Who Will Be in Wyoming’s Starting Five in Monday’s Opener?

SAN DIEGO, Calif., -- Who will be Wyoming's starting five in Monday night's season opener?

Great question.

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Sundance Wicks has never been shy about experimenting. He tinkered with the lineup on seemingly a nightly basis last winter. Aside from the focus on matchups, the second-year bench boss in Laramie is also not shy about his desire to reward competition.

May the best man win.

"I want guys to earn it," Wicks said ahead of this matchup with his alma mater Northern State. "One conversation we've had recently with players is like, it's not going to be contentment and wonderful land."

Rookie guard Naz Meyer was first on the floor in the final exhibition game of the season last Saturday. So was 6-foot-10 freshman Gavin Gores. Graduate transfer Leland Walker ran the point. Khaden Bennett and Matija Belic rounded out the starting lineup.

Will that happen again?

That decision, publicly, at least, hasn't been made yet.

One thing that is certain, though, Wicks added, 15 players will not see the floor again like they did in that 111-63 rout of defending NAIA National Champion College of Idaho. In fact, a dozen likely won't trot to the scorer's table inside the Arena-Auditorium.

"I don't think that's very reasonable to do, and I think it's hard for players to get into rhythms, as well," Wicks said. "I want the care of being able to don the brown and gold to be important, right? And if everybody's playing a little bit, how much do you really feel it? Like, hey, if you're just happy with five minutes a game, that's not good enough for me. Like, I want you to want more."

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Wicks and Co. built this new-look roster with speed in mind. The Cowboys mission this season is to run, using that infamous elevation to its advantage. Depth was also a focus this offseason, coming off a mostly forgettable 12-20 campaign.

"I think the rotation is going to be between nine and 10, early," Wicks added. "Those 11 and 12 spots don't mean you're done, it just means you got to go take somebody's spots. This is still friendly competition."

No one better get too comfortable, Wicks warned.

That includes vets like About Magassa and Belic, the only two returners from last year's squad. That includes a four-star prospect in Jared Harris, who transferred here from Memphis.

No one is off limits.

"You got to earn it first, right? Everything in this life is earned," Wicks said. "We're not going to give guys minutes just because they're nice, just because they're nice guys. And there's 12 of them, and I like them all, I do. They are unbelievable human beings, but you got to be relentlessly competitive.

"You got to go earn the right to play for the brown and gold."

Tip time between the Cowboys and Wolves is set for 6:30 p.m. You can listen, watch the game on the team's official website, gowyo.com.

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