LARAMIE – Wyoming has 12 new players, including eight that are either true freshmen or transfers moving up to Division I for the first time.
 
But competing at this level is old hat for dynamic Pokes point guard Leland Walker.
 
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound transfer enters his senior season with 1,125 points, 375 assists and 99 steals over 101 career games played.
 
After spending his first two seasons at Eastern Kentucky and earning all-Atlantic Sun Conference first team honors, Walker averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 assists last season while starting 33 games for Florida Atlantic.
 
"I'm so thankful for him because he's an elite energy giver, he's communicating all the time, he's picking guys up, he's a competitor and he's just got this edge to him," UW head coach Sundance Wicks said of Walker. "He wants to run a team; he wants to run the show. That's what he does and he's really good at it.
 
"We're lucky to have him here because he's a natural quarterback. He's a real PG1. He can run the football, he can pass the football, he can play out of the option, he can play out of the shotgun. He can do it all."
 
During the Cowboys' final moments of the final practice of the team's exacting eight-week stretch of summer workouts, Walker showed off his ability to create and make clutch shots in crunch time.
 
"I feel like I can lead this team," Walker said. "I've been playing basketball my whole life. I've been a leader since my sophomore year in college. It's coming together good. We've got a young team, but the young players are catching on really fast. We spend a lot of time off the court together, so I'd say that's the main reason. We're also playing pick-up and getting better every day."
 
Walker discussed his basketball odyssey to Laramie. What was the Indianapolis native looking for when he entered the portal?
 
"For a fit and a coach with a lot of energy who believed in me and feels like I can take my talents where I want to take them," Walker said. "I felt this was the best place for me because I could come to a great conference and to a coach who believes in his point guards and his players.
 
"I didn't know anything about Wyoming. I thought it was going to just be horses and stuff, but once I came out here it was a great vibe."
 
The past two seasons UW has landed productive point guards from the transfer market in Sam Griffin and Obi Agbim. Walker also can score and facilitate at a high level.
 
One additional aspect of Walker's game is a low turnover margin, which will be important for the Pokes as they try to compete in the Mountain West while playing at a much faster tempo than last year's grind-it-out approach.  
 
"We've got a lot of good guards and we're going to have good guard play. I think that's going to be the strength of this team," Walker said. "Playing at home is going to be a great advantage. We're used to the altitude, and we've got really quick guards. We can pick them up and get the other team tired. That's why I feel like playing at home is going to be a big advantage for us."
 
Wicks has been impressed with Walker for perhaps being a little too unselfish while trying to get this new cast of characters on the same page.
 
"Leland is going to be great just because of the way he connects everybody and how he loves his teammates," Wicks said. "He's giving so much right now to everybody else that it has probably hurt his summer production. I don't care. He'll be great in the season because he's giving so much to everyone else that we will always remember we've got to give to Leland. …
 
"He is creating culture for us. His leadership will rub off on the younger guys for the future. You cannot put a price tag on that."
 
(Editor's Note: This is the 12^th in a 12-part series introducing fans to UW's new men's basketball players).
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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