Wyoming Earns Its First Trip to NCAA Tournament Since 1988

While there are plenty of teams that make it to the NCAA basketball tournament year after year, the field of 68 also includes teams who don’t get there very often. One of those in the latter category is Wyoming. The Cowboys pulled off a 45-43 squeaker of a victory over San Diego State to win the Mountain West Conference tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1988, when Wyoming was member of the Western Athletic Conference.

The Cowboys (29-9) were 15-2 at one point in the season, but slipped a little in the second half due in part to top scorer Larry Nance Jr. missing some games due to mononucleosis. He was back at full strength for the tournament. Wyoming beat Utah State and 25th ranked Boise State before topping San Diego State. The Cowboys had lost two previous games against the Aztecs this season.

It’s always hard to predict how far a team from a small or mid major conference will go in the NCAA’s–Butler and VCU have gone deep into the tournament in recent years, but whether the Cowboys are one and done or pull off an upset or two, making it back to the Big Dance after more than a quarter century has to a thrill for the fans in Laramie and Cheyenne.