Mountain West Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

14. Hunter Maldonado

There have certainly been some ups and downs at Wyoming in recent years and Maldonado has been along for all of it. A 6’7 guard from Colorado Springs, Colorado, he originally landed at Wyoming back in 2017, playing through this past season. He missed most of his sophomore season due to injury and took advantage of the pandemic year, meaning he did spend six years with the Cowboys.

Maldonado played a minimal role as a freshman and missed a lot of that second year, but there was plenty of production in his final four seasons. He’d average 15.8 points per game in his first season back on the court and had decent assist numbers throughout his career. In his redshirt senior season, he led Wyoming on a 25-win revival, averaging 18.5 points and 6.3 assists a game. This included a 21-point performance in the NCAA Tournament against Indiana. He’d actually score a career-high 36 points against New Mexico in his final ever game during the 2023 MWC Tournament.

He earned All-MWC honors a few times, including the First Team nod for that incredible fifth season. Not only did he have his best scoring season and lead Wyoming back to the Big Dance, but he finished 6th in the nation in assists per games and was all over the court for the Cowboys. Maldonado played his role well for a Wyoming program that was very inconsistent but had some shining moments. His contributions won’t be easy to replace in Laramie.