Jackson, M’Baye and Harrison exit basketball program opening up three recruiting slots 

Let’s say you – as an automotive connoisseur – stumble across a vintage car that’s taken a beating but still looks like it could burn up the Autobahnen if it had a little miraculous maintenance.

Naturally, you’re intrigued. You buy it, slide in behind the wheel, and cruise off the lot with what appears to be a great find.

And then the engine spontaneously combusts, and you suffer scarring third-degree burns all over your body because you’re trapped inside a car with broken door handles and your window-punching skills are not up to Dwight Schrute standards.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad.

Still, last week’s departures of slashing guard Desmar Jackson and forward Amath M’Baye – both sophomores this past season and both combining as leading scorers for the Cowboy basketball team – badly soured some of the excitement emanating from the re-arrival of Larry Shyatt as head coach of the Wyoming men’s basketball team.

Jackson was far and away the leading scorer on the Cowboy team, chipping in 14.6 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game – including a stellar 23 point, 6 rebound effort in Wyoming’s near upset of then No. 9 BYU Feb. 2.

Jackson carried much of the offensive load in the absence of Afam Muojeke in the past two seasons, and his surprising emergence, combined with Muojeke’s own dynamic potential as a player, had Cowboy fans drooling at the prospect of seeing a healthy Muojeke and Jackson team form one of the most explosive scoring duos in the West.  

Now we’ll never know what could have been.

Jackson wasn’t a particularly good shooter, but his driving ability was incomparable.

He still would have had two years to develop his range and comfort zone from the outside.   

It’s the loss of Jackson’s excellent potential which hurts the most.

And speaking of potential, M’Baye’s future as a Cowboy seemed brighter than a Jay-Z music video, especially given his monumental ascent during the final few weeks of the season.   

M’Baye was a possessed man during a six game tear between February 5 and Feb. 26, dropping 19.7 points per game and pulling down 5.5 rebounds per game during that stretch. 

M’Baye’s size and athleticism were huge assets to his game. He possessed the type of explosiveness that will make him a valuable transfer prospect for schools all over the country. 

The Cowboys will badly miss his capacity to post down low and knock down mid-range turnaround jumpers with defenders in his face.   

Daylen Harrison, the third member of the 2010-11 Cowboy team to transfer, saw limited playing time and was likely to be a super-sub for the remainder of his time at Wyoming, but Harrison also has potential as an outside shooter. 

Some will argue that the three departures will open up three key scholarships for Shyatt, who, in the long term, could dig out a diamond mine from a rock quarry.   

It also could be argued that the Cowboys were hardly competitive with Jackson and M’Baye in the lineup and that Wyoming will need upgrades across the court to become conference contenders again.

Still, it’s placing an awful lot of pressure on Shyatt’s shoulders as a recruiter.

It certainly won’t make his job any easier for the coming seasons.

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