Main Street, Wyoming; 1005; Hooping It Up

Oh. People chide me about different things you know where I sleep and always say hey hey seeds and all that. Wyoming might be isolated but it's also a town. But then I think last couple is just as it gets in your blood. I don't think there's any where I'd rather be either whether or not I support him. Thanks just a great place. JQ troubles with the El. On me. In the dead of winter this is where Wyoming

was most of the state dog. This is the big activity within the community to come into the gym in January when it's a blizzard outside it may be 10 below. She's a great gathering place for people. Glasgow is a community get together. It's explicitly that little crying for each game. Whether you're I think for me whether I was a player all these years about coke pit this is that I'm certain he says that he did I thought there myself the best I can be. Am I Am I ready to meet this challenge. OK calm down relax. Remember it's time to play it's time to start this time to get after. You know it's a passionate game.

He had a small Stay where you know a lot of people I think that good healthy robberies exist and. I think that's great for the kids it's great for the fans the way into religion rivalry is intense. Mark. But. Honestly the games that I was having it's the trunk of a college basketball and it was packed. People I mean it was sold out every year every year. The rivalries and community support continue to help broaden the state's pool of college players. I think across the board it's getting so much better and I think that's really a tribute to kids working harder. You see people in the stands who are mild mannered every day of the week until they're at the game and then they look at it as play somebody that you're not sure you know and that's that's what it does it brings out all kinds of emotion there's a. Lot of hope going to occur.

Spite of all the passion Wyoming is not considered a basketball state. You know there's a perception no doubt that they're not as good a players as you'll find in bigger areas and you know they they'll recruit will tell you that the they don't play the competition that big metro areas do. You know just by the sheer number of the pool of players so I think that you have to get over that and you know it's tough enough to be an athlete. It's tough enough to be successful in your sport when you have to fight that perception as well. It makes it very difficult and so

the individuals that come out while me who are great players they've had a little tougher road to hoe than somebody generally in a you know bigger area bigger market or bigger metro area. The cold weather the long bus rides and the desire to prove others wrong. That's what Wyoming basketball players and it's been that way since a kid from Hillsdale Kenny Sailors determined to find a way to shoot over its taller older brother. They say you can't expect to be as good as me Kenny because you're just not big enough. And I wouldn't that's true and I'd go she had a shot he'd shove it in my face you know and I got to thinking you know how can I get up over that big bomb one way or another is a good brother really real good brother to me to be old like he was and so I thought I figured well I'll try jumping. That's where it started. I don't remember what kind of a shot I shot or anything else but

the crazy thing with him crazy things would become known as the jump shot. Something is common today in basketball it's the bounce pass. But when Kenny Sailors rolled at the University of Wyoming it was an exotic deviation from the fundamentals. We asked him one day we said Coach we call him coach. We say you we you created you. You created the jumpshot. Is it is it true he says well I guess he says. He says nobody it seemed it seemed a darn thing until I till I came up with it. I learned to bring it right up. About the in front of me but to the side and go read up over my head here. I shoot the shot right here and it's all fingers and wrists. Lot of people that did you play with Kenny Sailors I said Yeah sure did describe you a rattlesnake. When he was the quickest guy I ever saw out of court with his hand the fee that quickness was

on display when sailors led his freshman team to victory over the varsity Cowboys. I made a big to do about it in the papers freshman go to play the varsity big feud between the freshman and the Varsity and we beat him pretty handily. You know and so Shelton I think our coach begin to realize that maybe these bunch of kids out of Wyoming was pretty talented. If they can beat is where. Coach Shelton encouraged sailors to keep developing his jumpshot and when sailors advanced to the Varsity Shelton decided if the Cowboys were going to get the recognition they deserve the team would have to go on the road. And certainly those East Coast teams they wouldn't even think of coming back here to play in Wyoming but they love the playoffs. They like Wyoming and Colorado because we're a big drawing card especially in 1943 when nine of 11 players on the cowboy roster were from Wyoming. The team was led by sailors and other standouts

like Lou Ronie Jim Collins Jim Weir and Floyd Volker. They beat the top military service to the top in a huge team and then defeated Georgetown for the NCAA tournament title it was an incredible run. But the Cowboys still had one game left against St. John's. Winner of the 1943 National Invitational tourney and back in those days there was an argument which was the best turn of at the end i key or. And say Double-A. It was our coach that went to the they hear tell of their manager general manager Madison Square Garden said well let's settle this thing once and for all. The cattle highlights in the world of sports. Let me ask. You this. Given greater significance tonight is the American Red Cross weak. That about Apaches Bangkok's capacity. In a chemical. Store. Seconds later. Reitman recounted. What hangs on a.

Hook and amounts to an actual bathtub. OK. Think. Back of the. Truck and fast growing in a matter of minutes is. That the convoy. Has come out to take a. Look. At. Take a. Look. At maps. Like smart and spit and. Get a. Ticket. OK now that I'm going to find out what. Happened. To the kid. It really bonded together as a bunch of individuals and they had why only kids. That's the that's the big thing about 1943. A lot of the lot of the players along with Kenny sitters were Wyoming kids and consequently winning a national championship is just kind of the pinnacle of success for the university.

Kenny Sailors you know is the icon of Wyoming basketball. What else can you say he was the most decorated of his time. He only basketball players leave his basketball team to a national championship from Wyoming. Right there he's got a national championship ring that nobody else with all the years of basketball before him or after him have that. So you know what I love about Kenny Sailors not only is he a gentleman and a class guy and you know an innovator a great player a competitor all that stuff. He comes to our games now and he said he comes to practice and just loves being around the game and I respect him for so many things but I appreciate the most. He still loves a game of basketball and he's just you know one of a kind a treasure at this university in the state.

And it all started with a ragtag group on the Wyoming range. Well when I come over that far away I was just a country bumpkin I didn't know. Much about anything in the movie read into the big time you know the big time Kenny Sailors went looking for it and found stardom that Wyoming's homegrown hoops talent would recede into the shadows for another decade. And when the spotlight returned the state's new star was a northerner rapper named Shannon Brown. Well Shannon He amazed me the first time I see anyone in practice he was a very very good shooter in fact of that I had the three point line back Terry to his short shot a lot of shots from those areas and very accurate. He was six two weighed about a hundred in 75 pounds. Quick had tremendous leaping ability. The kind of basketball player that you know that had all the moves the talent and disturbed

just a real good high school basketball player. While at St Stephen Brown led his team to two state championships and forty six consecutive victories. Then in 1961 Sports Illustrated dispatched a reporter to the Wind River Indian Reservation. The article illuminated a deep connection between Wyoming native culture and basketball you're talking about a an area of the state that lives and dies basketball eats drinks a breeze a basketball Some people understand is basketball is almost a religion out here. For us it's become a religion I don't like to lose and we just revolve around basketball. At the end of Shannon Brown's high school career he dropped off the basketball radar and the Sports Illustrated reporter was left to grapple with Brown's awesome yet anonymous talent. How could a player this good simply vanish into the sagebrush. But Shannon didn't vanish and his legacy lives on today at St.

Stephen's. Like I say Shannon his son but it's almost like a tradition. The family's from one year to the next they grow up and their kids are right back into the game. Now Shannon Brown's grandsons play for St. Stephens while fans share stories about the great games and players who've come before. The traditions forged by guys like Kenny Sailors and Shannon Brown helped push other Wyoming players onto the largest stage an amateur who March Madness the NCAA Division 1 tournaments. Rock Springs native Gerald Madsen was an All-American at Casper College

then made it to the big dance with me birthday. You know fortunately I got a chance to go back to Wyoming high school teammates to well high school. People want to team a proof called school I still think to this day is the greatest high school basketball player ever. The state of Wyoming one of the most phenomenal players I have ever watched witnessed personally play in them and their Richard Smith from Green River so we went to Ybor state in Spain and had a chance to play together. It's kind of funny we were talking about this earlier along the way we had three three southwest Wyoming high school graduates playing for a top 20 team actually in a top 15 team for a lot of one year that was never recruited within the state. But. Had a had a good career there and it was it was a good time. They really were good girl he was a really competitive player. Yeah he killed his folks all came from his career

which is another coal mining town down in that area but very competitive very competitive very serious and just really tough inside man who was a world player happy to accept that role. That's kind of I think what's more I've been fortunate all along as far no figure out where the role is today. That role is on the cowgirl sideline with Coach Joe look Gursky another hoops product out of Rock Springs. There's a nice shot from the outside still. He's probably the best shooter on our team. Yes in a shot but I'll laugh when I hear he's a great player in college. That really helps us out. We have that a coach that you know really experienced experienced already. His was a talented player and brings a lot to the coaching staff. Cowgirl Megane McGuffey was born in Jackson lived in Riverton and played high school ball in Cheyenne. In 2007 she helped carry Wyoming to a

W N I T championship Megan's role is coming off said that there's a spark coming off the bench for her basketball IQ is so impressive. Just a very smart basketball player and so she really did it. I think what you want is to have. The cowgirl you and I teach championship was a huge deal. It had been 20 years since Wyoming has garnered this much national recognition. In 1987 the Cowboys made a March Madness run to remember.

Even though he's not a native of the state. Can't talk about Wyoming in the NCAA tournaments without a big defense. Oh I can remember that one day when they shut down the regulars yet you feel that way and went on and got into the Sweet 16 which I'm going to give you a chance to did it you know to me finish what I did what Kenny said it's good for a while and that is you know who he got wildly on the map. Kenny got it started and in a Wayne you know on account I want a way for a while and we were very good and him Bramber Trude Fenice and Jerry collectors was on the far left and those two guys were leaders of a successful that was called programs while me and head of her long time I went to the Sweet 16 beat Virginia

UCLA Demba was a show stealer. He made the nation realize what athletes of Wyoming already knew the Cowboy State takes its hoops seriously and starting around 2000 a string of Division One stars the merge from the sagebrush has something to prove to the rest of the country. First came Cheyanne and Marcus Bailey Marcus wasn't a great shooter but he he would hit the key shot. He wasn't a great defender. He would make the big steals or the big block he wasn't a great rebounder. He would pull the big the big the big rebound and you know just a hard nosed kid who played hard and laid it all on the line all the time. They want to instill a turbulent beacon zag in the first round and when I was sitting there just thinking hey this is great. That was 2002. Then in 2006 river to native Krista knew and helped lead Stanford

University on a run through the NCAA brackets. I mean we played Oklahoma to get a lead and it's. My job and I came with a sob there post player who is by far the best freshman country. Her name is Courtney Paris. I mean I think she's the first player ever to get. In one season like 500 clients then rebounds. A hundred block She's a great player she could've been drafted after freshman year but Courtney Paris a highly touted recruit out of San Jose and the daughter of a former NFL star now had to face knew that it was an unknown player from Riverton versus the most hyped start in women's basketball and the girl from long o me. All my energy really focused on stopping her and I think we ended up winning that game. I mean the next day I was sore. I mean this is a. Girl so pushing around.

The entire game keeping her out of the pain like that was just you know what I had to do for our team when after graduating from Stanford knew and was drafted into the WNBA and went on to play professional ball in Turkey. The success of both new and Daley inspired other Wyoming high school players to aim high. I really latched on the Marcus Bailey to play a shiny side school and he was I loved. I go to every game like a see shine place so I could watch him and then he went to you were still Wilding and I sat there and I watched everyone wheeled on TV. I I went down to a couple whiling games just to just. To watch him play because he came for a while and he was a part of one side playing high school. Jason Carroll wanted to be the next Marcus Bailey you know on the court for Evanston high school. Flat out dominant. Scoring dark blue points again rebounds and the team that won 20

like 24 for you know what what more can I do to get noticed and that's what it is to we had a wily. There were there were some college coaches that just thought your career for a while and there's there's 5000 people in the state. What kind of competition are you playing against and that's really kind of a bad illness too that people see it like that. Jaycee was passed over by most Division One schools including the University of Miami. While I missed out here and you know that happens. After high school on an LDS mission. I spent two years in and she lay. And. I picked up a gas call maybe maybe 10 times in two years. At Utah State D.C. shooting quickly returned. If you helped propel the Yankees to the NCAA tournament appearances in 2005 in 2006.

It was six. In play. University of Washington and you were still Washington and Brandon Roy on the team and I think I messed up against and he kind of let me off. He had 27 points I know but 21 in the game but they beat us. Washington gets some credit. She seems to be in talks with you but you know Brandon Roy was the rookie of the year last year I mean we. Saw an outstanding player and by far the best player I played against. There are no more questions about the kind of competition. Jason Carroll has faced the all-American guard his Utah State all time leading scorer and finished the 2006 2007 season ranked among the top 10 leading scorers and. Thanks thanks.

Thanks. Thanks. Yes. I. Will. Go to the next level it's a question I get asked all the time is he going to be in the NBA you next year. Does he have those guys with an attitude that ignores doubts about a six to shooting guard from a little high school. And while Colonel tries to make the leap from Evanston to yeah yeah. Yet another player from Miami science East James Johnson is poised to prove his critics wrong. James who had played with a swagger that some people liked some people didn't like you know James really expressed expressed himself on the floor through his game.

I like I said some people thought that was acceptable. Some people that I you know but James had fun playing the game of basketball and I think that that's one thing that has helped him be so successful because it was motivating for him to prove to people. Rock not only about just to make sure that he could compete with guys like hawks and the highly recruited guys Scouts recruiters from all over the country so very visible guy very high profile guy Johnson is the only player from Wyoming to be recruited into the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference at Wake Forest University. Johnson will get lots of chances to play on national television as his success and stature grow so will the state's long deserved reputation for producing great basketball players. And no matter what happens the hoops they throw in Wyoming will be watching.

Will sell it for a while into something more successful I love to know where I go to where they're going. I'm James Johnson I was a force this year so I'm really still following I'm always asking what's going on who's who's exciting to watch. But we do get to see some of the best talent this country has to offer. It's nice to be able to go and talk to other coaches in other states and say hi. This is the kind of talent we have. These are the kind of kids we have a farm boys turn giant killers Northern Arapaho and Shoni passing traditions on. Small town girls making big time players returned missionaries knocking the rust off the break shooting records and raw talent honing itself. The most high profile of college proving ground. The eighth. It all starts on

cold winter nights in Wyoming. You're. Just a.