Team names kept appearing on the television screen, one after the other, on and on it went. At one point, Uche Nsonwu-Amadi slid a hand over his eyes.

	Another NCAA trip? Don't put it past Jason Straight and the Cowboys.

"In the beginning, I kept telling everyone 'We're going to get picked. We're going to get picked,'" said Nsonwu-Amadi. "But the more it went on, the harder it was to believe. When there were just a few teams left, I didn't think one would be us.

"But I looked through my hand and saw the letter 'W' on the screen. Then, I knew it was us."

Then, all was right with Wyoming basketball.

The Cowboys were forced to linger in a pool of nervous sweat last Selection Sunday, their fate not decided until the NCAA Tournament's final pairing. It matched Wyoming as a No. 11 seed against No. 6 Gonzaga in the West Region, and guaranteed the Mountain West Conference a third bid along with league tournament champion San Diego State and at-large selection Utah.

For some time, the Cowboys had been a team capable of winning in conference (last year's regular-season title was their second straight) and yet one that struggled making a name for itself nationally. That changed in March, when Steve McClain's team upset Gonzaga 73-66, before giving Arizona all it wanted in a 68-60 second-round loss.

Now, armed with four returning starters (including senior center Nsonwu-Amadi) and the memory of that NCAA Tournament success, Wyoming wants more.

The Cowboys are good enough to get some.

Wyoming can further its case as top 25-worthy at this week's Great Alaska Shootout, where it lost to College of Charleston 81-72 on Wednesday. Others in the field include No. 10 Michigan State, Oklahoma State and Villanova, allowing a team like Wyoming ample opportunity to make its case for more recognition outside city limits.

McClain has built his program -- Wyoming went 22-9 last season and has won at least 18 games the past four years under its coach -- in the likeness of those constructed by his mentor Billy Tubbs. It means recruiting with the idea of starting all sets inside. It means finding big bodies. It means finding lots of them.

"Billy Tubbs' teams always had the inside player as the main guy," said McClain, who assisted Tubbs at Texas Christian. "It's how we play here. If you come here, we'll throw you the ball. So many programs in the country with big guys don't get the ball inside. When I first got to Wyoming, we had no big guys. Now, we have a roster with seven players over 6-8.

"Yeah, our guards are going to score, but it's because people have to cheat off them to cover inside. If not, we'll throw the ball in there all night."

Those in Alaska will encounter a Wyoming team that can hurt opponents from all angles. An athletic backcourt in sophomore point Jason Straight and senior Donta Richardson join Nsonwu-Amadi. Marcus Bailey is a senior small forward with one of the nation's best mid-range games and junior Joe Ries has stepped into the power forward's role vacated by Josh Davis.

The Cowboys will have their hands full in an improved Mountain West, and a team like Nevada-Las Vegas is more than capable of jumping over them for first place. But when you consider Wyoming's talent and a non-conference schedule that also includes games against Texas Tech and Kansas, those in Laramie likely won't feel as tense come NCAA selection time this season.

If anything, the win against Gonzaga last March made the Cowboys -- and their conference -- more legitimate in the eyes of many.

"I'll never forget our conference meetings when (Utah coach) Rick Majerus stood up and said it's just not enough to make the NCAA Tournament," said McClain. "He said we had to get there and win games to ever earn respect."

Fast forward to March. Somehow, we can't see Nsonwu-Amadi covering his eyes this time.

Games of the Week

UCLA vs. Duke, Saturday The Wooden Tradition game in Indianapolis affords the Bruins their first of many opportunities to shine on a national stage this season. It also affords them -- if they don't play well -- another early-season reality check in terms of a possible lopsided defeat. UC Irvine at Pepperdine, Saturday Neither team bolted to an impressive start, with the Anteaters dropping games to Oklahoma and Western Michigan at the Sooner Invitational and the Waves falling at Bradley. Pepperdine led the Braves by seven in the final three minutes before losing. Washington at Gonzaga, Monday If anything, it could be a tense atmosphere given some offseason happenings. Coaches from Gonzaga and Eastern Washington turned the Huskies into the NCAA for recruiting violations. Washington has even more problems on the court, where it opened with a loss to Montana State.

Buddy's bad call?
First things first: Why the heck was Teyo Johnson still in a football game that Cal led 30-7 in the final minutes on Saturday? Stanford football coach Buddy Teevens might have some explaining to do on that one.

He can begin with the basketball team.

Johnson is Stanford's two-sport stud, a wide receiver in football and bruising forward in hoops. But he sprained his left knee while blocking late in the blowout loss to Cal and his arrival on the court will now likely be delayed even more.

He left the field on crutches Saturday.

The 6-foot-7 Johnson had originally planned to begin playing basketball two weeks after the football season ended. Now, it could be more than a month before he sets his first pick and grabs his first rebound of the season. The junior averaged 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds last year.

Stanford has played extremely well early, advancing to the Preseason NIT semifinals this week in New York. But the Cardinal will need Johnson's bulk during the Pac-10 season, not to mention if the injury bug again hits the likes of junior Justin Davis and sophomore Josh Childress.

"Teyo gives us a veteran with leadership, which we need," said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. "He gives us a physical presence inside. He is good at coming into a game and providing us an emotional lift and playing with a lot of energy. We're a team that could go small at times with guys like Teyo and Josh and (sophomore wing) Nick Robinson."

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