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Wyoming Cowboys (2001: 20-10)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

Since coming to Wyoming three years ago, Steve McClain has breathed new life into a program that had been stagnant for most of the previous decade.

His infectious enthusiasm and optimism combined with his ability to attract talented players to the plains of Laramie has turned the Cowboys into a consistent winner with high expectations for the future.

For the second straight year, the Cowboys have very high expectations heading into the season. This time around they hope to turn those expectations into reality with a league championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Like last year, they have most of their starters returning, including a couple of All-Mountain West players in Josh Davis and Marcus Bailey. In fact, they have all five starters and eight of their top nine players returning. They also have several top recruits who figure to play important roles on the team.

Three new players who will try to find playing time on the Cowboys' talented roster are junior college guards Brandon Dickerson and Donta Richardson and freshman point guard Jason Straight.

McClain has improved by one victory in each of his three years and could move up another notch or two this year. He brought the high-pressure defense and run 'n gun offense he learned from Billy Tubbs as an assistant for four seasons at TCU, and uses it to full advantage at the 7,200-foot altitude of Laramie.

Backcourt

Since the day he stepped on the Wyoming campus, senior point guard Chris McMillan (5-10, 180 lbs.) has been the Cowboys' starting point guard.

For 86 straight games, McMillan has been the starter at the point, playing 31 minutes per game. He ranks No. 3 on the all-time Wyoming assist list with 369 and with 134 more assists this year, he will pass Sean Dent (1984-88) and become the school's all-time assist leader.

His streak of consecutive starts came into question this summer when he broke his left leg just above the ankle in a summer league softball game. The injury happened in late July and he was supposed to keep weight off his leg for six weeks. However, McMillan was ready when practice started in mid-October.

Junior Marcus Bailey (6-5, 190 lbs.) will start at the shooting guard spot.

For much of last season, Bailey looked like the best player in the Mountain West Conference. One thing is certain -- he was easily the most improved player in the league. After a solid freshman season when he started most of the games and averaged 7.8 points, Bailey exploded last year, more than doubling his average to 17.4, tops in the Mountain West Conference. He finished in the Top 20 in the league in five other categories.

Even McClain has been surprised by the rapid development Bailey has shown. He envisioned him being more of a role player when he signed him in 1999, hoping perhaps Bailey could contribute in his junior and senior seasons. Instead he became the Cowboys' go-to guy last year with Ugo Udezue still recovering from a knee injury and Josh Davis struggling through an off season.

Frontcourt

For two years, senior Josh Davis (6-8, 235 lbs.) has been a first-team All-MWC selection, although even Davis might admit that last year's award was based more on his reputation from the previous year. Still, the Wyoming sports information department is pushing Davis for All-America honors in hopes that he will have a breakout year that many experts believe he's capable.

McClain says one of the reasons for Davis' struggles last year was that he didn't know his role on the team. With Udezue not recovering from his injury as expected, Davis played more at power forward, although he also swung back and played the small forward position.

Davis became the 27th player in Wyoming history to score 1,000 points in his career and ranks 24th with 1,077 points. With approximately 500 points this year, he'll move into the top 10 scorers all-time at Wyoming.

After joining the Cowboys as a junior college transfer, power forward Ronell Mingo (6-9, 245 lbs.) experienced an up-and-down-and-up-again season for the Cowboys. He began the season as a starter playing a lot of minutes, highlighted by his first game, a 15-point outing on 7-of-8 shooting against UC-Riverside.

Gradually his minutes began to decline, until he was playing single-figure minutes, bottoming out with a three-minute stint against Colorado State. However, the next game at BYU, he played 21 minutes and scored a career-high 18 points and he was re-inserted into the starting lineup for the final seven games.

McClain said Mingo made the adjustment from junior college well last year and thinks he'll be even better this year with 20 additional pounds and increased confidence. Uche Nsonwu-Amadi (6-10, 260 lbs.) was a pleasant surprise at the center position. Before last season, the man known simply as "Uche'' was almost an afterthought when talking about the Cowboys' top prospects.

He came to Wyoming on the recommendation of Cowboy center Ugo Udezue, a distant relative of his from Nigeria. Nsonwu-Amadi had played one year at Indian Hills and posted modest numbers of six points and five rebounds per game.

But when Udezue wasn't able to perform as well as expected after knee surgery, Nsonwu-Amadi filled in wonderfully for the Cowboys, leading the MWC in field-goal percentage, while posting impressive numbers of 11.7 points and 8.4 rebounds. He was voted MWC Newcomer of the Year by both the coaches and the media and also earned All-MWC second-team honors.

Bottom line

The Wyoming program has made steady progress through McClain's three years and could be ready to make a national splash this year with a senior-dominated team and talented players at every position.

Just look at a possible starting lineup with four-year starter McMillan at the point, Bailey, the leading scorer in the MWC last year, at off-guard, two-time all-league performer Davis at small forward, former all-league player Udezue at big forward and Nsomwu-Amadi, last year's newcomer of the year, at center.

Except for the Preseason NIT, the Cowboys should breeze through their non-conference schedule, with the toughest game being a New Year's Day match-up against Texas Tech and new coach Bobby Knight. They could even make their mark in the NIT, if they can get by USC on the road in the opener, and could end up in New York.

Once they get to the league portion of the schedule, the Cowboys should be confident and ready to challenge Utah and New Mexico for the championship. In fact, the regular-season championship could very well be decided March 2 when Utah visits Laramie.

Even if they don't win the conference tournament championship in Las Vegas, watch for the Cowboys to be headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years with another 20-plus victory season.