A good omen for NCAA tournament Cowboys,

Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:06 pm

The last two tournament winning teams have had one thing in common: they had big, physical, post players in abundance.

The 2002 squad had Josh, Ugo, and Uche. The late 80's flavor had Leckner, Sommers, and Lodgins.

This years Wyoming team has real size. Ryan Holmgren has a picture on his twitter of the squad standing up straight. It looks to me like Johnathan Barnes has grown another inch from last year. Both him and Naughton look taller than Alan Herndon. Haydon Dalton isn't much shorter than the three of them. Naughton looks like a grown, damn man to me. He's big. Barnes is huge. He looks like the tallest guy on the team. We're going to have some real bangers down low. Barnes and Naughton could be the some of the best post defenders in college basketball if they put their minds to it.

Next year we get two more stretch fours, Austin Mueller and Iggy Hunte.

Look at the future of the Wyoming post.

Barnes, Naughton, Herndon all look bigger than 6'9". Dalton is about a half an inch shorter than them. Moemeka and James are in that 6'7 range. Next year we add two more 6'7" guys to the mix. They're all freshman or sophomores aside from Herndon. We've got abundant size/length in the pipeline right now.

It's going to take a lot of hard work.

We can't ever take anything for granted.

I know several guys in today's team photo won't be there when it's taken two years from now.

There's a lot of development that still has to happen.

This team has size, length, and physicality that I can't remember from a Wyoming team. There's length all over the roster. Eventually there might be the length and depth to let Justin James play two guard.

Check out Ryan Holmgren's twitter. Theres a photo of the team all standing up straight in his photo collection, not posted in a tweet. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Wyoming got a lot bigger in the off-season.

Wed Sep 30, 2015 8:35 pm

I'm excited for the future of Wyoming Basketball.

Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:49 pm

Just checked out the team photo. Barnes is looking pretty cut which is great! Just looking at that photo though makes me feel we are only 4 deep at the post without redshirting any of the new guys. Not sure what we can get out of all of them because pretty much everyone of them has a lot left to show us including Herndon. We're so loaded at guard its crazy, we might be looking to run n gun old school Shyatt style!!! Can't wait

Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:57 pm

Cosmic Cowboy wrote:Just checked out the team photo. Barnes is looking pretty cut which is great! Just looking at that photo though makes me feel we are only 4 deep at the post without redshirting any of the new guys. Not sure what we can get out of all of them because pretty much everyone of them has a lot left to show us including Herndon. We're so loaded at guard its crazy, we might be looking to run n gun old school Shyatt style!!! Can't wait

I agree. This years squad is more guard dominated. Down the road, Wyoming has..

Two guys 6'10 in Naughton and Barnes. Both of them are big bruisers.
We have one 6'9 guy in Herndon.
We have one 6'8" guy in Dalton
This year we have two guys that are 6'7": James and Moemeka.
Next year we add two more guys that will be at least 6'7" coming in. Mueller and Hunte.

When we develop some of this post depth, we should be able to play James at the two.

Imagine something like this:

Center - Barnes/Naughton
PF - Moemeka/Dalton
SF - Mueller/Hunte
SG - James/ Trey Washington
PG-Conway/Liebermann

We would have more length than SDSU.

Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:28 pm

Wed Sep 30, 2015 11:12 pm

Cowboy Junky wrote:
I agree. This years squad is more guard dominated. Down the road, Wyoming has..

Two guys 6'10 in Naughton and Barnes. Both of them are big bruisers.
We have one 6'9 guy in Herndon.
We have one 6'8" guy in Dalton
This year we have two guys that are 6'7": James and Moemeka.
Next year we add two more guys that will be at least 6'7" coming in. Mueller and Hunte.

When we develop some of this post depth, we should be able to play James at the two.

Imagine something like this:

Center - Barnes/Naughton
PF - Moemeka/Dalton
SF - Mueller/Hunte
SG - James/ Trey Washington
PG-Conway/Liebermann

We would have more length than SDSU.

I LOVE this! What's really exciting is how well we should be handling the rock with those guys in our lineup. The next exciting thing is just thinking about a Shyatt coached D with length!!!! So fun to be in the golden age again. This crew is already talking about going for a conference championship too. That's what the f-word is up right there

Thu Oct 01, 2015 12:02 am

U guys forgot herndon in that lineup... so we are even bigger with more depth

Thu Oct 01, 2015 12:06 am

Good catch.

Barnes/Naughton
Herndon/Moemeka
Mueller/Hunte
James/Mcmanamen
Conway/Liebermann

We've got the length for James to play two.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 8:28 am

What strikes me is how tall James is. I saw him at a vball game, very tall. Watch his tape- Justin can dribble, drive, pull up, spot up and slam. We really do have the potential to put massive lineups out there if James can be the two guard. Very excited for the season!

Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:19 am

joshvanklomp wrote:

HOLY HELL!!! Barnes looks like a man amongst a bunch of boys!!! Naughton looks enormous too. Holy crap. Our size and length will be a strength this year. We could be looking at the beginning of a fantastic time in Wyoming Basketball. This team has potential to be really good.

I heard some snippets of Adams talking at yesterdays media day and he said this is the most talented and balanced team he's seen at Wyoming... That bodes well. Hopefully through hard work and the coaching staff's leadership this young team can turn that skill into wins and continued success. Adams also said that this team EXPECTS to repeat. Age is not an excuse to come up short of their goals. I loved hearing that from him. Seems like he's accepting and thriving in the #1 role. He'll be a great leader this year.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:33 am

I thought Moemeka was skinny....he doesn't look skinny. Looking forward to taking off from where the team left off last year. This is also a team that could lead the nation in dunks again. Cooke and Nance are gone....but so much more potential right now. Someone said Morris Marshall can flat out fly and score.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:58 am

Barnes...my gosh.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:46 am

The roster doesn't have many holes. You could see the need for a tall guard. Ill bet Parker Stewart will be a 2017 top priority.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:10 am

Cowboy Junky wrote:The roster doesn't have many holes. You could see the need for a tall guard. Ill bet Parker Stewart will be a 2017 top priority.

While I agree, I was blown away how big Morris Marshall is... He walked by me at a football game and dwarfed me. And Im not a small person...

I have heard he's an animal and a freak athlete. I can't wait for this season.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:44 am

Yeah we do look bigger and more muscular across the board. Even the guards look bigger. Conway looks even bigger than I thought he was in his arms and legs. The only one who looks thin really is Dalton but he is tall and can hit the 3 ball.

Think this will be a team that is extremely talented but young and they will be a team that you will notice gets a lot better with each game. Might be some growing pains here and there early in the season but as the season progresses they will get better and better and will be a tough out by MWC tournament time.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 12:11 pm

Cowboy Junky wrote:The roster doesn't have many holes. You could see the need for a tall guard. Ill bet Parker Stewart will be a 2017 top priority.

Well for this year, Adams, although only about 6'1, plays like he's 6'6.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:13 pm

seattlecowboy wrote:Yeah we do look bigger and more muscular across the board. Even the guards look bigger. Conway looks even bigger than I thought he was in his arms and legs. The only one who looks thin really is Dalton but he is tall and can hit the 3 ball.

Think this will be a team that is extremely talented but young and they will be a team that you will notice gets a lot better with each game. Might be some growing pains here and there early in the season but as the season progresses they will get better and better and will be a tough out by MWC tournament time.

Conway was recruited for football at one point in his career. He just stopped growing in height, so he decided to go the basketball route. He's an athlete.

This team is REALLY talented, but we are also RAW. Just like the football team. We are going to have a bunch of first timers out there. We will still need to grow and bond as a team in game time experience.

But I agree that this team has massive potential.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:37 pm

Parker Stewart is the best shooter I've seen in a long, long time. Kid can STROKE.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:25 pm

Well I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't even be that disappointed if this team finished last in the MWC. I'm still HIGH off that NCAA and MWC tourney run we got last year. I know it takes time so I'm super patient with this squad, Shyatt & company have earned that patience from me for a good 3 to 4 years

.....I don't think that's gonna happen though we'll probably be at least mid tier this year. It's definitely like a mysterious brown n gold present just waiting to be opened.????????????? CAN'T WAIT! I hope we are a hard dunking team...I LOVE THAT poop.

f-word YES JOSH ADAMS senior year!!!! WYO LEGEND.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:24 pm

Cosmic Cowboy wrote:Well I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't even be that disappointed if this team finished last in the MWC. I'm still HIGH off that NCAA and MWC tourney run we got last year. I know it takes time so I'm super patient with this squad, Shyatt & company have earned that patience from me for a good 3 to 4 years .....I don't think that's gonna happen though we'll probably be at least mid tier this year. It's definitely like a mysterious brown n gold present just waiting to be opened.????????????? CAN'T WAIT! I hope we are a hard dunking team...I LOVE THAT poop.

f-word YES JOSH ADAMS senior year!!!! WYO LEGEND.

I too am stoked for this year coming off that huge run last season but I would be greatly disappointed if we finish anywhere south of 3rd. I am pour shots of cool aid for anyone who's thirsty!!! I don't think we see a drop off this season. I think we shift gears and run run run this season. We shoot butt loads of threes and play staunch defense. Josh Adams believes they can win again and so do I!!