The first step in getting to Laramie, Wyoming?
Hop a flight to Denver.
Good fortune is a good travel companion from there, or prayer if you're the faithful type, because in an area when a day without snow is a rarity, the 150 miles of highway in between can be tricky at best, closed at worst.
You have to really want to go there.
Which is why when Larry Nance Jr. announced his intentions to make the 1,300-mile commute from his Akron, Ohio home to Laramie for his college career, his father stood silent, his face blank and his jaw pointing toward the floor.
"I about passed out when he told us,'' said 13-year NBA veteran Larry Nance Sr.
His son and his team have found some good smelling salts to revive Dad and wake up the country. As it enters treacherous Mountain West play on Wednesday night against Boise State, Wyoming is 13-0 and ranked in a national poll for the first time in 25 years.
[+] EnlargeLarry Nance
Troy Babbitt/US PresswireLarry Nance Jr. has helped lead Wyoming to its first national ranking in 25 years.
The unexpected (and that's the understatement of the season) hot start has added a new degree of difficulty to college basketball trivia.
