 |  |
 |
|
| Saturday, November 3 Team preview: Wyoming Cowboys ESPN.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Keith Van Horn was about to enter his junior season at Utah. That's how long it has been since anyone other than the Utes has been picked to win the conference championship. Seven long years. That changes now with Wyoming, which returns all five starters from a 20-win team that tied BYU and Utah for the regular-season title last season. "No question, our kids would have been disappointed if they weren't picked to finish No. 1 in conference," Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. "It's the next step for our program. People always say polls don't mean anything and in some ways they don't. But in others, they do, because it means we have stepped up a level. And that's important. "I like doing things that haven't been done and we're doing that at Wyoming." The preseason all-conference teams includes senior forward Josh Davis (13.5 ppg, 9.4 rpg) and junior forward Marcus Bailey (17.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg). Uche Nsonwu-Amadi (6-10, 260) only fouled out of one game as a sophomore and junior-college All-American guard Donta Richardson led his team to a 30-2 record last year. One question: How healthy will point guard Chris McMillian be after breaking his leg during a softball game in July? The best bet: Wyoming will again be near-flawless at home, where its run-and-press style wear teams down in the altitude of Laramie. Wyoming averaged 76.1 points last season and, if injuries avoid the roster, could top that. "It's not going to be easy to win (the league)," McClain said. "But it's a challenge our kids are ready for. It is what they want." What We Like: The Josh Davis-Marcus Bailey combination. Davis is the preseason conference Player of the Year, can play all three frontcourt positions and has that rare sense of always being around the ball. Bailey the league's best pure shooter and can defend both guards and forwards. It is this kind of versatility that makes Wyoming so good. Neither player is flashy and it seems at times they are offering little statistically during a game. But then the horn goes off and you glance at the final stats, and Davis-Bailey are all about double figures. What We Don't Like: Point guard. It would have been an obvious area of strength had McMillian not suffered the leg injury. But now, he probably won't be 100 percent for the team's opener at USC in the preseason NIT. So now the Cowboys will look for freshman Jason Straight to add an immediate impact. "Jason is one of our young players I am very excited about," McClain said. "I think he's going to do very well in our system." The Bottom Line: It is the best team in the conference and such a strong homecourt advantage nearly guarantees Wyoming will be in the race all season. The key is how McClain's team handle expectations and how it plays on the road. If it can solve both areas, the school's first NCAA bid since 1988 is a lock.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
