The University of Wyoming men's basketball program, which competes in the Mountain West Conference, with the schools first recorded game dating back to 1905.

Wyoming won the 1943 NCAA championship under Hall of Fame coach Everett Shelton and behind star guard Ken Sailors, who pioneered the jump shot that is now the standard in basketball.

After Witte stepped down in 1939, Everett Shelton took over the team and went on to become the winningest coach in Wyoming history in his 19 years in Laramie.

That team was led by Ken Sailors, who scored 16 points in the championship game victory over Georgetown on his way to being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

In addition, Sailors was named college basketball's Player of the Year in 1943 and again in 1946 after returning from fighting in World War II.

Coach Bill Strannigan, who succeeded Shelton, had just six winning seasons in 14 years as head coach and made one NCAA Tournament appearance in 1967 in which the Cowboys were handed a lopsided loss at the hands of eventual national champion UCLA and its All-American center Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

[3] He was replaced by Benny Dees, who went 26–6 in his first year with the Cowboys and returned them to the NCAA tournament in 1988 where they lost in the first round to Loyola Marymount.

After his departure, Steve McClain took over the head coaching job and had three consecutive 20-win seasons from 2001 to 2003, including conference titles in 2001 and 2002 and an NCAA tournament appearance in 2002.

Shyatt was hired yet again as Wyoming's head coach after the 2010–11 season ended due to the firing of Heath Schroyer.

This included a 6–1 non-conference record highlighted by a road win against eventual Elite Eight participant Oregon State.

The team's season ended in the Mountain West tournament quarterfinals 69–66 to eventual champion San Diego State.