‘Extremely Underrated': Wyoming’s Basketball Staff Remains Intact

LARAMIE -- It never quite got to the point where Sundance Wicks had to put masking tape and a last name in black marker across his players' foreheads, but, admittedly, it is nice to actually know some names in June.

Attrition, as you're well aware, has been a major issue inside the Wyoming basketball program.

Not this year.

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The Cowboys are returning 50% of their offensive production from a team that won 18 games a season ago. Freshman Naz Meyer accounted for nearly 13 points a night. Khaden Bennett also chipped in with 10.2 from the backcourt. Rookie big man Gavin Gores found his rhythm, too, during Year 1 in Laramie. He netted better than seven points an outing.

That threesome above also tracked nearly 14 rebounds per game.

Presumptive point guard Uriyah Rojas is also back in the barn, and he's bringing his 6.2-point, two-board average with him. Wicks expects his numbers to rise, across the board. Forward Neil Summers returns, too. He redshirted last season, but could play a major role in again leading this team to a postseason berth.

That's not all.

Wyoming's coaching staff has also remained intact. That's a rarity these days.

How important is that element to the future of this team?

"Extremely underrated," Wicks said, bluntly. "... I don't have to teach them what their responsibilities are, you know, what do and they chart during practice. This stuff's getting inputted every single day, and it's getting right to the group chat, into our staff meetings of all the stuff that they're charting, the metrics that matter for us and then the teach tapes, the way we do film. Just the efficiencies in which we can operate, it goes a long, long ways."

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After Year 1 back on the high plains, Wicks, along side losing 13 players from the active roster, also watched Pat Monaghan (Nebraska), Pat Stacy (North Carolina State) and longtime Wyoming assistant Shaun Vandiver (Weber State) exit stage left.

He responded by bringing in beloved former guard Chris McMillian, who was most recently at Central Michigan. He then hired Chris Thomas. He was a former head coach with years of experience in development, aiding the progression of NBA stars like Stephen Curry and Derrick Rose, among many others. Will Thomas also jumped on board, leaving a head position at Missouri Western, a school where Wicks also used to roam the sidelines.

Those three joined holdovers Nic Reynolds (brother for former Cowboy Noah Reynolds) and international scout Nick Whitmore. Tim O'Flannigan remains the director of strategy and advanced analytics and Jimmy Edel is still the voice in the weight room.

Wicks said the positives outweigh the negatives by a wide margin when it comes to retention, but he was quick to point out, no one -- including himself -- can afford to get comfortable.

There are marching orders. Even in June.

"I had to get on my staff the other day, you know, coach everybody, hold everybody accountable," he continued. "I had to get on my staff the other day because, with that continuity, you don't want complacency. You want guys to still keep their edge, right? So, it's never comfortable to be in a leadership position, but, you know, everybody drinks from the cup of criticism, myself included.

"So, they drank from the cup of criticism the other day, and we're locked in, dialed in and ready to go."

The Cowboys punched their ticket to the National Invitational Tournament last March. It was the first trip to the postseason for this downtrodden program since a run to the First Four of the NCAA Tournament back in 2022.

Wicks said those scary offseason knocks on the office door from players can be equally nerve-racking when a colleague "needs to talk." That was once him, telling then Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder he had accepted the head job at Wisconsin-Green Bay.

"I think that's vastly underrated, especially guys who chose to stay," Wicks said. "These are good coaches, man. They have other opportunities, but they chose to stay. So, they chose to stay back here, so they must believe in what we're doing, as well. That's a big deal."