The generally accepted "modern" era of college basketball began in 1986-1987 with the advent of the three point line. I believe Linder and his staff just completed the best coaching performance of any staff in any season in that era.
Brandy and his staff in 86-87 are going to get some well-justified arguments on their behalf. They made the Sweet 16 and won the conference tournament. The WAC was a three-bid league that season so it was tough sledding the whole way. I will not fight anyone who says the coaching job Brandy, Dick Lein and the rest of the staff did in 1987 was the best we've seen. Arguments could also be made for McClain's staff in 2002 and Shyatt's in 2015.
However...
The offense we ran this season had no basis in what Linder has run in years past, either at Wyoming, UNC or as an assistant in Boise. It was radically different. And in fact, it was an almost complete outlier to the rest of college basketball. The post utilization rate has been cited in news reports as being beyond anything recorded going back to Lew Alcindor. That means Linder and his staff tore up what they wanted to do and were flexible enough to fit their scheme to their personnel. This seems to be an extremely difficult thing to do that requires humility and a deep reservoir of knowledge of offensive basketball.
Ike is very, very good but he is not elite. He's not tremendously athletic and he doesn't spend a lot of time playing above the rim. I have no doubt he will improve and reach a higher level, but for this season he was pretty one-dimensional. He liked to play with his back to the basket, he's only ok at passing out of double teams and he's almost no threat at all outside the paint.
Maldo is similar. He's a guard who isn't that good from 3. He's ok but nowhere near the best shooter on the team or even in the guard rotation. He doesn't stand out as a great ball handler or passer. Pretty good, but not great. He's not a high flyer who finishes above the rim. But he's a great competitor, a very good defender, and he developed a unique way of offense that was all his own. And if you disagree it was all his own, please point out another guard in 2022-era NCAA basketball who gets buckets with running hook shots.
On top of all that, the team lacked any kind of real slasher and we were almost laughably young on the wings.
Despite all that, Wyoming earned an at-large bid, was ranked and at one point was headed toward something like a 6-seed. Linder and company cobbled together an offensive scheme out of bubble gum and scotch tape that not only kept us in games but almost won the league title and got us in the Big Dance.
And beyond that, they were able to put this season together despite embarking on one of the more difficult rebuilds in recent basketball history after Edwards ran the program into the ground and Linder was forced to recruit for a year via Zoom calls. It almost boggles the mind that this was possible.
I'm seeing some posts here and there with complaints about our offense and style of play. I will tolerate no Linder slander on this point. If you watched Ike or Maldo backing in from half court and complained about our offensive scheme, kindly take two steps back and choke yourself. This wasn't "Linder's offense." This was a crazy, throwback offense based around our unique personnel that had no semblance to what Linder would probably prefer to run or what he has in mind for the program. But somehow, some way they made it work.
Linder and his crew got every last bit out of this team. With a slightly different matchup in Dayton we might well have been playing into this past weekend.
That it happened at all was practically a goddamn basketball miracle if you ask me.
Brandy and his staff in 86-87 are going to get some well-justified arguments on their behalf. They made the Sweet 16 and won the conference tournament. The WAC was a three-bid league that season so it was tough sledding the whole way. I will not fight anyone who says the coaching job Brandy, Dick Lein and the rest of the staff did in 1987 was the best we've seen. Arguments could also be made for McClain's staff in 2002 and Shyatt's in 2015.
However...
The offense we ran this season had no basis in what Linder has run in years past, either at Wyoming, UNC or as an assistant in Boise. It was radically different. And in fact, it was an almost complete outlier to the rest of college basketball. The post utilization rate has been cited in news reports as being beyond anything recorded going back to Lew Alcindor. That means Linder and his staff tore up what they wanted to do and were flexible enough to fit their scheme to their personnel. This seems to be an extremely difficult thing to do that requires humility and a deep reservoir of knowledge of offensive basketball.
Ike is very, very good but he is not elite. He's not tremendously athletic and he doesn't spend a lot of time playing above the rim. I have no doubt he will improve and reach a higher level, but for this season he was pretty one-dimensional. He liked to play with his back to the basket, he's only ok at passing out of double teams and he's almost no threat at all outside the paint.
Maldo is similar. He's a guard who isn't that good from 3. He's ok but nowhere near the best shooter on the team or even in the guard rotation. He doesn't stand out as a great ball handler or passer. Pretty good, but not great. He's not a high flyer who finishes above the rim. But he's a great competitor, a very good defender, and he developed a unique way of offense that was all his own. And if you disagree it was all his own, please point out another guard in 2022-era NCAA basketball who gets buckets with running hook shots.
On top of all that, the team lacked any kind of real slasher and we were almost laughably young on the wings.
Despite all that, Wyoming earned an at-large bid, was ranked and at one point was headed toward something like a 6-seed. Linder and company cobbled together an offensive scheme out of bubble gum and scotch tape that not only kept us in games but almost won the league title and got us in the Big Dance.
And beyond that, they were able to put this season together despite embarking on one of the more difficult rebuilds in recent basketball history after Edwards ran the program into the ground and Linder was forced to recruit for a year via Zoom calls. It almost boggles the mind that this was possible.
I'm seeing some posts here and there with complaints about our offense and style of play. I will tolerate no Linder slander on this point. If you watched Ike or Maldo backing in from half court and complained about our offensive scheme, kindly take two steps back and choke yourself. This wasn't "Linder's offense." This was a crazy, throwback offense based around our unique personnel that had no semblance to what Linder would probably prefer to run or what he has in mind for the program. But somehow, some way they made it work.
Linder and his crew got every last bit out of this team. With a slightly different matchup in Dayton we might well have been playing into this past weekend.
That it happened at all was practically a goddamn basketball miracle if you ask me.
