Cowboys watching plenty of basketball this week

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer looks things over during a practice earlier this season.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Wyoming Cowboys watched a lot of basketball this week, as well as practicing, as they try to take advantage of the rare 11-day layoff between games.

Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer is a TV basketball junkie and tapes basically every game that is on, whether it is college, NBA or international ball, such as the Olympics.

He saved about 35 clips for the Cowboys, 11-4, to dissect this week.

“There were certain things, concepts wise, that we have been trying to implement and trying to work on throughout the season. I tape almost everything,” Schroyer said. “So I took a couple of those clips, sometimes you get tired of seeing yourself and when you can see other people doing the same thing you are trying to do, then sometimes I think it is just a different teaching tool.”

Schroyer said there were probably three or four NBA teams that they emphasized, especially from last year’s playoffs.

“We showed them the rotations on ball screens that we talked about, a lot of rotational closeouts and those things that we have taught all year,“ he said. “I thought this week would be a good time to clip a lot of those games.”

The advantage of watching so much basketball? Schroyer said it is hard not to learn from the best players in the world who are doing the same things that he is asking his team to do.

It has gone well this week, he added.

“Today’s kids are different. Coaching today is different than it was 10 or 15 years ago," he said. “I think you have to continue to try to find ways to reach them that might be out of the box. We took 35 clips of what we have been teaching offensively and defensively of some of the best players in the world.”

Schroyer said that sometimes he even forgets that this team is still basically inexperienced together.

“This team hasn’t t played very long together,” he said. “That is why some of our rotations are a little late, that is why things happen, just because of inexperience."

While the Cowboys haven’t watched a lot of film on themselves this week, they have concentrated on themselves for the majority of practice. Schroyer said he has mixed in a little about San Diego State for next Wednesday’s return to the hardwood as they host the talented Aztecs. Wyoming is coming of a tough 91-67 loss to Utah Saturday in its Mountain West Conference opener in Salt Lake City.

“This week has been great. As a coach, it is nice to just go in and teach, and that is what we have been doing,” Schroyer said. “Like I told our guys, we just have to concentrate on one day and that is today. We can’t do anything about yesterday and we can’t do anything about tomorrow. We just have to try to get a little better today. We’ve talked about that all year and we haven’t changed.”

The Cowboys practiced once on Thursday, and will do the same on Friday, before going twice on Saturday. They’ll have Sunday off before getting back to game mode on Monday and Tuesday.
The time off has been good, Schroyer fears that the break from action is a little too long. He would have preferred one week, compared to 11 days.

“But it is what it is. We’re tried to emphasize, No. 1, getting healthy and No. 2, getting better at what we do,” he said. “For me, it’s simplifying some of the things, especially defensively. As a coach, maybe at times it is too complicated and at times some of the guys weren’t ready for all of that. Hopefully, that will help us.”

One thing that this week has reinforced for Schroyer, is that he believes these Cowboys are talented enough to have a good season. And quite simply, he said he really likes the team.

“I really, really believe that throughout this season, throughout the last month of the season, we’re going to be playing our best basketball because we will be gaining all of this experience,“ Schroyer said. “They come with it every day, they have been great in the film room. They are learning and trying. I really, really do like this group. I believe in them and I believe that this group is going to have a solid year.”

MWC reprimands Schroyer for remarks
Schroyer has been issued a public reprimand for comments critical of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball schedule. The remarks appeared in the Casper Star-Tribune on Monday.

According to a MWC release, the actions of Schroyer were in violation of MWC Sportsmanship Rule Sections 4.2-e and 4.4.5.

The MWC will have no further comment regarding this case. The provisions of the MWC Sportsmanship Policy can be found in Rule 4 of the MWC Handbook - which can be accessed via the www.TheMWC.com Web site.