Cowboys' Hunters share more than a name

Since stepping on campus in 2017, the Hunters have been inseparable. That connection actually started before they ever stepped on campus.

Maldonado, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Thompson, the in-state kid from Pine Bluffs, shared their hopes and dreams for the Cowboys before ever becoming official members of the team. They talked about where the program could go, about how they saw themselves impacting it.

Three years later, they find themselves as close as ever.

Each Hunter knows his strengths and weaknesses, and that includes around the house: Thompson is very clean, constantly making sure things are spic and span, though he tends to leave his laundry in the wash, Maldonado noted. Maldonado, for all of his heroics on the basketball court, is admittedly a bit messy.

But if nothing else, maturity and age have given him the ability to recognize his faults. He knows he isn’t the cleanest roommate and is trying to get better.

On the other side of the coin, Thompson can admit where Maldonado clearly edges him: in the popular video game, Call of Duty. It’s not even close, actually.

“It’s hands down Maldo,” Thompson said with a laugh. “I’m just there for fun. He’s hands down better.”

The redshirt juniors have run the gamut of emotions in their three years as friends and teammates in Laramie. After winning 20 games as freshmen, the team won a combined 17 games over the past two years, leading to the dismissal of coach Allen Edwards. But through it all, they’ve been there for each other. When it came time to decide whether to stay or leave amid the coaching change, it was a no-brainer that if one left, the other was leaving, too.

The Hunters have similar interests off the court. Their families get along well. They share far more than just a first name. They have a special bond. The Hunters have built each other up from the moment they became teammates and friends, each being the other’s staunchest defender.

“Maldo just kind of likes to joke with me,” Thompson said. “(But) I think the biggest thing was how much belief he had in me that I was going to perform well.”

Ultimately, the roommates decided to stay in Laramie, as they had unfinished business to attend to. The conversations they had before becoming teammates about greatness were still possible. And running away from those goals, plain and simple, would be “cowardly,” according to Thompson.

In the back of both their minds, they knew they wanted to stay and complete what they started.

Maldonado, a third team All-Mountain West selection at guard last season, can’t believe it’s already been three years that he and Thompson have been friends, but to say they’re excited for their future with the Pokes would be an understatement.

“We’ve kind of been together the whole ride. We’ve been living with each other the whole time,” Maldonado said. “When you go home, that’s who you talk to, that’s who you confide in. Me and Thompson are both super motivated. I think our vision for Wyoming is the same.”

Within a few hours of his being hired in mid-March, new Cowboys coach Jeff Linder drove to Colorado to visit Maldonado, Kwane Marble II and Kenny Foster to gauge their interests in returning to the program. Thompson would have been part of the visit as well, save for the fact he was in Mexico. But Linder and Thompson spoke on the phone for nearly an hour about the possibilities of the future, and his seemingly perfect fit in Linder’s vision. Much like Marble and Foster, Thompson and Maldonado largely considered themselves a package deal.

Thompson, a 6-foot-10 forward blessed with deft shooting touch on the perimeter, is the quintessential modern big man in basketball. Linder is keen on sharpshooting, and the idea of Thompson being used to the best of his abilities was certainly tempting. Thompson averaged 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 2019-20. It was going to be difficult for Thompson to leave his home state anyway. Everything Linder said just reinforced that he was meant to stay in Laramie.

“Pick and pop, on the perimeter ... Just the way he talked about me individually (was great),” Thompson said. “(Linder) just sounded like a pretty sincere guy. It didn’t sound like he was saying what I wanted to hear.”

Similarly, when Linder set foot in Maldonado’s home, something just felt right. There was something about Linder’s willingness to drive hundreds of miles his first day on the job that struck a positive chord with him. Linder could have easily sent a text message or made a few phone calls to players to try and sweet talk them. Linder instead chose the hard road. And for Maldonado, that commitment meant the world.

“I’m a man of action. That’s what I always loved about Coach Edwards, (too). Everyone can talk, but you need to walk the walk,” Maldonado, who led UW in points (16.4), assists (4) and rebounds (5.6) per game last season, said. “Linder got back home at like 1 a.m. (the next day).”

As default leaders of the team, Maldonado and Thompson know the onus is on them to help a talented team grow up and meet its ultimate potential. They got a crash course in that as freshmen, when they roomed with former UW star and Sacramento Kings guard Justin James. That experience, seeing someone like James lead first hand, has proven pivotal, particularly for Maldonado, who was the team’s heartbeat last year and figures to be its pulse once again going forward.

Combining several transfers and Linder’s first recruiting class, which ranks first in the MW and tied for 50th nationally, UW is set to have eight new players on its roster in 2020-21. That’s a lot of turnover for a team that didn’t seem to find its footing at all last season until an unlikely run to the semifinals of the MW tournament.

But if you ask Maldonado, that run wasn’t particularly shocking. Throughout last season, he consistently displayed faith in his teammates, even when things were seemingly at their bleakest. The ability to look beyond results in the win-loss column or a stat sheet is one of the qualities that makes Maldonado an ideal leader and ambassador as a new era of UW basketball starts.

“(Maldonado and Thompson) know this place better than any of us,” Linder said. “We’ve really leaned on them in this transition, and (we’re) just getting their pulse on how things have been done and things that we can do improve on what they’ve been doing here.”

Thompson and Maldonado might not agree on everything, but the roommates firmly say they’re pleased with their decision to return to the Cowboy program. The 2020-21 season also is another opportunity for them to realize the goals they drew up together as teenagers.

The Hunters are looking forward to sharing and realizing those hopes and dreams with teammates, the old ones and the new ones. Maldonado and Thompson know a lot is on them to bring everyone up to speed, and in a hurry. Another nine-win season isn’t going to cut it.

What better way to lead than by showing a love for the school that has given them so much and by teaching teammates what it truly means to be Cowboy Tough?

Consider the duo up to the task.

“I think it’s going to be huge,” Maldonado said. “They don’t really know what Wyoming basketball is all about.”