The Cowboy Chronicles

Archive for the ‘UW men’s basketball’ category

UW men’s hoops news

July 4th, 2010

I had a chance to catch up with Wyoming men’s basketball coach Heath Schroyer a couple of days ago.

He told me junior forward Afam Muojeke still is ahead of schedule in terms of his rehab from a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee suffered last season at BYU. Muojeke begins jogging soon and is expected to be cleared for all activity by September.

Most of the players that were in Laramie for the summer were given a break for July to head home for a little while. Senior forward Djibril Thiam is still in town doing an internship for UW’s athletic marketing department. I also talked to Thiam last week and he said true freshman guard Joe Hudson from the San Diego area can really shoot the ball and has looked good in summer workouts.

Cameron Harvey, a 6-2 guard out of Chicago, verbally committed to UW last year before he entered his sophomore year of high school. Harvey had a good sophomore season and is ranked in the top 100 junior-to-be high school players in the nation. He recently played on an Under-17 national team and played well.

UW still has one scholarship to give for this coming season, and Schroyer said there are a couple of players he and his staff are interested in. They are waiting to see if they will pass their academic requirements to get into school. Schroyer doesn’t feel the need to sign someone, and may opt to bring in a Division I transfer who would sit out the 2010-11 season. A candidate is former USC forward Leonard Washington. The 6-7, 230-pound Washington averaged 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game last season. He played in 20 games, all off the bench. Washington is from Lake Charles, La.

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Posted in Afam Muojeke, Djibril Thiam, Heath Schroyer, UW men's basketball, UW men's basketball recruiting

UW and the APR

June 9th, 2010

The latest Academic Progress Ratings from the NCAA that monitor’s student-athlete retention and eligibility were released Wednesday.

Wyoming did not receive any scholarship reductions in any of its sports. The sport with the most documented problems has been men’s basketball, and for the second straight year its APR improved and achieved an all-time high.

The latest data is for the 2008-09 academic year, and UW’s men’s basketball APR was 938. Last year was 935, which was its best score since APR data started to be collected in the 2003-04. Overall APR scores are done on a four-year average, and this year’s data replaces the 2005-06 score.

The score programs try to reach is 925, which actually is a percentage of 92.5 percent.

The men’s basketball team’s multi-year APR score remains below 925 at 892, but that is up from 884 last year. UW isn’t subject to penalties from the NCAA due to the progress it has shown in recent years. UW has lost two scholarships in men’s basketball due to past APR shortcomings.

UW’s other 16 men’s and women’s sports met the 925 multi-year requirement. However, football’s APR for 2008-09 was 916. It’s multi-year APR is 928.

For more in this story, see Thursday’s Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

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Posted in Academic Progress Ratings, Football, General, Moutain West Conference, UW men's basketball

Golfing with Schroyer

May 22nd, 2010

I was asked to play in Friday’s Cowboy Joe Club Golf Tournament in Cheyenne, and our four-person team was one short.

As a result we got to play with Wyoming men’s basketball coach Heath Schroyer.

And we had a blast.

It was fun to interact with Schroyer away from basketball, and it think he enjoyed it to. There are not many times during the course of the year to do that.

We talked some basketball, and it’s well known by now that UW didn’t sign anyone in the spring signing period. With one scholarship left, Schroyer may go after a Division I transfer that would sit out the 2010-11 season and be eligible for the 2011-12 season. Schroyer may look the West Coast for that player, likely a wing or forward.

As we get closer to June it’s time for camps at UW to start in numerous sports. Schroyer will host at least three in June and July. He was also heading out to Las Vegas here soon for coaches meetings.

Sorry there hasn’t been a post in a while. Had some family matters to attend to in Montana, but now back at it. Working on some possible football things for the near future to keep your thirst going for that. Just a little more than three months until the start of fall camp.

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Posted in Football, Moutain West Conference, UW men's basketball

Sylla declared medically disqualified

April 29th, 2010

Wyoming sophomore center Boubacar Sylla’s lingering foot problems has forced him out of the game, the school officially announced Thursday.

Sylla will remain on scholarship. Wyoming plans to fill his scholarship within the spring signing period, which ends May 19.

Last season in 29 of 31 games, the 7-foot-2 Sylla averaged 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in about 10.3 minutes per contest. Sylla transferred to UW from Auburn where he also had foot problems.

UW coach Heath Schroyer wasn’t available for immediate comment Thursday, but he told me not long after the season ended that if Sylla was declared medically disqualified UW would likely try to sign the best available player they could find, and more than likely a wing-type player.

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Posted in Boubacar Sylla, UW men's basketball

UW as a stepping stone?

April 25th, 2010

Would be curious to get your feedback on my column in Sunday’s paper.

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/04/25/sports/20sports_04-25-10.txt

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Posted in Dave Christensen, Football, UW men's basketball, UW women's basketball

MWC on pace to be part of BCS

April 22nd, 2010

The good news is that the Mountain West Conference is doing what it needs to be included in the Bowl Championship Series.

The bad news is that the new cycle for BCS restructuring is in a couple of more years. So a slip up between now and then will in all likelihood continue to leave the MWC on the outside looking in.

To steal a phrase from Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis for what the MWC must do from now and then, “just win, baby.”

Here is more on this story: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/21627/two-years-into-evaluation-mwc-in-a-good-spot

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Interesting to talk to the nine MWC football coaches during yesterday’s teleconference.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham picked TCU as the team to beat. TCU coach Gary Patterson laughed and said, “he picked us last year.”

With 19 starters back, including four on offense that earned all-conference honors last season, it’s would be tough to bet against the Horned Frogs.

Still will be tough for the rest of the league to catch the “Big Three” in TCU, BYU and Utah. What do you think?

In the coming days I will go back over my own notes from UW spring football and from the teleconference to give you updates and news from around the league. Colorado State is the only MWC team still in spring drills. Its spring game is Saturday.

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Just got a text from Wyoming men’s basketball coach Heath Schroyer, who is on the road right now, and he said there is no update on the health status of junior center Boubacar Sylla.

Sylla is having doctors look at a nagging foot injury that has plagued him through most of his college career, dating back to when he first broke into the college at Auburn. If doctors determine he can no longer play due to his injuries, he can remain on scholarship at UW but the Cowboys would be able to go out and sign another player.

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From the rich get richer department, BYU landed an prized junior-college men’s basketball recruit this week.

http://www.sltrib.com/byucougars/ci_14931103

And just how lucrative is the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, check this out:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5125307

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Check out Friday’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle and Laramie Boomerang and WyoSports senior columnist/writer Bob Hammond caught up with former UW football player Derrick Martin, who is with the Green Bay Packers.

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Posted in Football, General, Moutain West Conference, UW men's basketball

MWC/MVC hoops challenge pairings released

April 13th, 2010

The second Mountain West Confernece/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge in men’s basketball will take place Dec. 1-5. Wyoming will host Indiana State Dec. 4.

For the rest of the pairings, go to: http://www.themwc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041310aad.html

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Posted in Basketball, MWC men's basketball, UW men's basketball

Schroyer’s name comes up in Toledo search

April 2nd, 2010

I was as shocked as anyone when I found out Wyoming men’s basketball coach Heath Schroyer’s name was associated with Toldeo’s search for a new coach.

Toledo hired Tod Kowalczyk on Tuesday.

Schroyer denied interest in the job, and told other media outlets he wants to finish the job of rebuilding the program at UW.

This is no slam on Schroyer’s coaching abilities, but I find it hard to believe Toledo could have sold its fans on hiring a coach who is 76-100 as a college head coach at Portland State and Wyoming, and with only two winning seasons.

Schroyer is 41-53 at UW and played in the play-in game twice in three seasons at the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Records don’t always tell how good or bad a coach is, but even so that would have been a hard sell for Toledo if it had gone with Schroyer.

And, Toldeo would have had to come up with some money to buy out four years of Schroyer’s contract, or at least come up with a nice settlement to UW.

What does this do for Schroyer? Well, his critics now has more ammunition to use against him. Then again, his critics probably would have liked to have seen him go.

Anytime a coach or high-ranking at UW is up or rumored for other jobs its news, but I found this one almost laughable.

Stranger things have happened in sports, but if this would have went down I think it would have ranked right up there.

We can talk more about this, UW football or anything UW sports related at 3 p.m. today during a live chat. Join me at http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2010/03/29/live-chat-spring-football/

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Posted in UW Basketball, UW men's basketball

UW men’s hoops gets verbal commitment

March 31st, 2010

The Wyoming men’s basketball team received a verbal commitment from 6-3 shooting guard Luke Martinez from Williston State Community College in Williston, N.D.

Martinez averaged 19.7 points per game last season, and shot 39 percent from 3-point range.

He will have two years of eligibility at UW, and is expected to enroll this fall.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

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Posted in Recruiting, UW men's basketball

Four MWC teams make NCAA Tournament

March 14th, 2010

The perfect storm for the Mountain West occurred Sunday as a record four teams made the field of 65 for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

They included No. 3 seed New Mexico in the East Region; No. 7 BYU in the West, No. 8 UNLV in the Midwest and No. 11 San Diego State in the Midwest.

As far as first-round games, I like all the MWC teams: New Mexico to beat No. 14 Montana and BYU to beat No. 10 Florida, San Diego State to upset No. 6 Tennessee at UNLV to beat No. 9 Northern Iowa.

After that I think it will be tough for a MWC team to get to the Sweet 16. New Mexico will probably face No. 6 Marquette. A winnable game for the Lobos, but I liked how Marquette played in the Big East Tournament.

Your thoughts? And what are some of your upset picks as you look over the bracket?

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Also would like to get your thoughts on what coach Heath Schroyer had to say in my article in Sunday’s paper wrapping up the UW men’s hoops season. Most I’ve talked to aren’t buying what he’s saying. Here’s the link to the story http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/03/14/sports/20sports_03-14-10.txt