad on offense either). I'm worried about Waddell. Seems like he is always hurt - don't know the extent of his injury. Muojeke didn't get on the floor, so he is still a question mark.
Did you see the game? Any thoughts on Mbaye. Everything I hear is that he is going to be the breakout star on this team. Obviously his stats looked great last night, but I assume Peru didn't have anyone that could match him physically. I was just wondering if his handle improved and if the hyped increase in muscle mass is notable. I am excited to see him play this year. He plays with a passion and intensity.
 
NowherePoke said:
WYCowboy said:
Cruz & Gibson look like they will be good additions to the team. Cruz is a shooter and a scrapper. He will keep the defense busy on the perimeter guarding him. Gibson reminds me of Hobson from New Mexico - not quite the offensive skills, but very good rebounding (a rebounding machine) and defensive skills (not too bad on offense either). I'm worried about Waddell. Seems like he is always hurt - don't know the extent of his injury. Muojeke didn't get on the floor, so he is still a question mark.
Did you see the game? Any thoughts on Mbaye. Everything I hear is that he is going to be the breakout star on this team. Obviously his stats looked great last night, but I assume Peru didn't have anyone that could match him physically. I was just wondering if his handle improved and if the hyped increase in muscle mass is notable. I am excited to see him play this year. He plays with a passion and intensity.

Yes, I was at the game last night. I guess I was too focused in my report on the new team members. Mbaye looked great and I would say he has bulked up some, but he is still very athletic. When you add that to the experience of starting about half the games last year, he looks like he will contribute a lot to the team this season. He sure needs to work on his free throws though. (Did you know Wyoming was the #1 team in the nation in free throws made last year?) The Peru State team was pretty small with the exception of their post player who is 6-10, but they played a pretty agressive defense. Jackson has improved (if that is possible) and looked really good on both offense and defense (he had several steals). His ability to get to the basket may be better than Ewing was. Thiam may be the most improved on the entire team. He is playing with much more confidence and aggressiveness on both offense and defense. This team looks like they are very comfortable playing with each other. If we get Afam and Adam back, we will have good depth on this team.
 
What in the hell do they have brewing down there in Laramie?

From what I saw last night, thats not an 8th place MWC basketball team. Cautiously optimistic...
 
TheRealUW said:
From what I saw last night, thats not an 8th place MWC basketball team. Cautiously optimistic...

On the other hand Peru State is probably not a 1st place NAIA team. Wait till they get a real test before deciding anything.
 
Adv8RU12 said:
TheRealUW said:
From what I saw last night, thats not an 8th place MWC basketball team. Cautiously optimistic...

On the other hand Peru State is probably not a 1st place NAIA team. Wait till they get a real test before deciding anything.


Kean University shouldn't be too tough of a test for us, but I hate to say that until we start playing some good competition and see how we handle it. I don't know how good No. Colorado is, but after them we gradually start playing tougher teams with Missouri on Nov. 23rd in Cancun, Mexico - then we'll know if we can play with the big boys. This Peru St. game was the first game with the Cowboys for Gibson, Cruz, & Hudson outside of a scrimmage with their own teammates, so they are still adjusting. The next couple of games should help getting them up to speed. The starters from last season look like they are good to go.
 
Adv8RU12 said:
On the other hand Peru State is probably not a 1st place NAIA team. Wait till they get a real test before deciding anything.

You are correct. Peru State is a very poor basketball team. However, bad basketball teams play bad basketball even against poor opponents. I didn't see bad basketball from the Pokes last night. Hence the cautious optimism.

Ask Utah how they are feeling about their team after their exhibition game. Remember that Adams State team that we beat by 50 last year? Well, that same Adams State was leading Utah in the second half.
 
Am i the only one worried after this game? Yeah we scored at will against a team of nobodies, but how about Freethrows? 11-23? What the hell is that? We've lost several games in the last few years that if we could have at least shot 60% or better we won the damn game!
Akron last year, we lose by 9 points, we missed 10 freethrows. CSU lost by 10, went 55% from the line. TCU lost by 3, missed 9 freethrows. UNM lost by 2, shot only 57% from the line. Lost to AFA in the play in game, shot only 42% from the line. That in and of itself puts us to 15-16 last year if we could make our freebies. not to mention the missed free throws against Monmouth and Hampton last year, probably would have gave us the win.
Do coaches and players really think that the freethrow is not that important to the game that they don't even take time to shoot them in practice? At least with McClain's teams he had them shooting Freebies on a regular basis. Team avg? usually 77 to 80% on the season. It seems like we are looking for guys that are more dedicated to busting three's than making a wide open 15 footer?
 
kansasCowboy said:
Am i the only one worried after this game? Yeah we scored at will against a team of nobodies, but how about Freethrows? 11-23? What the hell is that? We've lost several games in the last few years that if we could have at least shot 60% or better we won the damn game!
Akron last year, we lose by 9 points, we missed 10 freethrows. CSU lost by 10, went 55% from the line. TCU lost by 3, missed 9 freethrows. UNM lost by 2, shot only 57% from the line. Lost to AFA in the play in game, shot only 42% from the line. That in and of itself puts us to 15-16 last year if we could make our freebies. not to mention the missed free throws against Monmouth and Hampton last year, probably would have gave us the win.
Do coaches and players really think that the freethrow is not that important to the game that they don't even take time to shoot them in practice? At least with McClain's teams he had them shooting Freebies on a regular basis. Team avg? usually 77 to 80% on the season. It seems like we are looking for guys that are more dedicated to busting three's than making a wide open 15 footer?

While I totally agree on the importance of free throws (notice how the smaller, unathletic, Peru team had no problems with their freebies. No excuse for high major D-1 talent like we have to not be able to hit their free throws), I have to disagree about McClain's teams. Here are the team FT% for the last 9 years (as far back as I could find):

McClain:
01-02: .698
02-03: .696
03-04: .674
04-05: .668
05-06: .658
06-07: .723

Schroyer:
07-08: .723
08-09: .727
09-10: .674


What does this tell us? It tells us that the coach is less important than the actual players who are taking the free throws (or if you prefer: recruiting is more important to FT% than coaching).

You will notice we have been generally a pretty poor FT shooting team, with the exception of 06-07 to 08-09. What changed during those years? Well, primarily it was the fact that most of the shots were being taken by our quick, penetrating guards after getting fouled on drives to the hoop. These guys were good FT shooters (Ewing and Jones primarily, Muojeke replaced Jones in 08-09 in terms of FT's. Ogirri was a great FT shooter, but didn't get to the line that often that year).

Before that, we had a higher percentage of our attempts from our big men. Guys like Davis, Uche, and Justin Williams. None of those guys were as proficient at the line as Ewing, for example.

I am not entirely sure what the means for this year, but I suspect it means we will likely struggle from the line as a team. While guys like Mbaye and Waddell continue to grow and improve their offensive game, they will enjoy more opportunities from the charity stripe. Although they can certainly improve individually, they both have a long way to go to reach what I would consider an average level (70-75%). I suspect this means our team FT% will be quite low this year.

In regards to the 3's vs. FT's, I am not sure we can really say that. I think the biggest problem Schroyer had in some previous classes is recruiting too many of the same type of player. Primarily slashers that are good going to the rim, but are not great shooters. He overcompensated this past year by recruiting 3 guys that are primarily shooters (Cruz, Hudson, Martinez). I would say it is too early to say that any of those guys are not good FT shooters.

Having a healthy Afam will help our FT percentage significantly. He gets to the line with a high frequency and hits a solid percentage (was hitting 83.5% before his injury last year).
 

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