Wyoming Hoops Lands Recommitments from Program ‘Flag Bearers’

LARAMIE -- His words, turns out, were prophetic.

"These guys are going to carry the flag for Wyoming here for the next couple of years," an emotional Sundance Wicks said from behind the podium after Wyoming fell to UNLV in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament.

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Of course, the second-year head coach was referring to freshmen standouts Naz Meyer and Gavin Gores.

What seemed like a pipedream to some became a reality last weekend when the young duo announced they were likely turning down major pay days on the open market to return to Laramie for their sophomore season, joining senior Uriyah Rojas, who also got the "Hollywood treatment" with a specially-made in-house social media video to celebrate the occasion.

Retention, Wicks has been repeating since February, was his main focus heading into the offseason. Coming off an 18-win campaign -- the best mark around here since the NCAA Tournament run in 2021-22 -- keeping the roster intact is the goal.

So far, guards Damarion Dennis and Adam Harakow are the only players who have publicly announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal, which is set to open tomorrow and run through April 21.

A new transfer has already been added to the mix.

Forward Michael Mora announced on social media he will be inking with the Cowboys after spending last season at Division-II Cal State Monterey where he averaged 17.2 points per outing. Wyoming will also welcome incoming freshmen Madden Smiley (Windsor, Colo.) and Chris Pohl (Marshfield, Wisc.) into the fold this summer.

The current faces of the program, though, are unquestioned.

"I'm going to be pissed off if coaches come in here and take these guys that we spent a lot of time on," Wicks said in Las Vegas, referring to Meyer and Gores. "I'm never going to be able to sit there and say we didn't give everything we possibly could to these guys to become the best version of themselves."

Gores, a 6-foot-10, 224-pound forward, just got better as the season went along. A once tentative approach to finishing turned into numerous rim-rocking dunks. The Wisconsin product scored a career-high 20 points in the regular-season finale at San Jose State before connecting on 6-of-11 shots from the floor for a team-best 15-point outing against the Rebels in the conference tournament.

He averaged 7.3 points and 3.4 rebounds a night, despite battling a left-hand injury and a broken nose late in the league slate that sidelined him for five games.

"(I got to) watch a young man come in here in the middle of the summer, like Gavin, and have a breakdown four weeks into the summer because he's such a high achiever, that he's like, 'This is hard.' As a coach, you get to watch him go through that moment," Wicks said on March 11 deep in the bowels of the Thomas and Mack Center. "Then you get to see him go out there with 1:45 and I get to call a play for Gavin to go score and put us up two. I got to watch that in the summer. I got to see that. I got a front seat to that entire process."

Meyer, who netted nearly 13 points an outing and led the team in rebounding, pulling down 4.9, also battled a simultaneous bout with the flu and strep throat, along with a lingering concussion, forced him out of the lineup for two games. He also dropped 17 pounds off his already slender frame in the process.

Still, the Los Angeles native was named the conference's freshman of the week five times, while pouring in double-digit points in all but nine games.

"I get a front seat to Naz Meyer coming in every day, win or lose, every practice, whether it was good or bad, watching film for an hour and kicking him out of my office because he cares so much about his development and the growth and learning," Wicks said. "Then, watching his other teammates on film and watching how he can make us better, which in turn, makes him better. I got a front seat to that development."

Wyoming's leading scorer, Leland Walker, exhausted his eligibility. Could Rojas seamlessly slide into the point guard spot? That remains to be seen.

What's the status of forward Abou Magassa? How about freshman big man and outside threat Simm-Marten Saadi? Khaden Bennett is one of four Cowboys to average double figures in scoring last winter. Is he back in the barn, too? How about fellow guard Jared Harris, who spent a majority of the season on the bench, dealing with a nagging toe injury?

Buckle up. There's still work to be done.