Four-years-ago, University of Wyoming head basketball coach Larry Shyatt inherited a mess.
Shyatt took the reigns of the program from former coach Heath Schroyer.
Things were awful in Laramie, and it was time for a change. Schroyer’s record was under .500 and it wasn’t just that. Questionable coaching and the inner workings of the program led to a complete apathy with fans and the once rocking Arena-Auditorium was mostly empty when the Cowboys took the floor.
So in stepped Shyatt. It wasn’t his first go-round in Laramie, he had been the coach in 1998 and re-energized the program with a 19-9 record and a trip to the National Invitational Tournament. He would leave after the season for the renowned Atlantic Coast Conference and Clemson University.
After five years with Clemson and a very successful stint as the top assistant for Florida coach Billy Donovan, his path led him back to a program desperately needing him.
With Shyatt came a focus on the defensive side of the floor and a focus on what’s really important with a program and that is the student athlete and their success in school.
He also adopted the mantra of ADU -- aggressive, disciplined, and unselfish.
While it was not an easy process, Shyatt has slowly built the program from the ground up.
In his first recruiting class he brought in Larry Nance Jr., who has turned into one of the better players in the nation and a human highlight reel who finds himself on Sportscenter once or twice a week.
His teams have played hard and have also improved the program’s overall grade point average.
In his first three seasons Shyatt won 21, 20, and 18 games, despite a string of bad luck
In his second season, the team started with 13 straight wins before the teams leading scorer was suspended after a bar fight and assault charge.
Last season, Wyoming was playing amazing team basketball and on a roll with a 16-8 record before Nance Jr. hurt his ACL and was lost for the season.
This year, with great defense and an offense that is dunk heavy enough to have Laramie getting the nickname “Dunktown,” Wyoming has started 16-3 and last week found themselves in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1988.
The team plays hard and the team plays smart. They are a reflection of their coach and the hard working people of Wyoming.
They aren’t always pretty, but they get the job done with incredible defense (third in the nation in points allowed with 52.2), and timely offense that gets the job done when needed.
While the program is starting to get nationally recognized, and there is a buzz growing among die-hard fans, their is something not quite right.
The newly renovated Arena Auditorium is not near as full as it should be and it’s time for the fans to come back.
Last week, I made my way to Laramie to watch a nationally- ranked Wyoming basketball team take on perennial league power San Diego State whose been ranked almost every week for the past several years.
As I walked into the arena, much like I had on New Year’s Eve against UNLV, there were way too many empty seats.
With the empty seats, there are the excuses about weather. The roads were fine for both games. There is the excuse that the students are not in town for every game because they get breaks. Well, there seems to be enough fans across the state talking about the team that they certainly could make their way to Laramie.
I’m not asking people to get season tickets, but I think this team and coach deserve to have more people in the seats.
There have been crowds of five or six thousand, and that’s just not fair for this team. I’ve seen the place packed live plenty of times and there is no reason it shouldn’t be know.
Wyoming basketball is back and there is no better place than to watch it live.
Of course it’s easy to stay at home and watch the game on a huge flat screen and that’s ok; I do it a lot. But it’s also time to start recognizing these kids and how hard they are working.
Wyoming will have one of their biggest games of the season Saturday in Laramie against New Mexico. See you there!
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