The Wyoming Cowboys are looking to bounce back after a season that can only be described as a snowball of unfortunate events.
The Cowboys went 9-21 overall and 4-14 in conference play last year, after what was expected to be a breakout season for the Cowboys as they were picked second in the preseason polls, just below last year’s national runner-up San Diego State.
That 2022–2023 Cowboys’ team is now like a long, forgotten memory, as only four players from last year’s roster are still a part of this year’s team. Guards Kenny Foster, Brendan Wenzel, and Cort Roberson as well as forward Caden Powell all remained here in Laramie, as the remainder of last year’s roster either transferred or graduated. Unfortunately, Foster recently had a season ending injury, so he will sit out for what is likely his last season in college basketball.
It didn’t take long for the Cowboys roster to begin filling back up, as the Cowboys reloaded their roster through a mix of older and experienced transfer players and young high school prospects. The Cowboys picked up two D-I transfers in Sam Griffin from Tulsa and Oleg Kojenets from Nebraska.
Griffin is a proven scorer and distributor at the D-I level, as the senior lead Tulsa in scoring last year. Oleg Kojenets is a more unproven talent, as he only found limited minutes with little production with two years at Nebraska.
The Cowboys also picked up several players from JUCO, D-II and NAIA levels. Mason Walters, the NAIA player of the year for the 2022-2023 season, comes from University of Jamestown in North Dakota. He was second in the country at the NAIA level in scoring and is the top scorer and rebounder in Jamestown history.
Walters brings a strong post presence who can stretch the floor. Walters has also been hit by the injury bug, however, and will likely not see any action until conference play. Akuel Kot, a first team D-II All American, comes from Fort Lewis College in Colorado. He ranked fourth in D-II in scoring and set a program record last year in single-season scoring. Kot is known as an explosive playmaker and shot creator.
Both Kot and Walters transfer in with only one year of eligibility remaining.
The Cowboys also bring in Kobe Newton from the JUCO level, transferring in from Fullerton College in California. Newton led his team in scoring last year and comes in as a known sharpshooter. The Cowboys also bring in six freshmen, including five scholarship players and one walk-on. Those freshmen include Kael Combs, Nigle Cook, Cam Manyawu, Jonas Sirtautas, Jacob Theodosiu, and Levi Brown, all of which bring in very different skill sets to help this Cowboys team.
“We kinda have the old bulls, an old group of guys and we got the young bulls and that group of old bulls have done a really good job in terms of really helping some of our younger guys pick up the learning curve, because we’re gonna need a couple of those guys to help our depth,” Coach Jeff Linder said about his new roster at the Mountain West media days in Las Vegas, “with the transfers we added mixed with the young guys, I don’t think people quite know what we have.”
The Cowboys were picked 10th in the Mountain West preseason polls this year, a stark contrast from last year’s expectations. However, the Cowboys have always seemed to thrive in the underdog role and believe they are a much better team than the media thinks. In fact, they don’t put much weight in the polls in general.
The Cowboys know better than anyone that by the time March rolls around, those preseason polls have little meaning.
“I expect us to have a good year and we’ll gel much more than we did last year,” Roberson said, “we are better than a tenth place team for sure.”
The Cowboys are also going to be much different stylistically this year, Roberson had said, as they are looking to be a much faster pace team.
“We’re trying to get up and down the floor a lot,” Roberson said, “this year we got to hit shots, so we’re shooting a lot [in practice]. We’re trying to push the pace in practice.”
The Cowboys will get to show off this new style of play against some notable teams this season, as their schedule is highlighted with non-conference road games versus 18th ranked Texas and BYU as well as a conference road game against league favorite San Diego State, a home and away against New Mexico and a home game against the league’s preseason runner-up, Boise State.
The Cowboys begin their season at home on November 7th versus Northern New Mexico, with the game set to tip off at 6:30 p.m.
