This is the 3rd article in a series previewing each team and position rankings in the Mountain West leading up to the 2024-2025 basketball season
MW Rankings:
9. Wyoming
10. Air Force (Link): Mountain West Basketball Countdown – #10 Air Force | Big Blue USU Aggie News
11. Fresno State (Link): Mountain West Basketball Countdown – #11 Fresno State | Big Blue USU Aggie News
Prior Season Results and Predictions:
- Record: 15-17 overall, 8-10 conference
- My Prediction: Between 8th-11th in the conference
- Summary: Wyoming finished 8th in conference with some big wins at home (Nevada, CSU). After returning very few players from the prior year, Sam Griffin (Tulsa Transfer) stepped up at PG and was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference player at the end of the year due to his efforts.
- All Conference Players/Other Awards: Sam Griffin (All MWC – Honorable Mention)
Metrics for the last 5 Seasons:
- Conference Regular Season Winning %: 38.6% (ranked 7th in conference)
- Conference Regular Season Champion: 0 (Tied for 4th in the conference)
- Conference Tournament Champion: 0 (Tied 5th in the conference)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 (Ranked 6th in the conference)
- NCAA Tournament Wins: 0 (Tied for 4th in the conference)
2024-2025 Season Review:
Conference Prediction: #9 in the Mountain West
Overview: Coach Linder left at the end of the season to be an assistant at Texas Tech. Wyoming hired Sundance Wicks, who is a native of Wyoming. He was on staff from 2020-2023 at Wyoming and then spent one year at Green Bay as the head coach where he was recognized as coach of the year in the Horizon league. In his 1 year at Green Bay he inherited a team that had a record of 3-29 the prior year and improved the record to 18-14.
Wyoming will be replacing most of last year’s production with the losses of Akuel Kot, Mason Walters, Brendan Wenzel and Sam Griffin. They bring in some nice pieces specifically Touko Tainamo a skilled forward from Denver and Jordan Nesbitt a 1k point scorer from Hampton/St Louis.
Production Returning: Scoring 9% (returning), Rebounding 11%, Assists 4%, Blocks 20%, Minutes 10%
Key losses: Sam Griffin (Graduation), Akuel Kot (Graduation), Mason Walters (Graduation), Brendan Wenzel (transfer to TCU), Cam Manyanwu (transfer to Drake), Caden Powell (transfer to Rice), Kael Combs (transfer to Drake)
Key Returners: Kobe Newton (6’2” reserve guard, averaged 19 mpg and 4.5 ppg), Oleg Kojenets (7’0” forward/center, averaged 10 mpg 4 ppg)
Newcomers:
- Cole Henry: Big man transfer from Northern Iowa, averaged 4 ppg as a Senior. 1 year of eligibility remaining.
- Jordan Nesbitt: Wing transfer from Hampton, played first two years at St Louis. Has scored over 1k points in his career.
- Touko Tainamo: 6’9″ big transfer from Denver. Originally from Finland. Was honorable mention Summit league last year, averaged 15 and 7. Has the ability to hit the 3 ball as he made 35 last season.
- Obi Agbim: 6’3″ guard transfer from Metro State where he averaged 15 ppg. Was all conference (D2). Shot 36% from 3.
- Scottie Ebubu: 6’10” 275 lb. center transfer from SIU. As a soph averaged 6 ppg and 4 rpg.
- Abou Magassa: 6’7″ wing transfer from St. Louis where he redshirted. Has 4 years of eligibility.
- AJ Wills: Holy Cross transfer where he averaged 6 ppg as a freshman.
- Jehvian Starwood: True freshman guard from Illinois (6’3″), 3-star recruit.
- Dontaie Allen: 6’6″ transfer wing from Western Kentucky with 1 year of eligibility (also played at Kentucky in his career). Averaged 8 ppg last year.
- Matija Belic: Forward transfer from UC Santa Barbara with 2 years of eligibility. Started 9 games last year and averaged 4 ppg.
Strongest Position: With the addition of upper-class transfers in Nesbitt, Allen and Agbim look for the guard/wings to be the strong point of the team.
Biggest Question Mark(s): Can guys beyond the top 3-4 rotation players be consistent MW level players? Nesbitt, Allen and Tainamo will immediately fit in, can they get solid contribution from 4-5 others to make noise in the conference?
Projected Starters: AJ Wills (Guard), Dontaie Allen (Guard), Jordan Nesbitt (Wing), Touko Tainamo (Forward), Scottie Ebubu (Center)
Bench: Jehvian Starwood (Guard), Kobe Newton (Guard) Obi Agbim (Guard), Matija Belic (Forward), Oleg Kojenets (Center)
Potential All Conference Guys: Touko Tainamo, Jordan Nesbitt
Key Non-Conference Games: Texas Tech (Away), BYU (Neutral)
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