When Larry Shyatt took over as the head coach of the Wyoming Cowboys in 2011, he had a lot of work to do. The Mountain West was continually improving in basketball, losing their 'mid-major status' due to the traditions built by San Diego State, UNLV, and New Mexico. The team hadn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2002, and had never won the MWC tournament.

Now, after 4 years of his tenure, the Brown and Gold have gotten over the hump, winning 3 games in a row over Mountain West elite to win the conference tournament and punch a bid to the NCAA tournament. It took a late Josh Adams trey to give Wyoming the lead tonight against San Diego State, which they would keep until the buzzer to emerge victorious.

A wild defensive affair played out in front of 10,000 fans in the Thomas & Mack Center tonight in Las Vegas, but WYO continually held a small lead. Star forward Larry Nance Jr., who has been oft-injured the past few years, didn't want to see his senior season end, and showed off his skills in the paint and from deep, especially in the first half.

Points were hard to come by, as both SDSU head coach Steve Fisher and WYO's Larry Shyatt preach defense. However, Malik Pope had a hot hand in the first half, as he and Matt Shrigley hit two consecutive threes to cut into the Wyoming lead, making it 28-25 at the half as a Cowboy lead.

A 4 minute stretch of scoreless basketball opened up the 2nd half, but the drought was ended as Shrigley flushed another rainbow trey to tie the ball game up. San Diego State would then try to push their way into the paint, with Malik Pope and JJ O'Brien knocking the Wyoming defenders out of the way for layups and short jumpers to give the Aztecs a 33-28 advantage with 11 minutes left in the game.

SDSU was doing a great job closing the passing lanes, as the Cowboys were scoreless for the first 9 minutes of the 2nd half. However, things opened up a bit when star WYO point guard Josh Adams drilled a trey, and Charles Hankerson Jr. stepped outside to do the same soon afterwards, cutting into the fragile Aztec lead. At the 8:00 mark, Larry Nance Jr. threw down a monsterous dunk, giving the Cowboys the lead back by 1.

It was back and forth for a few more minutes, but JJ O'Brien knew it was time for him to take charge, as he got into the lane and got a layup on one possession, and 2 free throws on the next, giving Steve Fisher's team a 1 point advantage.

Did you think Wyoming would lay down and evaporate at this point? Not a chance. With the grace of a gazelle, Josh Adams trotted down the court and nailed a three-pointer to give the Cowboys a lead they would not relinquish. Aqeel Quinn couldn't get a late 3-pointer to go, and Wyoming had shocked the college basketball world, winning the tournament.

The two teams were very similar in the statistics department, but a key integer was 2-10: the shooting performance of star Aztec Winston Shepard. That would become critical, with Wyoming shutting down SDSU's leading scorer to 6 points.

This win by the Cowboys has ramifications across the board, as they are the first true 'bid thief' of the conference tournament season. Wyoming wasn't going to attain an at-large bid, and needed to win this tournament to get to the NCAA's. This will likely be the MWC's 4th team with a bid this year, including San Diego State, Colorado State, Boise State, and now Wyoming. This win will pop someone's bubble in another conference, such as potentially Indiana, UCLA, Temple, Tulsa, Ole Miss, or Texas.

According to VAVEL USA's lead bracketologist Matthew Evans, Wyoming will end up with a 13 seed in the NCAA tournament. No matter their seeding, this is a massive win for the program, and should be celebrated in Laramie, Casper, Cheyenne, Gillette, and all across the Equality State. Hell hath frozen over: The Wyoming Cowboys are tournament champions.