No ‘Speed Dating’ This Offseason for Sundance Wicks and Co.

LARAMIE -- Twenty-seven.

That's the number of days it took Sundance Wicks, after being named the 23rd head coach in Wyoming basketball history back on May 12, 2024, to round out a completely revamped roster in Laramie.

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He added seven new players, all transfers, in that time frame. The Gillette native also welcomed three new assistant coaches.

The charismatic native son, who was fresh off leading a downtrodden Wisconsin-Green Bay program to its best finish since 2019, was forced to hit the ground running, so much so he wasn't officially welcomed to the public until June 6.

"Everybody uses the speed-dating analogy in the portal, but that's what it was last year," Wicks said on Monday, flashing that trademark smile. "It was literal speed dating. I've just never been a fan of meeting somebody and in a 15-minute conversation, deciding whether or not you want to be a 90-day fiancé, you know?

"Like, you gotta just have a little bit more time here."

Wyoming, led by point guard Obi Agbim, capped the 2024-25 season with just 12 victories and a first-round exit in the Mountain West Tournament. The Cowboys were predicted to finish ninth overall in the 10-team league.

That, for the first time in Wicks' career, he said, actually -- and unfortunately -- came to fruition.

There were plenty of opportunities to add to that win total. Wyoming dropped nail-biters to conference heavyweights San Diego State (twice), New Mexico and Utah State. There was also a three-point setback against Loyola Marymount in the championship game of the Cancun Challenge along with an 82-81 loss at South Dakota.

Wicks squeezed as much "juice" as he could out of that mishmash roster, but always kept an eye toward the future and a full offseason to implement his standards and the culture he strives to cultivate.

Let's just say the vetting process was a tad more extensive last spring.

"Having a little bit more time was important, just because you get to have conversations, and then you really get to ask some hard questions," he said, adding that he didn't pull any punches with this new group of Cowboys, 13 in total. "... If you say yes to this, you just gotta remember what you committed to, and there were no was no lies and we're not dancing on some sort of thing that was, you know, false. We're truth-tellers.

"So, I think that really helped in this process, to get the right type of human beings. That character, right? The character guys who care. First, they have a high care factor and then they have great character."

There's a renewed sense of enthusiasm around here. That's really saying something if you've met the boisterous 45-year-old.

The foundation, once consisting of just two returners Abou Magassa and Matija Belic, is a sturdy one, according to Wicks. The "old guys" are spreading the gospel of honoring the brown and gold and have been over the previous 12 weeks since this new group of nomads wandered onto the court inside the Arena-Auditorium.

Thirty competitive days await this squad, including 28 practices and a pair of exhibition matches against Northern Colorado and the College of Idaho.

Now, it's about stacking days. Over the previous three months, it was about bonding and forming an identity.

"It's huge," said 6-foot-8 forward Kiani Saxon, a native of New Zealand who spent the previous two seasons at Missouri Western, Wicks' alma mater. "I mean, off the court, we're pretty tight, as well. I'm really surprised about how well we're gelling. The, on the court, credit to coach Sunny on recruiting all these guys that actually want to come together, compete and, you know, try to build a team that's going to do something special this year. So, I think it's really key."

So does Khaden Bennett, a junior guard who comes to the high plains from Quinnipiac.

"I think this is one of the most connected teams I've been on," he said, adding the team has gone skeet shooting, bowling and together watched all seven games of last spring's NBA Finals. "... It's just little things like that. I think that has us really connected."

Wicks said this roster is reminiscent of the one he took over in Green Bay. That team won 18 games. It also shares some characteristics, the former assistant added, with his 2021-22 Wyoming squad, one that finished with just nine losses and punched its ticket to the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.

Why?

"High character, high intentionality and a lot of competitiveness about them," Wicks said. "And they're fun to be around."

Along with the new faces, including seven transfers and five rookies, Wicks also added fresh blood to his coaching staff. That includes Will Martin (former head coach at Missouri Western), Chris Thomas (former head coach at KK Cibona, a professional team in Croatia) and familiar face Chris McMillian (former UW player 1998-03, most recently an assistant at Central Michigan).

The latter, Wicks joked, pestered him for a job. It worked. He called McMillian the "ultimate connector." Rumor has it, this new-look Wyoming roster will actually utilize the same offensive game plan they did during McMillian's days inside the Dome of Doom -- Run.

Though Wicks isn't ready to share all the details of this Steve McClain-like scheme, he said it's past time to use 7,220 to the Cowboys' advantage, something he was unable to do with last year's makeshift squad.

He has the right guys now in place to pick up the pace. In fact, Wicks added, he simply has the right guys.

"For us, when a guy commits to us, they're coming here for the right reasons," he said. "It's never going to be monetarily backed, I'll just say that. So, that's the thing that Cowboy fans should know is that all these guys -- you know, I don't want to say taking a pay cut, but there's probably places that offered more -- are coming here for the right reasons: the opportunity and they like Wyoming, right?

"They want a chance to play and compete, not because they're getting a handsome ransom out here. So, I think that's really important to know, going into all this is that these guys are loaded with the right qualities as human beings."

Wyoming will open the regular season at home Nov. 3 against Northern State.

Wyoming Cowboys 2025-26 basketball roster:

0 - Uriyah Rojas - G - 6-3, 206 - Jr. - Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. - Chaffey College

1 - Damarion Dennis - G - 6-1, 166 - Soph. - San Antonio, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

2 - Nasir Meyer - G - 6-7, 194 - Frosh - Los Angeles, Calif.

3 - Khaden Bennett - G - 6-4, 205 - Jr. - Mansfield, Texas - Quinnipiac

5 - Leland Walker - G - 6-1, 181 - Sr. - Indianapolis, Ind. - Florida Atlantic

7 - Matija Belic - F - 6-7, 239 - Sr. - Belgrade, Serbia

8 - Kiani Saxon - F - 6-8, 226 - Gr. - Auckland, New Zealand

9 - Jared Harris - G - 6-2, 186 - Soph. - Silsbee, Texas - Memphis

10 - Abou Magassa - F - 6-7, 217 - Soph. - Morsang-sur-Orge, France

11 - Gavin Gores - F - 6-10, 224 - Frosh. - Cumberland, Wisc.

13 - Adam Harakow - G/F - 6-7, 218 - Jr. - Edmonton, Alberta

14 - Garrett Spielman - G/F - 6-7, 201 - R-Frosh. - Sheridan, Wyo.

32 - Talan Taylor - G - 6-4, 158 - Frosh. - Idaho Falls, Idaho

35 - Simm-Marten Saadi - F - 6-9, 242 - Frosh. - Tallinn, Estonia

45 - Neil Summers - F - 6-9, 290 - Frosh. - Laramie, Wyo.