Returning Star Power Sets Pokes up for Success
Courtesy Photo by UW Athletics
With Cowboys sports deep into the fall, temperatures cooling down, and schoolwork ramping up, that means basketball season is also on the horizon for Cowboys fans. The Cowboys Basketball team tips off their season in just over two weeks, an exhibition opener against Northern Colorado in Gillette on October 11th.
Head Coach Sundance Wicks, always full of enthusiasm, was thrilled about how this offseason went, retaining some of the major talent from last year that led the 18-15 Cowboys to the postseason for the first time since 2022.
As a program that is historically known as a launching ground for talent elsewhere, such as star Graham Ike to Gonzaga, retaining five key players for the upcoming season was a huge win for this UW program. Seniors Khaden Bennett and Uriyah Rojas are both returning, as well as three second year players, Nasir Meyer, Gavin Gores, and Neil Summers. This core brings back 45% of the scoring and 40% of the rebounding from last year, drastically higher numbers than years past.
A preseason poll by MSN News states that “no Mountain West coach returns more production from last season than Sundance Wicks does,” a very encouraging statistic for this Cowboys roster. The MSN poll has the Cowboys placed at a predicted fifth in the conference this year but expects them to act as a “dark horse” within this shaken up Mountain West conference.
In addition to the five returners, Laramie welcomes ten newcomers to the roster, six transfers and four high-school recruits. Five guards were added along with four forwards and a center. The team is hoping the added size and filled holes in the roster will boost the defensive rating up to a top 75 status. The “bigger and more physical” new look Cowboys are looking to finish on top of the Mountain West, a goal that coaches and players believe is very within reach.
In the always competitive Mountain West last season before conference re-alignment, the Cowboys finished in the middle of the table at seventh. Within the conference they tallied nine wins out of a 20-game slate, losing in a close battle to UNLV in the first game of the Mountain West Tournament. Home court advantage was a major strength last year, going 14-4 at the Arena-Auditorium, and Coach Sundance Wicks wants to build on that even further for this upcoming campaign.
“It’s time to turn the Arena-Auditorium into a place that opponents dread, and a home court advantage that we will never take for granted,” Coach Wicks said in an interview with the Pokes Insider. “BYOJ and Go Pokes.” BYOJ is a term that Wicks uses that stands for “Bring Your Own Juice”, firing up players and fans to bring excitement and energy to every game the Pokes play.
The UW scheduling team for this season also has the team prepared to face some challenges and exciting matchups within the non-conference schedule. A trip to Chapel Hill to take on a certified blue-blood school in North Carolina will be a great test for the team to see what they are made of as early as November 10th. Matchups against Duquesne, CSU, and Denver also give the team some dates to look forward to within the 2026 portion of the season slate.
The theme for this year, set by Coach Wicks, is “Run it Back”, a headline that anticipates great things from this Cowboys squad for the upcoming year. The goals are lofty this year, and for good reason. For Coach Wicks and the team, this offseason and work ideally will ultimately lead to a bid at the big dance, 2027 March Madness.
