Winning is fun! Tell your friends, family, voices in your head, everyone you know that lives within reasonable distance of Laramie and tell them to be at the AA this week.
Game Thoughts:
1. MVP - Drake Jeffries - Sure, Graham put up numbers and Jeffries didn't even score in the second half. However, this game to me came down to that critical stretch about 2/3 of the way through the first half. Pokes were down 27-21 and fading. They were tired, missing a critical starter, playing on the road, even Graham was missing his shots. It really could have gone down a dark path because I think Nevada plays better when they are ahead (more on them later). All Drake did is hit back to back to back 3 pointers to give the Pokes the lead and change the makeup of the game. He added a couple of more before the half and basically single handedly kept the Pokes in good position so Graham and Maldo could bring it home. He also had two beautiful defensive plays which again showed his athleticism (just like the Bean rejection against USU). The first was when Nevada was trying to complete a routine inbound on their own baseline and he jumped ridiculously high and just snatched it out of the air. You could tell the Nevada player had no idea Drake could get up that high. The second was a clean rejection on a corner 3 when the game was still in balance. He also played all 40 minutes. In a game where we needed his best effort with DuSell out, he brought it on both ends of the court. What a game.
2. LVP - COVID reschedules - 4 games in 8 days after a long COVID pause is going to be very difficult for the Pokes. Maldo and Jeffries each played 77 of 80 minutes against USU and Nevada and now have to turn around and play again in 2 days.
3. The Opponent - There is something wrong with this Nevada team. They are less than the sum of their parts. The contrast between them and USU this week was notable. The consistency, effort, and preparation from USU was clearly a level above Nevada. Nevada is very talented, but they don't play smart or consistent. I think there is a locker room/culture/something issue with them. It reminds me of our Football team. They are better than they are showing and they might get it together, but they had a golden opportunity to get the Pokes in a less than ideal situation. Pokes were tired, on the back end of a road trip, missing our 3rd best player and our leader had his worst game of the season. Yet, Pokes won by 10. In particular, I thought Nevada gave up with about minute and a half to go even though the game was not really over. There was a play with about a minute to go, where Sherfield (their best player), just stood still and complained to the ref! It was crazy.
4. The Freshman - Great game by Noah Reynolds. The stats don't jump out at you, but the context was very impressive. He had played about 25 minutes all season against D-1 competition and all of his minutes have come in games that were decided by more than 20 points. He was also coming back from Covid protocols and had to fly to meet the team. All he did was play 24 minutes against legit MWC competition (and a talented opposing backcourt) on the road. He didn't fill up the stat sheet, but I don't think you are looking for that from him in that situation. You just need solid minutes with X out and he brought it. Two areas jump out to me. The first are his (2) baskets. On one of them, he beat the defender off the dribble, got to the rim and absorbed the contact to finish and earn a 3 point play. It was a nice play, but it was also notable because we rarely see that kind of play from this Wyoming team. Maldo and Ike prefer generally to deliberately back their man down and even when Maldo beats someone off the dribble it is usually when he has a mismatch or a great fake. Reynolds just blew by his guy. X takes it to the rim sometimes but doesn't usually seek out contact the way Reynolds did. His second basket was a live ball steal and transition layup. We rarely force live ball turnovers or score in transition. Nice play from him. Aside from those baskets, it's the mentality. Linder said it a month ago or so that Noah thinks he is the best player on the floor. It may or may not be true (it's not true right now), but that is the way he plays. He was not timid on either end, but he wasn't reckless either. Picked up some fouls and was a little out of position a couple of times on defense but they were all mistakes of aggression. Really impressed. I am sure there will be plenty of moments that earn him one of those looks from Linder that just say "WTF", but overall I think he can really help fill the gap while X is out. That is badly needed because...
5. Missing X - While the Pokes won, we shouldn't underestimate how much we miss DuSell. He is such a critical part of what we do on both ends of the court. I know Linder said 2 days to 2 weeks, but I think that is a little gamesmanship. I don't think we see X until Mid February (I am not a Doctor, but hamstrings can really be nagging injuries that can be re-aggravated, I don't think you take chances). This is a huge challenge and opportunity for Wenzel, Foster, and Reynolds (apparently it just isn't going to happen for Dut).
6. Fast Start - The other thread discussing how this team matches up to past Poke teams is fun, but I am still keeping my expectations in check. The Pokes have a history, under multiple coaches, of fast starts and slow finishes. There are usually reasons (injuries, suspension, weak OOC, etc.), but there always seems to be something. A quick sample over the last 20 years:
02-03 - Started 4-0, 16-3 before fading to 8-6, 21-11. The obvious turning point was Bailey's injury, but Pokes were only 7-2 at that time. They still went on to win 9 of 10, including their first 4 conference games before fading.
06-07 - McClain's Last year. Pokes started 11-5, 2-0 before fading to 7-9, 17-15.
08-09 - The only decent Schroyer season. Pokes started 11-2, before ending 7-9, 19-14. This was almost entirely due to a laughably weak OOC (only decent win was Northern Iowa, lost to UCLA by 51)
11-12 - Shyatt's first year. Pokes went 14-2 OOC and got up to 4-3, 18-5 and a Top 50 KenPom ranking before losing 4 in a row and 7 out of 10.
12-13 - The Martinez incident. Pokes started 13-0 and even got to 2-2, 15-2 and a Top 30 KenPom after a 58-45 home win against SDSU. They would lose 10 of their next 12 and finish 4-12, 20-14.
13-14 - Nance's knee. Pokes were 8-5, 17-9 and had their KenPom up to 72 when Nance went down. They finished 9-9 in MWC play. While we can never say for certain what would have happened, the schedule was pretty soft in those last few games and Pokes with Nance would have been favored to finish 12-6 and probably be an NIT team.
14-15 - The NCAA/Mono year - Really good team, started 8-2, 19-4 with a rocking AA (the UNM game that year was probably the best crowd since 02-03 for a Men's game) and then Nance went out with Mono. Pokes recovered and won the MWCT obviously.
16-17 - Edwards first year - Much like Schroyer's second year, an easy OOC built a 10-2 record, but was probably never real and the Pokes finished 8-10 in MWC play (won the CBI...so, good? I guess?).
Some of those seasons are obviously just easy OOC and they hit reality once MWC play started, but some of them were legit good teams that declined for various reasons (usually missing players). Long story short, a lot can happen. I am confident that this group is well coached, talented, and hungry. But we aren't deep and we aren't dominant, so we don't have a large margin for error.
Game Thoughts:
1. MVP - Drake Jeffries - Sure, Graham put up numbers and Jeffries didn't even score in the second half. However, this game to me came down to that critical stretch about 2/3 of the way through the first half. Pokes were down 27-21 and fading. They were tired, missing a critical starter, playing on the road, even Graham was missing his shots. It really could have gone down a dark path because I think Nevada plays better when they are ahead (more on them later). All Drake did is hit back to back to back 3 pointers to give the Pokes the lead and change the makeup of the game. He added a couple of more before the half and basically single handedly kept the Pokes in good position so Graham and Maldo could bring it home. He also had two beautiful defensive plays which again showed his athleticism (just like the Bean rejection against USU). The first was when Nevada was trying to complete a routine inbound on their own baseline and he jumped ridiculously high and just snatched it out of the air. You could tell the Nevada player had no idea Drake could get up that high. The second was a clean rejection on a corner 3 when the game was still in balance. He also played all 40 minutes. In a game where we needed his best effort with DuSell out, he brought it on both ends of the court. What a game.
2. LVP - COVID reschedules - 4 games in 8 days after a long COVID pause is going to be very difficult for the Pokes. Maldo and Jeffries each played 77 of 80 minutes against USU and Nevada and now have to turn around and play again in 2 days.
3. The Opponent - There is something wrong with this Nevada team. They are less than the sum of their parts. The contrast between them and USU this week was notable. The consistency, effort, and preparation from USU was clearly a level above Nevada. Nevada is very talented, but they don't play smart or consistent. I think there is a locker room/culture/something issue with them. It reminds me of our Football team. They are better than they are showing and they might get it together, but they had a golden opportunity to get the Pokes in a less than ideal situation. Pokes were tired, on the back end of a road trip, missing our 3rd best player and our leader had his worst game of the season. Yet, Pokes won by 10. In particular, I thought Nevada gave up with about minute and a half to go even though the game was not really over. There was a play with about a minute to go, where Sherfield (their best player), just stood still and complained to the ref! It was crazy.
4. The Freshman - Great game by Noah Reynolds. The stats don't jump out at you, but the context was very impressive. He had played about 25 minutes all season against D-1 competition and all of his minutes have come in games that were decided by more than 20 points. He was also coming back from Covid protocols and had to fly to meet the team. All he did was play 24 minutes against legit MWC competition (and a talented opposing backcourt) on the road. He didn't fill up the stat sheet, but I don't think you are looking for that from him in that situation. You just need solid minutes with X out and he brought it. Two areas jump out to me. The first are his (2) baskets. On one of them, he beat the defender off the dribble, got to the rim and absorbed the contact to finish and earn a 3 point play. It was a nice play, but it was also notable because we rarely see that kind of play from this Wyoming team. Maldo and Ike prefer generally to deliberately back their man down and even when Maldo beats someone off the dribble it is usually when he has a mismatch or a great fake. Reynolds just blew by his guy. X takes it to the rim sometimes but doesn't usually seek out contact the way Reynolds did. His second basket was a live ball steal and transition layup. We rarely force live ball turnovers or score in transition. Nice play from him. Aside from those baskets, it's the mentality. Linder said it a month ago or so that Noah thinks he is the best player on the floor. It may or may not be true (it's not true right now), but that is the way he plays. He was not timid on either end, but he wasn't reckless either. Picked up some fouls and was a little out of position a couple of times on defense but they were all mistakes of aggression. Really impressed. I am sure there will be plenty of moments that earn him one of those looks from Linder that just say "WTF", but overall I think he can really help fill the gap while X is out. That is badly needed because...
5. Missing X - While the Pokes won, we shouldn't underestimate how much we miss DuSell. He is such a critical part of what we do on both ends of the court. I know Linder said 2 days to 2 weeks, but I think that is a little gamesmanship. I don't think we see X until Mid February (I am not a Doctor, but hamstrings can really be nagging injuries that can be re-aggravated, I don't think you take chances). This is a huge challenge and opportunity for Wenzel, Foster, and Reynolds (apparently it just isn't going to happen for Dut).
6. Fast Start - The other thread discussing how this team matches up to past Poke teams is fun, but I am still keeping my expectations in check. The Pokes have a history, under multiple coaches, of fast starts and slow finishes. There are usually reasons (injuries, suspension, weak OOC, etc.), but there always seems to be something. A quick sample over the last 20 years:
02-03 - Started 4-0, 16-3 before fading to 8-6, 21-11. The obvious turning point was Bailey's injury, but Pokes were only 7-2 at that time. They still went on to win 9 of 10, including their first 4 conference games before fading.
06-07 - McClain's Last year. Pokes started 11-5, 2-0 before fading to 7-9, 17-15.
08-09 - The only decent Schroyer season. Pokes started 11-2, before ending 7-9, 19-14. This was almost entirely due to a laughably weak OOC (only decent win was Northern Iowa, lost to UCLA by 51)
11-12 - Shyatt's first year. Pokes went 14-2 OOC and got up to 4-3, 18-5 and a Top 50 KenPom ranking before losing 4 in a row and 7 out of 10.
12-13 - The Martinez incident. Pokes started 13-0 and even got to 2-2, 15-2 and a Top 30 KenPom after a 58-45 home win against SDSU. They would lose 10 of their next 12 and finish 4-12, 20-14.
13-14 - Nance's knee. Pokes were 8-5, 17-9 and had their KenPom up to 72 when Nance went down. They finished 9-9 in MWC play. While we can never say for certain what would have happened, the schedule was pretty soft in those last few games and Pokes with Nance would have been favored to finish 12-6 and probably be an NIT team.
14-15 - The NCAA/Mono year - Really good team, started 8-2, 19-4 with a rocking AA (the UNM game that year was probably the best crowd since 02-03 for a Men's game) and then Nance went out with Mono. Pokes recovered and won the MWCT obviously.
16-17 - Edwards first year - Much like Schroyer's second year, an easy OOC built a 10-2 record, but was probably never real and the Pokes finished 8-10 in MWC play (won the CBI...so, good? I guess?).
Some of those seasons are obviously just easy OOC and they hit reality once MWC play started, but some of them were legit good teams that declined for various reasons (usually missing players). Long story short, a lot can happen. I am confident that this group is well coached, talented, and hungry. But we aren't deep and we aren't dominant, so we don't have a large margin for error.
