LARAMIE, Wyo. — You did it! You did it! You did it!
Basketball player Cort Roberson is as tough as any Cowboy who has ever worn the brown and gold.
However, when teammate Cole Henry repeated those words during a team hug, the steely senior guard melted in his own tears.
The moment came after Wyoming’s practice on Thursday night, when Roberson was awarded a scholarship for his final semester for all the sacrifices he made as a walk-on for three-plus seasons.
“It was overwhelming,” Roberson said. “Having been here so long, to have something like that happen, I just worked my butt off to try to get that and it hadn’t happened. Whether it happened three years ago, last year, whenever it happened, it couldn’t have been more special than last night.”
Roberson arrived at UW in summer 2021 after a stellar prep career in Washington. Jeff Linder played with his father, Harlan, at Western State, but the fiery head coach didn’t cut the freshman any slack with the Pokes.
“You have to set the example for what the fans are expecting and what the coach expects here. I just was told my role from day one from Jeff Linder,” Roberson said. “One day I wasn’t talking enough in practice, and he said, ‘If you want to be here, you have to talk.’
“Ever since then I figured I have to do what I’ve got to do to stay.”
That season, Roberson and the other walk-ons and redshirting freshmen became known as the “Blue-collar Boys.” The tight-knit crew waving towels on the end of the bench during games did the dirty work in practice to make sure the talented Cowboys mastered the scouting reports.
UW finished 25–9 and made the NCAA Tournament. Roberson’s former teammates from that memorable season, including Hunter Maldonado, who is playing professionally in Germany, reached out to congratulate their favorite BCB member after his hoop dream came true Thursday.
“It’s pretty special because I don’t have a role on the court, so I’m glad I could stand out in a way that I think benefits everybody,” Roberson said. “I just try to be the best teammate I can be. I’m glad that they appreciate that.”
Roberson has experienced the agony of a losing season, seeing good friends enter the portal and a coaching change over the last three years.
Sundance Wicks, an assistant under Linder before taking the Green Bay job, has leaned on the last man standing from the 2022 NCAA Tournament team to set the culture in the locker room during his first season as UW’s head coach.
“To do a thankless job for four years, well now I have a chance to thank him,” Wicks said of surprising Roberson with the scholarship. “That to me was a special moment because I know how much this place means to him, I know how much sacrifice he has put into this. And he’s seen the best and the worst of it here, but that’s what makes him a real guy because we never get out of this thing unscarred.
“Cort Roberson will forever be a foxhole guy for me.”
Roberson, despite dealing with various injuries, helped the coaching staff mold 10 new players signed in a 27-day period into a team that has consistently pushed the Mountain West contenders to the brink.
The Cowboys, who host UNLV at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Arena-Auditorium, have embraced defense, rebounding, controlling pace and all the dirty work scout team players like Roberson relish.
“Cort is everything it means to be a Cowboy, and I’m honored to be his teammate,” Henry said.
After Roberson, who played for his dad in high school, graduates this spring with a degree in marketing, he plans to pursue a coaching career.
“He’s going to be great because you have to see all sides of this,” Wicks said. “Wins and losses, successes and failures are both impostors. It’s the consistency and the human being that lasts and that matters. Cort will be successful because of his consistency, not his perfection.”
Watching the NCAA Tournament selection show and seeing “Wyoming Cowboys” flash on the screen was memorable for Roberson, but Thursday night was a moment he will never forget.
“It has been a roller coaster, and I’ve loved every minute of it,” he said.
The ride has been bumpy, but it’s not over. Roberson and the Pokes have eight more games left in the regular season before the MW Tournament in Las Vegas.
In the age of the transfer portal, players like Roberson who stay for four years despite rarely getting into games or being rewarded publicly for all their work will be nearly extinct.
“He wants to be respected, and he deserves everybody’s respect. He’s got my respect, I know that,” Wicks said. “I think he’s got the state of Wyoming’s respect, I think he’s got everybody who has ever donned the brown and gold’s respect.”
