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Last week’s press release from the University of Wyoming telling us that Casper’s Eric Platt would be leaving the Cowboy basketball program was received locally with a feeling of sadness.

Platt has been a popular figure in local basketball circles after an outstanding high school career at Kelly Walsh High School. And as a true freshman at UW in 2006-07, Eric showed plenty of potential as the fifth leading scorer on the Cowboys with an average of more than six points per game.

Platt ranked second in scoring among the entire freshman class in the Mountain West Conference. Even more impressive was that Platt shot 39 percent from three-point range, second best among the Cowboys.

As a freshman, Eric averaged more than 19 minutes per game, but that number diminished considerably during the season just past. He was bothered by shin splints for a time, but his playing time was reduced even more during the conference season.

The news release from UW said that Platt and fellow sophomore Travis Nelson were leaving Wyoming to continue their collegiate basketball careers elsewhere.

Cowboy head coach Heath Schroyer was quoted as saying he couldn’t guarantee either player enough playing time next season to make it attractive for them to continue to play at UW.

This is Schroyer’s program, and he is under pressure to make Wyoming basketball better next time around and in the following years.

The fact that the attendance at the Arena-Auditorium was the lowest in the history of the building is not lost on the second-year head coach. That level of attendance is simply not acceptable.

Schroyer knows he has to do something to make Cowboy basketball worth watching. One easily can appreciate the coach’s position and his need to make some changes.

Still, I feel badly about the departure of Platt. Maybe it is just my desire to see this young man succeed as a Cowboy, but it is disappointing to see him ushered out of the UW program.

At times over the past two seasons, Eric has shown an ability to play at the MWC level, and we can hope he finds a college that will allow him to show those talents as he pursues a degree.

And Travis Nelson is in the same boat in my eyes. I thought the 6-11 Iowa native showed more offensive talent than did Mikhail Linskens, the 7-footer from Belgium who alternated with Nelson at the post last season.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Platt and Nelson become valuable assets to basketball programs at other colleges in the future. The NCAA rules are complicated, but I understand that if either player moves to another Division I program, they would have to sit out a season before becoming eligible.

But if either one were to enroll as a lesser program (Division II or lower) they would be eligible to play right away.

No one knows what the future will bring, but the loss of an in-state product like Eric Platt leaves an empty feeling for many Wyoming fans.

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