8-1! 19-3! Is this a dream? Don't wake me.
Game Thoughts:
1. Hunter Maldonado Memorial Game MVP Award - Since the namesake of this award is barred from winning due to excessive awesomeness, this game we are going to get Co-MVPs: Hunter Thompson and Brendan Wenzel. Before the game, if you would have told me that those guys were my Co-MVP's, I would probably have thought they got hot from 3 and lit up the scoreboard (like HT did in Fresno last year) and while they did hit a few three's, they are getting this award because of their defense and rebounding. Wait, HT and Wenzel? Defense and Rebounding? It happened! At least to an extent. HT did get taken advantage of a little bit on a couple of plays but overall really held his own well and I thought played as tough as I have seen him play. Wenzel attacked the glass multiple times. He had that one rebound and putback in traffic in the first half and I was like "who the hell was that"? Ike/Maldo suck up a lot of the attention and focus on this team as the highest scoring and highest usage duo in the country, but what puts this team over the top is guys like HT stepping up when called and Wenzel stepping in with Foster out and DuSell limited.
2. LVP - Fresno State Home Crowd - Look, I know it is kind of difficult for a Wyoming fan to criticize other crowds considering we played in a funeral home the last couple of years, but Fresno is a Top 50/60 team playing a conference leader at home on a Sunday afternoon! The worst part is that Fresno used to have good crowds.
3. Luck - Is it Luck? This is a big question that is going to plague Wyoming when it comes to NCAA tourney selection or at least seeding if we keep winning. If you look at "Strength of Resume" metrics the Pokes are a Top 25/30 team. If you look at predictive metrics, we are much lower. The predictive metrics penalize (or fail to reward sufficiently) close wins, which the Pokes are experts at. The reality is somewhere in the middle. Have the Pokes had some good bounces late in a couple of games? Absolutely. However, it isn't surprise that a team with 2 guys that can absolutely slow down the game, take the ball in the paint and get a bucket or foul anytime they want, are good in close games. They don't need open looks. It's not always the beautiful game, but it holds up really well in crunch time.
4. Jeff Linder - I don't even know what to say anymore. What an outstanding job he has done at Wyoming. The easy comparison is to look at where we were 2 years ago in the midst of a 2-16 MWC season and what is possibly the worst team in UW history (the 4-22 team in the mid to late 70's pre-Brandy has an argument, but was probably still a Top 200 team nationally as D-1 was far less bloated than today, AE's last 2 teams were sub 300). However, for me the real genius is in comparison to last year. Pokes were a competitive team last year that hit a lot of 3's out of high pick and roll action and couldn't rebound or defend their won shadow. Still, they were kind of head in the right direction improving from 9-24 to 14-11 with a talented group of underclassmen. What's amazing about the current run is half of that promising group is not really contributing at all. Williams transferred, Marble transferred, Foster has basically missed the whole season, and DuSell has either missed or been a non-factor due to the hamstring issue for almost the entire conference season. That's 4 of the top 6 scorers from a year ago. Linder has achieved this by building an offense around the unique talents of Ike, Maldo, and Jeffries, and getting growth from Oden and Wenzel. We have great players, but to lose 4 of the top 6 scorers, have no traditional PG, no real backup post presence (although as noted earlier, HT did yesterday), and to be fighting at the top of the league? It's incredible.
5. Graham Ike Development - We have discussed this before, but the next step in Graham's development is passing out of the double team. This is probably our biggest weakness right now. Double teams work against us, despite our perimeter shooting threats, because Graham is not yet comfortable passing out of the double team. In particular, anticipating the double team and hitting the shooter right as the help defender is on the way down. This isn't a criticism of Ike, just an observation. Right now what happens many times is Graham either says "F It" and tries to score anyway (and does many times! He's ridiculous) or waits too long and just has to find a safety valve. It's easy to forget, because of how skilled he is, that Graham has basically only played one season worth of College Basketball games and didn't play nearly all of his Senior Year in HS. It will take time to develop the timing and anticipation on the double team, but that could make us nearly impossible to guard.
6. DuSell/Foster - We have survived this long, but we really are going to need some help from these guys, especially DuSell. I hate to see this for him as he is clearly still not 100%. When healthy, he is such a critical piece for the Pokes on both sides of the ball.
7. What's next - The MWC this year is so brutal, combined with the compressed schedule due to COVID and it seems like every other day is a monumental game. Tuesday night is another huge one. USU is Top 50 Net and KenPom team that has been absolutely crushing teams in their current 5 game winning streak including an 18 point win over the Aztecs in Logan. They are playing really well and are super well coached. Pokes need all the support they can get. I really, really, really want this one.
Game Thoughts:
1. Hunter Maldonado Memorial Game MVP Award - Since the namesake of this award is barred from winning due to excessive awesomeness, this game we are going to get Co-MVPs: Hunter Thompson and Brendan Wenzel. Before the game, if you would have told me that those guys were my Co-MVP's, I would probably have thought they got hot from 3 and lit up the scoreboard (like HT did in Fresno last year) and while they did hit a few three's, they are getting this award because of their defense and rebounding. Wait, HT and Wenzel? Defense and Rebounding? It happened! At least to an extent. HT did get taken advantage of a little bit on a couple of plays but overall really held his own well and I thought played as tough as I have seen him play. Wenzel attacked the glass multiple times. He had that one rebound and putback in traffic in the first half and I was like "who the hell was that"? Ike/Maldo suck up a lot of the attention and focus on this team as the highest scoring and highest usage duo in the country, but what puts this team over the top is guys like HT stepping up when called and Wenzel stepping in with Foster out and DuSell limited.
2. LVP - Fresno State Home Crowd - Look, I know it is kind of difficult for a Wyoming fan to criticize other crowds considering we played in a funeral home the last couple of years, but Fresno is a Top 50/60 team playing a conference leader at home on a Sunday afternoon! The worst part is that Fresno used to have good crowds.
3. Luck - Is it Luck? This is a big question that is going to plague Wyoming when it comes to NCAA tourney selection or at least seeding if we keep winning. If you look at "Strength of Resume" metrics the Pokes are a Top 25/30 team. If you look at predictive metrics, we are much lower. The predictive metrics penalize (or fail to reward sufficiently) close wins, which the Pokes are experts at. The reality is somewhere in the middle. Have the Pokes had some good bounces late in a couple of games? Absolutely. However, it isn't surprise that a team with 2 guys that can absolutely slow down the game, take the ball in the paint and get a bucket or foul anytime they want, are good in close games. They don't need open looks. It's not always the beautiful game, but it holds up really well in crunch time.
4. Jeff Linder - I don't even know what to say anymore. What an outstanding job he has done at Wyoming. The easy comparison is to look at where we were 2 years ago in the midst of a 2-16 MWC season and what is possibly the worst team in UW history (the 4-22 team in the mid to late 70's pre-Brandy has an argument, but was probably still a Top 200 team nationally as D-1 was far less bloated than today, AE's last 2 teams were sub 300). However, for me the real genius is in comparison to last year. Pokes were a competitive team last year that hit a lot of 3's out of high pick and roll action and couldn't rebound or defend their won shadow. Still, they were kind of head in the right direction improving from 9-24 to 14-11 with a talented group of underclassmen. What's amazing about the current run is half of that promising group is not really contributing at all. Williams transferred, Marble transferred, Foster has basically missed the whole season, and DuSell has either missed or been a non-factor due to the hamstring issue for almost the entire conference season. That's 4 of the top 6 scorers from a year ago. Linder has achieved this by building an offense around the unique talents of Ike, Maldo, and Jeffries, and getting growth from Oden and Wenzel. We have great players, but to lose 4 of the top 6 scorers, have no traditional PG, no real backup post presence (although as noted earlier, HT did yesterday), and to be fighting at the top of the league? It's incredible.
5. Graham Ike Development - We have discussed this before, but the next step in Graham's development is passing out of the double team. This is probably our biggest weakness right now. Double teams work against us, despite our perimeter shooting threats, because Graham is not yet comfortable passing out of the double team. In particular, anticipating the double team and hitting the shooter right as the help defender is on the way down. This isn't a criticism of Ike, just an observation. Right now what happens many times is Graham either says "F It" and tries to score anyway (and does many times! He's ridiculous) or waits too long and just has to find a safety valve. It's easy to forget, because of how skilled he is, that Graham has basically only played one season worth of College Basketball games and didn't play nearly all of his Senior Year in HS. It will take time to develop the timing and anticipation on the double team, but that could make us nearly impossible to guard.
6. DuSell/Foster - We have survived this long, but we really are going to need some help from these guys, especially DuSell. I hate to see this for him as he is clearly still not 100%. When healthy, he is such a critical piece for the Pokes on both sides of the ball.
7. What's next - The MWC this year is so brutal, combined with the compressed schedule due to COVID and it seems like every other day is a monumental game. Tuesday night is another huge one. USU is Top 50 Net and KenPom team that has been absolutely crushing teams in their current 5 game winning streak including an 18 point win over the Aztecs in Logan. They are playing really well and are super well coached. Pokes need all the support they can get. I really, really, really want this one.
