1. Pit-fall: It’s easy to become intimidated by The Pit. The fans are on top of you and on you all night, especially when New Mexico is good like it is this season. “We can’t worry about the little things and getting caught up in the distractions,” UW junior forward Djibril Thiam said. “The crowd’s going to be on us from the get go. We can’t worry about that. We need to stay together and do what we do.” Good advice, but easier said than done.
2. Limit the runs: Not the runs that cause you to use the bathroom, but the scoring runs New Mexico can quickly go on at home. You can’t take timeouts with you when the game is over, so coach Heath Schroyer needs to use them early and often if things don’t go the Cowboys’ way.
3. Score, score, score: The object of the game is to score more points than the opposition, but UW hasn’t scoreed more than 70 points during its five-game losing streak and is 0-12 when it doesn’t score more than 70. The Cowboys probably have to score a lot more than 70 points to have any chance of winning, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
4. Iron men: With sophomore centers Adam Waddell (ankle and knee) and Boubacar Sylla (foot) limited at best, UW must get a lot out of junior forward Djibril Thiam and true freshman forward Amath M’Baye. UW needs more than these two are probably capable of giving them in order to win, but at very least these two must play well and play a lot for UW to be able to hold its own inside.
5. To the point: UW sophomore point guard JayDee Luster is listed at 5-foot-9, but is more like 5-7. He faces tough tests every game in the MWC, but he faces arguably the best and most physcial point guard in the league in New Mexico junior Dariese Gary. Luster had nine assists in the first game between the two teams, but he also had a team-high four turnovers and was 0-for-5 from the free-throw line. Luster must play better, as does all the Cowboys.
Even if all those things fall into place for the Cowboys it might not be enough to win. Let’s face it, UW is 9-16 with seven fully healthy scholarship players going up against the 12th-ranked team in the nation that has won nine in a row. Some strange stuff will have to go down just for the Cowboys to be competitive. Unfortunately, that’s probably going to be the case as the season winds down no matter who the Pokes play.
See Wednesday’s paper for more on this game and Wednesday’s UW-New Mexico women’s game in Laramie.
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Robert: Pokes need to use the rest of this season to get these guys prepared for next year. If Wadell and Sulla are injured, perhaps he should consider either not playing them or limiting the playing time.
Administration needs to get more people into the seats. Its sort of a “chicken versus egg” in determining what comes first – fans in seats or a winning team. Unfortunately, UW will have difficulty recruiting quality players, regardless of the coach, if the AA is empty. Administration needs to consider special promotions – drawings for discounts at bookstore for students – call a student’s ID number during the game – must be present to win – to encourage students to attend games – dinner with the coach and team – to the frat or sorority or dorm floor that has the highest attendance, etc. Also they should consider special promotions for non-student fans – the Nuggets had a promotion of 4 personal pizzas, 4 pepsi, 4 game tickets, and parking for $49. UW should consider something similar. On weeknights – have special pricing for fans coming from Laramie. Consider a bus to bring fans from Chyenne.
Richard,
I agree with all of your points. Sometimes I think UW takes for granted it is the only show in town in terms of sports around the state and doesn’t do more to market itself or for fans — even when things are going well. You can never have enough good PR for your programs and there are numerous ways, like you mention, to do that.
I hope it considers some of these things as things continue to be rough.
Great comment!
RG