LARAMIE, Wyo. – Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 72-69 win at Wyoming on Saturday night:
1. Perfect timing
Remember BJ Davis?
Well, he’s back.
The sophomore guard had a torrid start to the season, which was even more impressive considering these were his first meaningful minutes after being buried on the bench on a veteran team the year before. He had 28 points in a closed-door preseason exhibition at UCLA in October, then 11 in the opener against UCSD in his first career start with senior guard Reese Waters injured. He followed that with 16, 15, 18 and 18.
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First five games: 15.6 points, 60% shooting overall, 10 of 20 behind the arc.
And then …
Next 19 games: 6.7 points, 35.5% shooting, 18 of 61 behind the arc (29.5%).
And then …
Last three games: 12.7 points, 61.1% shooting, 10 of 16 behind the arc (62.5%).
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“I just had to get back to my roots,” Davis said after equaling his career high of 18 points in his first trip to the 7,220 feet of Wyoming. “I had to do all the things that got me here to this place, be the same person I was that got me here. That’s what I fell back to, just trying to be myself, more comfortable in my own skin.
“Getting in the gym extra, getting an early night’s rest. It’s just the little stuff that the greatest athletes do, and it shows.”
The timing couldn’t be better. Miles Byrd also had 18 on Saturday, his most in 11 games. His sprained right thumb continues to heal, and he said he received a pain-killing injection last week in his balky hip that has bothered him on and off for the last two seasons.
Nick Boyd also is playing his best basketball of the season. So is Miles Heide and Jared Coleman-Jones. So was Magoon Gwath before hyperextending his knee, but his rehab seems to be progressing. He could return as early as this week.
“Goon went down, everybody had to pick up the slack for him because he’s an incredible player,” Davis said. “We all have to be better to make up for his absence.”
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Consider this mind-blowing stat: Over the past three games (an eight-point loss, an eight-point win, a three-point win), all but two minutes of which were without Gwath, the Aztecs are an aggregate plus-3 points. And plus-43 when Davis has been on the floor.
And don’t forget that he was the primary defender on the first and fourth leading scorers in the Mountain West, New Mexico’s Donovan Dent and Wyoming’s Obi Agbim.
“Just got his confidence back up,” Dutcher said. “He got back in the gym. He wasn’t shooting as much as he was earlier. I think he was tired over (the semester break) and rested more. Now he’s got his swagger back up. It’s great to see.”
2. Metrics deception
The Aztecs are 20-7 and projected as a No. 9 or 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament by most leading bracketologists, which translates to somewhere between the nation’s 33rd and 40th best team. So how come the NET and a few other metrics have them in the 50s?
The simple answer is that they play their best basketball against the best teams, which also means the opposite is true.
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Bart Torvik’s T-rank includes filters for date parameters as well as quality of opposition. Remove Quad 4 games (against the bottom tier of teams), and the Aztecs go from 56 overall to 36 – the highest jump among the top 75 teams which, presumably, are vying for NCAA Tournament spots.
Compare that to Boise State, which sits at 43 overall in T-rank but drops to 63 when you remove Quad 4 games. Or Colorado State, which goes from 50 to 65.
That’s because they beat up on lesser foes, gaming the metrics with lopsided wins that overperform the computer’s projected margin.
The Aztecs aren’t built that way, a defensive-oriented team with what at times is an anemic offense incapable of achieving 30- and 40-point routs. They rank 13th in defensive efficiency this season, 111th in offensive efficiency.
Their nonconference schedule, ranked as the ninth most difficult in the nation, wasn’t built that way, either. They played four straight games in November against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 instead of a diet of metric-juicing cupcakes.
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They’ve played 12 Quad 3 or 4 games this season and outperformed the projected margin of victory in only four – and just once in the last seven. Over the course of the season, they’re a combined 50 points worse than the projected spread.
In one two-week stretch, they lost a Quad 3 home game against UNLV despite being favored by 10.5 points and had three close calls against Air Force, San Jose State and Wyoming despite being favored by 13 or 14 points. That was accompanied by a nine-spot slide in the NET metric.
Saturday’s projected spread was seven. The Aztecs won by three.
“I’ve got one more trip here,” Dutcher said of Wyoming, which won’t be part of the reformed Pac-12 in 2026-27. “God bless, I love Laramie, I love the people of Laramie, but I won’t be coming back. As long as I’m an Aztecs coach, I won’t be bringing a team here. I know how hard it is.”
3. Consortium conundrum
When the Pac-12 disintegrated and the Western Basketball Officiating Consortium (WBOC) followed suit, the other five Division I conferences in the West needed to find a new source of striped shirts.
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The WCC, Big West, Big Sky and WAC all followed WBOC coordinator John Higgins to the Big 12, where he assumed a similar role and brought many of the top Pac-12 officials with him. The Mountain West broke ranks and joined the College Officiating Consortium (COC) that supplies the Big Ten and several smaller Midwest leagues.
“The Mountain West,” Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement last spring announcing the move, “will continue to see high-level officiating, evaluations and trainings that will enhance our conference and the student-athlete experience.”
The idea was that the top Big Ten officials would make West Coast swings to work conference games with UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington, then detour to Mountain West schools along the way. But whether because of the travel logistics of shipping Midwest-based officials across the country or a deprioritization of the Mountain West, it hasn’t quite worked out like that.
The Kenpom metric ranks officials on the theory that the best refs are assigned to the best games. Eight of the current top 15 are regulars in the Big Ten, working a combined 173 conference games but only 18 in the Mountain West.
Another way to look at it is the average Kenpom ranking of a three-person crew. In eight SDSU games between Feb. 1 and March 1 last season, it was 84.
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This season: 110.
Saturday’s crew at Wyoming was the latest insult for a program that reached the national championship game and Sweet 16 in the past two seasons.
There was No. 59 Michael Irving, one of the West Coast-based officials who jumped to the COC after the WBOC disbanded. There was No. 125 Chad Barlow, who hasn’t been deemed worthy of working a single Big Ten game this season and instead is primarily assigned to the MAC and Horizon League. And there was Juan Corral, a Division II official who has worked only 15 Division I games this season and none since Feb. 18 (when he also had the Aztecs). He’s ranked 361st.
Corral was the ref who whistled a technical foul on Davis after he made a 3 and looked at his own bench to, in his words, “turn my guys up, like, ‘Let’s go, guys. Let’s do it.’”
Barlow was the ref who T-ed up Miles Byrd seven seconds later.
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“All of a sudden, it was about the officiating instead of the game,” Dutcher said. “I was hoping they wouldn’t interject themselves too much. I’m sitting courtside. I didn’t see a lot of crap talking between the two teams back and forth.”
SDSU and the four other Mountain West defectors have one more season of the COC before joining the new Pac-12, which has not yet decided on an officiating consortium for basketball.
Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites, and Trails has officially released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for professional appraisal services to evaluate concession facilities at Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Wyoming.
These appraisals are mandated by 2026 Senate Enrolled Act 27, Section 335, which requires appraisals of the “capital investment” and “ongoing concern” for the businesses known as the Star Plunge and the Hot Springs Hotel and Spa.
Qualified professional appraisers are encouraged to review the full requirements. Proposals must be submitted through the State’s Public Purchase online bidding system by 2:00 p.m., May 18, 2026. To view the full RFP (Number 0270-M), please visit https://www.publicpurchase.com/gems/wyominggsd,wy/buyer/public/home.
For additional information, contact Wyoming State Parks’ Visitor Services Manager Stephanie Dillmon at (307) 777-5734 or by email at Stephanie.Dillmon2@wyo.gov or learn more about Wyoming State Parks at wyoparks.wyo.gov.
When a clinic closes in Wyoming, it doesn’t just close a door; it can cut off access to care for entire communities.
For many residents, getting to a health care provider already means traveling long distances across multiple counties, and local clinics are often the only nearby option for basic health care. With one Title X Family Planning clinic in western Wyoming now closed, the challenge is becoming even more real for many people.
Reproductive and sexual health care is a key part of overall health, but it’s often one of the first services people lose access to when clinics close. Title X Family Planning is a federal program that helps people get essential preventive care, no matter their income. These clinics offer services like birth control, cancer screenings, STI and HIV testing, and care before pregnancy. They help people stay healthy, catch problems early, and plan for their futures.
The need is real. Wyoming’s Title X Family Planning network remains a critical part of the state’s health care system, helping bridge gaps in both access and affordability. With 9 clinics currently serving communities across the state, these providers cared for nearly 12,000 patients through more than 28,000 visits between 2022 and 2025. For many, these clinics are their only source of care: 49% of patients were uninsured, and nearly half were living at or below the federal poverty level.
In a state where distance and cost can both be barriers, affordable care is essential. About 14.6% of Wyoming women ages 19–44 are uninsured, higher than the national average. Title X clinics help meet this need by offering low- or no-cost care, while also connecting patients to referrals and additional health services when needed, ensuring more individuals can get the care they deserve.
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These clinics are also on the front lines of prevention. In recent years, they delivered more than 3,100 cervical cancer screenings and about 20,000 STI and HIV tests. Services like these support early detection and treatment, helping reduce the need for more serious and costly care down the line.
In rural states like Wyoming, once a clinic closes, it is very hard to bring it back. These clinics are more than buildings; they are part of the local health care system that keeps communities healthy.
The good news is that Title X Family Planning clinics are still open, working every day to serve their communities. The Wyoming Health Council supports this network of clinics and works to ensure that people across the state can access the care they need. Through partnerships, education, and community-based programs, the organization helps connect Wyoming residents to reproductive and sexual health services, no matter where they live.
In a state where distance, cost, and provider shortages all play a role, these clinics, and the work supporting them, are more than just a convenience. They are a lifeline.
To help sustain this work and protect access to care across Wyoming, consider making a donation to the Wyoming Health Council.
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Donation Link: givebutter.com/WYTitleX
Required Federal Funding statement: This project is supported by the Office of Populations Affairs (OPA) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award 1 FPHPA 006541-0-00 totaling $978,380 with 100 percent funded by OPA/OASH/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by OPA/OASH/HHS or the U.S. Government.
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CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper City Council voted Tuesday to approve on first reading a zoning change for a vacant 2.4-acre parcel located at 1530 SE Wyoming Boulevard, transitioning the property from residential to commercial use.
The ordinance reclassifies Lot 4 of the Methodist Church Addition from Residential Estate to General Business. Located between East 15th and East 18th streets, the irregular-shaped property has remained undeveloped since it was first platted in 1984.
While original plans for the subdivision envisioned a church and an associated preschool, Community Development Director Liz Becher reported those projects never materialized.
According to Becher, the applicant sought the rezoning to facilitate the potential installation of a cell tower or an off-premises sign. Under the new C-2 designation, a cell tower up to 130 feet in height is considered a permitted use by right, though any off-premises sign would still require a conditional use permit from the Planning and Zoning Commission. The applicant also owns the adjacent lot to the north, which the city rezoned to general business in 2021.
Becher said the change aligns with the “Employment Mixed Use” classification in the Generation Casper comprehensive land use plan. This designation typically supports civic, institutional and employment spaces.
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Despite the new zoning, the property remains subject to a subdivision agreement that limits traffic access. Entry and exit are restricted to right turns onto or from East 15th Street, and no access is permitted from East 18th Street.
The council will vote on two more readings of the ordinance before it is officially ratified.
