Mountain West Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

2. Wyoming

A last-place MWC team just two years ago, Wyoming has been in much better shape since the hiring of Jeff Linder in 2020, turning a bleak offense into a great one and rebuilding this Cowboys program. Last season, the Cowboys returned to the NCAA Tournament, with a 25-9 record; a 16-game improvement from before Linder was hired two seasons earlier. Frankly, this year could be even better.

Drake Jeffries is gone, but virtually everyone else returns, including star guard Hunter Maldonado (18.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg), an All-MWC Player, along with forward Graham Ike (19.5 ppg, 9.6 rpg). Important pieces like Jeremiah Oden and Xavier DuSell also return, but it’s also about what Wyoming added this offseason. The Cowboys will introduce three former Pac-12 players into the lineup, adding Max Agbonkpolo and Ethan Anderson from USC and Jake Kyman from UCLA.

Wyoming has one of the best-returning lineups of any mid-major squad, rivaling the kind of production Colorado State brought back last year before an upstart season of their own. The Cowboys have been markedly better these last two seasons and this could be another big step in the right direction. If Ike and Maldonado continue to play at a high level, it’s very possible that this is your Mountain West champion and a potential contender to be next year’s Cinderella in March.