Round three of the Wyoming preseason will be bright and early Tuesday morning (approximately 9:20 a.m.) as the Cowboys conduct the third of four scrimmages before preparing for the season opener Sept. 3 against Weber State. The final scrimmage will be Saturday morning.
While the first two scrimmages were around 130-140 plays each, Tuesday’s scrimmage will be in the neighborhood of 70 plays.
“There will still be competition at all positions throughout this week,” said head coach Dave Christensen in a release “But we’re getting closer to determining which players we think can help us this season. Each of the four scrimmages help us narrow down the depth chart, but we won’t limit the competition until we get through all four scrimmages and get four good evaluations of all our players in game-like situations.”
For the most part, the first two scrimmages have been pretty solid for the Cowboys. Although it's still too early to tell one way or the other what kind of season is in store, just like the NFL preseason, I'd rather see a team play well than play poorly.
There have been plenty of scrimmages throughout the years when sub-par efforts offensively and defensively have caused concern, even on what proved to be pretty good UW teams. So far, so good for Christensen, who enters his third season.
There's also no doubt that true freshman Brett Smith has established himself as the starter at quarterback. It's now his job to lose, as they say. In two scrimmages, Smith is 39 of 51 for 483 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception against mostly the second-team defense.
What is promising offensively, is what appears to be depth and improvement at both the running back and wide receiver positions. Injuries, of course, can change that in a flash. The improvement of the offensive line too will decide the direction of the offense this season as well.
The Cowboys defense has been solid in the early going as expected. That should continue.
For a complete look at Tuesday's scrimmage, see UW press release.
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It certainly is encouraging to see that Wyoming senior guard Francisco Cruz is playing well this summer for his homeland Mexico team during the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.
Cruz is averaging 11.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in three games as Mexico stands 2-1 to date. In his first season at UW, Cruz played in all 31 games and averaged 10.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists a game. He is the leading returning scorer for the Pokes this season.
Mexico opened preliminary play with a 108-67 loss to the U.S. on Saturday, in which Cruz contributed 11 points, four rebounds and two assists in a 5-of-13 effort from the field. The team rebounded with a 107-96 victory over South Korea on Sunday. Cruz led the squad with six assists in the game to go with seven points and four rebounds. In its latest action, Mexico topped Israel on Monday, 77-72, thanks in part to 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals from Cruz. He has been Mexico’s second leading scorer in two of its three games.
Mexico continues Group D play against Hungary on Wednesday, before wrapping up the preliminary round versus Finland on Thursday. The next round on Aug. 20-21 features a game based on each team’s standing after group play, with the final placing round on Aug. 22.
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Just noticed a Kenny Sailors website, called Kenny Sailors Jump Shot (click on link) on the UW athletics website. To be honest, I'm not sure who created it or how long it has been in existence, but its brand new to me. The effort to get Sailors, 90 years young, into the College Basketball Hall of Fame continues. His induction is long overdue.
The website is a look at Sailors illustrious career. There are six links to the site that include his inventing the jump shot, his play with the Cowboys, his stint as a U.S. Marine, his professional career, ranching in Wyoming, his stay in Alaska, his return to Laramie and miscellaneous stories. The link to his days at Wyoming is especially interesting as it includes 60 posts of stories of the Cowboys NCAA title run during the 1942-43 season.
If you have a couple of hours, go to the site. It's a great read.
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The Mountain West launced a podcast last week and now can be found on its website. You can take a listen at MWC podcast.
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