As the Wyoming men’s basketball team gets ready for Mountain West play, what do we know about this group?
For more on that, see my column in today’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle and Laramie Boomerang.
Here’s what coach Larry Shyatt had to say about what he learned from his team during its 14-2 nonconference record.
This entry was posted in Basketball and tagged Larry Shyatt, Mountain West Conference, UW men's basketball 2010-11 by Robert Gagliardi. Bookmark the permalink.
Larry is obviously doing a bang up job, the kids play very hard and the defense and discipline have improved exponentially from the dark days of the shysters. What concerns me as we move into MWC play, a huge jump in competition is our lack of rebounding. With our weak sisters of the poor schedule our rebound margin is nil. We now start playing much bigger more athletic teams. I just can’t fathom what is going on with Waddell and his rebounding. In 16 games he has a total of 46 rebounds, Martinez has 56, Cruz 44, JD 33. Nance Jr. has played a 148 less minutes and has 68 rebounds. Many are predicting we finish in the top half of the league, for this to happen we have to improve on rebounding, you can play all the great D in the world but if you can’t rebound you are going to get beat. Adam needs to rebound much better and Larry needs to figure out a way to have Nance Jr., Washington and Waddell in the game at the same time. That is probably not going to happen but I think we are just too small with JD, Cruz and Martinez in at the same time. The games we hold our own in the rebounding column we will have a good chance to win, when we lose the rebounding margin we will lose the game. That’s my prediction Robert.
The entire team needs to rebound better, as well as Adam. Waddell is a bit undersized to play center and I think that’s where he struggles sometimes on the boards. I wouldn’t look too much into who is UW’s leading rebounder as long as the team can hold its own. Even if guards are getting board, so be it at this point. But you are right where inside guys need to step it up a notch there.
Tough to get Washington, Waddell and Nance on the floor at the same time. Other team would have to have a huge line up out there for that to happen.
I am anxious to see how the team responds against this type of competition night after night. Obviously there will be big hurdles like New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State….but I don’t think it is out of the question to expect wins or at least splits against Boise, TCU, Air Force and CSU. Both the Broncos and the Falcons have yet to win on the road this year.. The win over CU on the road is proving to be a big victory and a nice feather in the cap for the Pokes. The Buffs are 11-4 and are the lone undefeated team in Pac-12 play at 3-0. With the great coaching staff UW has now I think this team can be coached and guided to a .500 record in conference play, which would mean seven more wins (21 for the season overall). Whether that proves to be in the top half of the final league standings remains to be seen. Whatever the result the return of Shyatt no doubt means that the men’s basketball team is finally on the rise.