Wyoming Cowboys men's basketball

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Wyoming Cowboys
University	University of Wyoming
Conference	MWC
Location	Laramie, WY
Head Coach	Heath Schroyer (1st year)
Arena	Arena-Auditorium (Capacity: 15,028)
Nickname	Cowboys
Colors	Brown and Gold
Uniforms
Home     Away
NCAA Tournament Champions
1943
NCAA Tournament Final Four
1943
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1952
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1987
Conference Tournament Champions
1987, 1988
Conference Regular Season Champions
1932, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1958, 1967, 1969, 1981, 1982, 1986, 2001, 2002

The University of Wyoming men's basketball program, which currently competes in the Mountain West Conference, has a lengthy tradition dating back to 1905. Cowboys fans can claim something that few other teams' fans can: an NCAA Championship, won in 1943 under Hall of Fame coach Everett Shelton and behind star guard Ken Sailors, who pioneered the jump shot that is now the standard in basketball. Wyoming has made a total of 14 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, though the closest it has come to the lofty heights of the 1943 team was a Sweet 16 appearance in 1987. Since the Mountain West was formed in 1999, Wyoming has won two conference titles, including an outright championship in 2002. Prior to that, Wyoming won five championships in the Western Athletic Conference, eight championships in the Skyline Conference, and one championship in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Coaching records 1.2 Post-Season Tournaments 2 Arena 3 Current Roster 4 References

[edit] History

The Wyoming basketball program began in 1904 when a group known as the "Laramie Town Team" challenged a team from the university to a basketball game; Wyoming won that game by a score of 17-5.^[1] The team became a powerhouse in the 1930s under coach Willard "Dutch" Witte, who led the 1934 Cowboy team to a 26-3 record. In those days before the NCAA Tournament had begun, college basketball's national champion was determined by a set of poll voters for the Helms Foundation, which selected Wyoming as its national champion. Witte coached a total of nine seasons in Laramie and compiled a 134-51 record.

After Witte stepped down in 1939, Everett Shelton took over the team and went on to become the winningest coach in Wyoming history in his 19 years in Laramie. Although Shelton went just 6-10 in his first season, his teams would win 20 or more games seven times during his career. In 1943, the Cowboys went 31-2 and won the NCAA Tournament. That team was led by Ken Sailors, who scored 16 points in the championship game victory over Georgetown on his way to being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. In addition, Sailors was named college basketball's Player of the Year in 1943 and again in 1946 after returning from fighting in World War II. In all, the Cowboys made eight NCAA tournament appearances under Shelton, though they only won one game aside from the three-game run in 1943.

After Shelton retired in 1959, Wyoming basketball lay dormant for some time. Including Shelton's last four campaigns as head coach, the Cowboys endured nine consecutive losing seasons from 1956 to 1964. Coach Bill Strannigan, who succeeded Shelton, had just six winning seasons in fourteen years as head coach and made one NCAA Tournament appearance in 1967 in which the Cowboys were handed a lopsided loss at the hands of eventual national champion UCLA. Again from 1971 through 1978, the Cowboys had just one winning season, a 17-10 campaign under Don DeVoe in 1976-77.

In 1978, Jim Brandenburg became the Cowboys' head coach and the program experienced a resurgence. In his nine seasons, Wyoming did not have a single losing season and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1981, the Cowboys were 24-6 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In addition to being the Cowboys' first tournament appearance since 1967, it was their first 20-win season since 1953 and first NCAA Tournament victory since 1952. After guiding the Cowboys to the Sweet 16 in 1987, however, Brandenburg left the Cowboys to become the coach at conference rival San Diego State.^[2] He was replaced by Benny Dees, who went 26-6 in his first year with the Cowboys but could not return them to the NCAA Tournament after that.

Larry Shyatt went 19-9 in 1997-98, his only season in Laramie before becoming the head coach at Clemson University. After his departure, Steve McClain took over the head coaching job and had three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2001-03, including conference titles in 2001 and 2002 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2002. Despite his success, McClain's contract was not extended and he was fired from the University on March 12, 2007.^[3] On March 22, 2007, Wyoming hired former Portland State head coach Heath Schroyer to become its next head coach.^[4]

[edit] Coaching records

Coach	Seasons	Record
John Corbett	1916-24	37-41
Stewart Clark	1925-28	43-24
George McLaren	1929-30	28-10
Willard Witte	1931-39	134-51
Everett Shelton	1940-59	328-201
Bill Strannigan	1960-73	179-187
George Radovich	1974-76	24-55
Don DeVoe	1977-78	29-25
Jim Brandenburg	1979-87	176-97
Benny Dees	1988-93	104-77
Joby Wright	1994-97	53-60
Larry Shyatt	1998	19-9
Steve McClain	1999-2006	157-115
Heath Schroyer	2007-	6-11

[edit] Post-Season Tournaments

NCAA TOURNAMENT
Year	Finish	Coach
2002	Second Round	Steve McClain
1988	First Round	Benny Dees
1987	Sweet 16	Jim Brandenburg
1982	Second Round	Jim Brandenburg
1981	Second Round	Jim Brandenburg
1967	First Round	Bill Strannigan
1958	First Round	Everett Shelton
1953	First Round	Everett Shelton
1952	Elite Eight	Everett Shelton
1949	First Round	Everett Shelton
1948	First Round	Everett Shelton
1947	First Round	Everett Shelton
1943	Champions	Everett Shelton
1941	First Round	Everett Shelton

[edit] Arena

Main article: Arena-Auditorium

The Arena-Auditorium, which seats 15,028, serves as the home court for the Cowboy basketball team. Since its opening in 1982, the Cowboys have enjoyed a strong homecourt advantage at the A-A, winning 75 percent of their games. Despite this advantage, however, the Cowboys have never had a perfect season at home since the A-A opened.

Wyoming's first home court was a small, red brick building known as the "Little Red Gym." That was followed by the Half Acre Gym, which served as the Cowboys' home from 1925 to 1951 and seated just over 4,000; the Cowboys had a record of 222-44 in the building. The Cowboys moved into War Memorial Fieldhouse in 1951 and remained there until the Arena-Auditorium opened in 1982.^[5]

[edit] Current Roster

2007-08 Wyoming Cowboys Basketball

Number	Name	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown
0	Sean Ogirri	G	6-2	200	Senior*	Denver, Colorado
1	Brad Jones	G	6-0	170	Senior	Marked Tree, Arkansas
5	Ryan Dermody	F	6-8	205	Sophomore	Loveland, Colorado
11	Afam Muojeke	G/F	6-7	198	Freshman	Jamaica, New York
12	Byron Geis	G	6-3	195	Senior	Gillette, Wyoming
13	Mikhail Linskens	C	7-0	270	Freshman	West Flanders, Belgium
15	Adam Waddell	F/C	6-9	215	Freshman	Cody, Wyoming
20	Joseph Taylor	F	6-8	210	Senior	Los Angeles, California
21	Tyson Johnson	F	6-6	235	Junior	Long Island, New York
23	Brandon Ewing	G	6-2	190	Junior	Chicago, Illinois
31	Eric Platt	G-F	6-5	205	Sophomore	Casper, Wyoming
32	Travis Nelson	C	6-11	235	Sophomore	Marion, Iowa
45	Bienvenu Songondo	F	6-10	220	Senior	Bangui, Central African Republic
55	Travis Bunker	G/F	6-5	200	Junior	Beaver, Utah
	Djibril Thiam	F	6-9	205	Sophomore*	Dakar, Senegal

• Ogirri is currently sitting out the 2007-08 season per NCAA transfer rules. Thiam is sitting out the 2008 spring semester and 2008 fall semester, and will be eligible in 2009.

[edit] References

v • d • e Wyoming Cowboys Basketball 1942-1943 NCAA Champions Jim Collins | Milo Komenich | Lou Roney | Ken Sailors | Floyd Volker | Jim Weir Coach Everett Shelton

v • d • e Wyoming Cowboys Head Basketball Coaches Corbett • Clark • McLaren • Witte • Shelton • Strannigan • Radovich • DeVoe • Brandenburg • Dees • Wright • Shyatt • McClain • Schroyer

v • d • e Mountain West Conference (MWC) Air Force (Falcons) • BYU (Cougars) • Colorado State (Rams) • New Mexico (Lobos) • San Diego State (Aztecs) • TCU (Horned Frogs & Lady Frogs) • UNLV (Rebels) • Utah (Utes) • Wyoming (Cowboys & Cowgirls) MountainWest Sports Network (mtn.)