The Wyoming Cowboys had a brutal regular season performance, with a 7-23 record and 2-16 record in Mountain West play. They entered the conference tournament as the 11-seed and a 10.5-point underdog against the No. 6-seed Colorado State (who entered the game 20-11, 11-7). Wyoming shocked Colorado State on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, 80-74.
On Thursday night, Wyoming once again entered the game as a 10.5-point underdog, this time against the No. 3-seed Nevada Wolf Pack (who entered 19-11, 12-6). And once again, Wyoming pulled off the upset. The Cowboys came away with a 74-71 victory — after trailing by 10 at halftime — to advance to the Mountain West semifinals.
This is March. We have a cinderella. Are you surprised?
No. 11 @wyo_mbb takes down No. 3 Nevada to advance to the @MW_MBB tournament semifinals! pic.twitter.com/TktZl0ie2w
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) March 6, 2020
Wyoming went 0-4 against CSU and Nevada in the regular season, and was literally the conference’s worst team, with only victories over San Jose State and Air Force. CSU and Nevada have both been top-100 teams in the country this season according to the KenPom rankings, while Wyoming entered Thursday night ranked 254th.
But this is the beauty of March in college basketball. Wyoming will look to keep their magic going against Utah State in Friday night’s semifinals.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.