Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season
11. team. 510. . . . Cowboys
Projected Starters:
Guards – Kenny Foster-SO, Kwane Marble– SO, Hunter Maldonado-JR
Forwards – Drew Lamont-JR* and Hunter Thompson-JR
Bench – Marcus Williams-FR, Drake Jeffries-JR*, Eoin Nelson-SO, Javier Turner-FR
The Cowboys had a nice little run as the 11 seed all the way to Mountain West Tournament semis a season ago. Freshman Kwane Marble (8.2 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast) scored career highs two consecutive nights in that event, and everyone was already all the way on board with the star power and upside of Hunter Maldonado (15.8 Pts, 5.8 Reb, 4.0 As). There were some whispers that the 2020-21 campaign could be a breakout season in Laramie.
Fast forward just a couple of days after the run in the conference tournament ended and Head Coach Allen Edwards was fired, followed by the transfers of two guys expected to be key contributors (Greg Milton and Tyler Morman) on top of the earlier transfer of the teams third-leading scorer, Trevon Taylor. The roster was turned upside down.
In comes new coach Jeff Linder, and with the exception of Marble and Maldonado, the cupboard is bare. Credit to Linder, however, as he has done a good job of duct-taping a roster together. Two critical additions are from the JUCO market, highlighted by Drew Lamont and Drake Jeffries, both players who received offers from multiple mid-majors.
As long as the 1-2 punch of Maldonado and Marble is on the floor this is a team that has a chance to be competitive night in and night out. However, it’s hard to imagine that those two can carry the Cowboys with consistency and there is just no depth to speak of. It’s going to be a tough year one in Laramie for Linder.