Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2023-24 season

Only a few years ago, the Wyoming Cowboys were the class of the Mountain West conference. Now they’re the opposite.

Entering the 2022-23 season, Wyoming had a legitimate claim as the top team in the league. The one-two punch of Hunter Maldonado and Graham Ike appeared daunting, as did the arrival of UCLA transfer Jake Kyman.

But Ike suffered a leg injury during the preseason that sidelined him for the whole season, while Maldonado couldn’t repeat his previous year’s performance during his sixth and final collegiate season. Wyoming plummeted to the bottom of the standings.

Now, Kyman is gone, Maldonado is out of eligibility, and Ike decided to continue his career at Gonzaga. Suddenly, Wyoming’s place at the foot of the Mountain West seems cemented.

A big transfer exodus has eaten into the Cowboys, but there are some interesting players on the roster. Guard Brendan Wenzel started a majority of contests last year, averaging 7.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. The senior will be tasked with a leadership role this season.

The best scorer, however, will probably be Sam Griffin. Wyoming is the third stop for the guard, who led Tulsa in scoring a year ago and is a double-figure scorer on a yearly basis. He’ll be Jeff Linder’s best bucket-getter.

Much of the core will be composed of upperclassmen, the kind of makeup that should keep Wyoming in games. But a lack of depth and high-level talent could lead to another disastrous year for the Cowboys.