Colby Wollenman- MSU

[BeaverPoke]

Just found out that Colby Wollenman from Big Horn highschool is a freshman playing at Michigan State.
Why doesn't anybody bring him up when they are whining about in-state players not playing at UW?
Or did I just not see his name?

[stymeman]

was this a heath schroyer over look, man to go to a Big 10 school, why didn't he get looks from UW?? hmmm

[laxwyo]

I thought I read somewhere that he walked on after choosing michigan st. for academic reasons. I don't think he plays much right now. I think he might be that Rudy kind of player. I remember Mich St's coach loving his drive and how hard he works, but he might not quite have enough talent to play. but hey, my memory is a little fuzzy.

[NowherePoke]

He's a walk-on, and it's kind of a nice story because he is a rarity in big-time college hoops as a true walk-on. Many walk-ons are "recruited walk-ons" that are basically recruited, but not given scholarships. Wollenman earned his roster spot the hard way.

He was a D2/CC type recruit coming out of HS, so not really a player Wyoming missed on or anything like that.

Here is a good story on him from last year:

http://trib.com/sports/high-school/woll ... 7aefe.html

[WyoExpat]

I have referenced him more than once, but not by name.

The statement, "He was a D2/CC type recruit coming out of HS, so not really a player Wyoming missed on or anything like that." perfectly illustrates my point about how we think and talk about kids coming out of Wyoming. For crying out loud, I do not care how he made Michigan State's roster for Coach Tom Izzo, the fact that he could demonstrates that he was not so obviously inferior as a 2A player in Wyoming that our own coaches were right to stay away. The basic problem is that, conventional wisdom in Wyoming is local kids, for the most part, can't really play. I admit I have an ax to grind here because I was flat out told that they same general rule applies to local people who are looking to start a career in Wyoming. Wyoming people have to leave and prove themselves elsewhere before they are worthy of consideration for entry-level positions in Wyoming. It is the same basic attitude that we see when we discuss sports prospects in Wyoming, just applied in a different context.

In fairness to Mr. Wollenman, the news stories about him were that he is a National Merit Scholar and that he had chosen to go to a Big Ten school before he led his football and basketball teams to state championships as a senior. We can be as proud of U.W.'s academics as we want, but we are not at the same level as the Big Ten. Has anyone where ever tried to get admitted to a Big Ten school?

It seems like Colby Wollenman was either the Gatorade Player of the Year for Wyoming last year or he was the Male Milward Simpson Student-Athlete award winner last year, so it is not like he was off the statewide radar.

[laxwyo]

In fairness to Mr. Wollenman, the news stories about him were that he is a National Merit Scholar and that he had chosen to go to a Big Ten school before he led his football and basketball teams to state championships as a senior. We can be as proud of U.W.'s academics as we want, but we are not at the same level as the Big Ten. Has anyone where ever tried to get admitted to a Big Ten school?

Wouldn't you be one of the guys to throw a fit if we said this about our basketball or football team?

[WyoExpat]

In fairness to Mr. Wollenman, the news stories about him were that he is a National Merit Scholar and that he had chosen to go to a Big Ten school before he led his football and basketball teams to state championships as a senior. We can be as proud of U.W.'s academics as we want, but we are not at the same level as the Big Ten. Has anyone where ever tried to get admitted to a Big Ten school?

Wouldn't you be one of the guys to throw a fit if we said this about our basketball or football team?

Yes and no. There is a gap athletically between us and the elite tier of programs. The difference is that, at least with respect to basketball, it is a gap we can readily close. The academic gap is more difficult to close. I do not want for us to try to maintain that gap. I want to see us close the gap all the way around.

With respect to Mr. Wollenman, the stakes are much higher for the students involved when choosing between U.W.'s academic reputation and the reputation of a Big Ten school. As I understand the story, he has his eye on medical school. One's undergraduate institution makes a difference in that process.

We disagree about whether we should actively strive to aim to bring our facilities down to something more fitting for an inferior program. It would be like downsizing our libraries and labs because they were too good for us. To me, the A-A currently represents what our basketball program looks like when it is reaching its potential. The gap between the size of our largest crowds and the A-A's capacity is a measure of how far our program is below the level that it can perform at. Similarly, the extent to which the A-A is downsized is a reflection of how far we intend to reduce our aspirations.

Ideally, the whole University could improve to the point that it is a peer institution to Big Ten schools in terms of academics and research. Our basketball facility was built at the level that I want to see both our program and our whole school to reach.

[NowherePoke]

I have referenced him more than once, but not by name.

The statement, "He was a D2/CC type recruit coming out of HS, so not really a player Wyoming missed on or anything like that." perfectly illustrates my point about how we think and talk about kids coming out of Wyoming. For crying out loud, I do not care how he made Michigan State's roster for Coach Tom Izzo, the fact that he could demonstrates that he was not so obviously inferior as a 2A player in Wyoming that our own coaches were right to stay away. The basic problem is that, conventional wisdom in Wyoming is local kids, for the most part, can't really play. I admit I have an ax to grind here because I was flat out told that they same general rule applies to local people who are looking to start a career in Wyoming. Wyoming people have to leave and prove themselves elsewhere before they are worthy of consideration for entry-level positions in Wyoming. It is the same basic attitude that we see when we discuss sports prospects in Wyoming, just applied in a different context.

In fairness to Mr. Wollenman, the news stories about him were that he is a National Merit Scholar and that he had chosen to go to a Big Ten school before he led his football and basketball teams to state championships as a senior. We can be as proud of U.W.'s academics as we want, but we are not at the same level as the Big Ten. Has anyone where ever tried to get admitted to a Big Ten school?

It seems like Colby Wollenman was either the Gatorade Player of the Year for Wyoming last year or he was the Male Milward Simpson Student-Athlete award winner last year, so it is not like he was off the statewide radar.

Sounds like you have a personal issue that is clouding your objectivity.

In regards to your question about admission to a Big 10 school, as a matter of fact I earned my MBA from IU's Kelley School of Business (rated Top 20 nationally, significantly higher than Broad at MSU, FWIW) and yes admission is selective. However, nobody is questioning Wollenman's academic credentials, nor his decision to bypass athletic opportunities at Black Hills and NWC in order to pursue his educational goals at MSU.

Wollenman was not considered a D1 recruit and you significantly underestimate the capabilities of our current roster to believe that they are equivalent, or less, than a true walk-on seeing only a couple of feel good garbage time minutes on a high quality MSU team.

The MWC is one of the Top 6 leagues in the country this year and top 7-8 over time. You will not compete for MWC titles with a roster comprised of the 15th and 16th guys from Big Ten benches.

[seattlecowboy]

[quote="WyoExpat"]I have referenced him more than once, but not by name.

The statement, "He was a D2/CC type recruit coming out of HS, so not really a player Wyoming missed on or anything like that." perfectly illustrates my point about how we think and talk about kids coming out of Wyoming. For crying out loud, I do not care how he made Michigan State's roster for Coach Tom Izzo, the fact that he could demonstrates that he was not so obviously inferior as a 2A player in Wyoming that our own coaches were right to stay away. The basic problem is that, conventional wisdom in Wyoming is local kids, for the most part, can't really play. quote]

No offense but I played high school basketball in Wyoming and was offered some smaller college scholarships to play in college nothing major of course and I played against Greg Sawyer in high school and some other good players in Wyoming. I live in Seattle now and I can tell you for the most part you might find 1 guy in the whole state of Wyoming each year that could play high school ball out here and make any sort of impact. The difference between high school ball in these more populated area's and Wyoming is night and day. Atleast out here in Seattle it is.

Sure there are a few "all state" players in Wyoming who would make the high school teams out here but most of them would be riding the pine or they would just be role players. Just too many great high school athletes out here and other big cities to choose from.

Wyoming will occasionally produce a Greg Sawyer or a Marcus Bailey but for the most part (99% of the time) that isn't happening.

[dapokes]

I have referenced him more than once, but not by name.

The statement, "He was a D2/CC type recruit coming out of HS, so not really a player Wyoming missed on or anything like that." perfectly illustrates my point about how we think and talk about kids coming out of Wyoming. For crying out loud, I do not care how he made Michigan State's roster for Coach Tom Izzo, the fact that he could demonstrates that he was not so obviously inferior as a 2A player in Wyoming that our own coaches were right to stay away. The basic problem is that, conventional wisdom in Wyoming is local kids, for the most part, can't really play. I admit I have an ax to grind ....

[WyoExpat]

Wyoming will occasionally produce a Greg Sawyer or a Marcus Bailey but for the most part (99% of the time) that isn't happening.

Marcus Bailey was a preseason Wooden Award candidate going into his senior year. My argument is basically that I expect there are occasionally some players that we miss who fit someplace in the area between All-Conference players and "can't play MWC ball."

I accept that there are going to be more players that are more fully developed coming out of high school in a city of 500,000 than there are coming out of the 500,000 people scattered across Wyoming. On the other hand, I would think that the statistically distribution of kids that have the potential to eventually become players would be similar. In Wyoming, the problem ought to be that kids are just more raw and are farther from reaching their ceiling at age 18.

If there are maybe two players from the state that can play in any three-year span but we only get one every four years, then we are missing some.

What astounds me is that, when we do get a kid from Wyoming into the program, it seems like they become a go-to player. I do not think that we miss many of the Marcus Baileys that come out of Wyoming. I do wonder whether we are missing some players that would fill a Bobby Traylor role as an experienced 6th man off the bench or even a sharpshooter off the bench that we sometimes wish we had? I do not expect every player out of the state to eventually be a 4-year starter and one of the two leading scorers.