Retention Could Lead to Championship Contention, Wicks Says

LARAMIE -- Sundance Wicks knew year one on the sideline in Laramie would be an uphill battle.

When you have essentially a month to piece together an entire roster -- not to mention many of the best options were already off the board well before May -- there's not much reason for optimism.

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Fast forward a season.

Now, you have to replace nearly everyone you just signed 11 months prior, but the goal, Wicks added, was to see marked improvement across the board. With Wyoming's victory over Nevada last Tuesday night, the program is guaranteed to finish with a winning record for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.

Mission accomplished.

What's next?

"Competing for a championship," the 45-year-old added.

And what will that take?

"The No. 1 priority for me is retention," he continued. "We all know that retention requires resources, right? It requires a commitment on our behalf to show that we're still investing in those that are here with us. It's an important deal, and we've thought a lot about it."

The question that prompted this answer was this: Have you dreamed about what this team could potentially look like next year if you can keep guys like Naz Meyer, Damarion Dennis, Khaden Barnett, Gavin Gores and others?

Those four above -- all underclassmen -- are accounting for an average of nearly 41 points a night. Meyer accounts for nearly 13 of those during a rookie season that has produced five Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors. Dennis and Bennett are both in double figures, too. Gores, another freshman standout, has been a menace in the paint.

Just ask the Wolf Pack.

The 6-foot-10 forward rocked the rim with three thunderous dunks in that 83-73 win. Gores finished with 11 points on a perfect night from the floor. Bennett added a career-high 27 points and hauled in a team-best eight boards. Dennis netted 18 and Meyer had nine in the first half.

Keepers? You bet.

But there's more.

Big man Simm-Marten Saadi has shown he can get hot from beyond the arc. Uriyah Rojas and Adam Harakow can, too. Jared Harris suffered a toe injury that has sidelined him throughout the conference slate, but he has also proved, at times, why he was once one of the nation's top recruits.

Abou Magassa, along with senior Matija Belic, are the only two holdovers from Wicks' first season on the bench. The 6-foot-7 Frenchman would be a minutes eater as Laramie's own Neil Summers gets his feet wet next fall.

It's fun to dream, isn't it?

Wicks does.

"I mean, I'd be idiotic not to, right?" he said. "... It's getting guys that really believe in what we're trying to do and seeing the vision and the mission. But, I do know this: if you can return a good chunk of your roster -- a good core of your roster -- and the guys that choose to stay ... I think if you do that, run it back next year in the Mountain West, you got a really good chance of competing for a championship."

The league will look much different next season with the loss of Utah State, Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Wyoming's Border War rival, Colorado State, heading to the reimagined Pac-12 Conference. The Mountain West will welcome Hawaii, UTEP and UC Davis to the fold, beginning July 1.

Wicks admitted the conversations have already begun, adding he would keep everyone on this current roster, but there's a cautionary caveat. He said last year, especially around this time, the players he wanted to retain all said they were happy and believed in the direction of the program.

The mass defection said otherwise.

"It's got to work well with both parties, and when I say, 'work well,' there's a lot of things that have to line up, and you guys know what they are, right?" Wicks said. "... It's still just such an unsettling world to coach in because of the uncertainty of it all."

While there is still plenty to play for this March, the two-week NCAA Transfer Portal window looms.

It hasn't been pretty in the previous three offseasons for this program. Twenty-three players over the span have left via free agency, including 10 from the 2022-23 team that limped to a 9-22 record less than a year after an appearance in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.

"You try to live as much in this moment as you possibly can, because if we're talking too much about what happens next, well, then that's a self-inflicted wound right there," Wicks said. "We've already taken ourselves out of the moment and put ourselves somewhere where we don't need to be yet.

"... Everybody has to have (conversations), and we are, and they've been good, but they're good until they're not."

The portal is open from April 7-21.

Wyoming (17-13, 8-11) closes out the regular season Saturday with a trip to San Jose State (8-22, 3-16), followed by next week's conference tournament in Las Vegas. Tipoff inside the Provident Credit Union Event Center is slated for 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.