Nixa basketball star Kael Combs commits to Wyoming

Nixa basketball star Kael Combs has never considered himself a mountains guy but when he went on a recent visit to Wyoming, it was hard for him to not notice the scenery around him.

Among other items he noticed was a spot where he could grow on the basketball court and play in a conference that just sent a team to the national championship. With the beautiful scenery and a promising basketball future ahead of him, Combs knew it was where he wanted to be.

"I just felt comfortable," Combs said in a phone interview with the News-Leader. "All of the coaches that I talked to believed in me. It's also just really beautiful out there. It just all felt right."

Combs, the News-Leader's 2022-23 Boys' Basketball Player of the Year, announced Saturday night that he committed to play college basketball at Wyoming and that he will be a Cowboy.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound point guard made the choice over the likes of Abilene Christian, Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State and Northwest Missouri State. He's coming off a senior season in which he averaged 23.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists in his first year as the program's starting point guard — a position the Cowboys told him they plan to keep him at when he plays in the Mountain West.

Combs said his relationship with new Wyoming assistant coach Bryston Williams played a major factor in the decision. Williams had been an assistant at Indiana State in the first two seasons for the Sycamores under Josh Schertz. Williams was recruiting Combs to play at Indiana State before he made the move out west.

"He told me that I was the first that he called when he got there," Combs said. "He had a lot of trust in me while he moves from the Missouri Valley to the Mountain West. I like Coach (Jeff) Linder a lot and he works well with guards and is kind of a guard-dominant of mind as a head coach."

The decision to play basketball at Wyoming also was a decision to pursue hoops over football. In his two seasons of playing football at Nixa, Combs turned into one of the best wide receivers in the area and attracted both FBS and FCS offers. He said during his junior year that he thought he would wind up playing football collegiately but basketball always had his heart in the end.

Combs also said he considered taking the prep school route before his senior year when his recruitment slowed down. Those thoughts quickly went away when he went on a tear through the final months of the high school basketball season which turned into the likes of Abilene Christian and others getting in the mix while a school like Missouri State kicked the tires on recruiting him again when it had slowed down over previous seasons.

Wyoming was never in the picture until about a month ago when Williams made the move from Indiana State to the Cowboys. After recent visits to Abilene Christian and Wyoming, Combs put the pen to paper and signed with the Mountain West school — a conference that just sent San Diego State to the national championship.

"I just felt like there were more eyes on the Mountain West," Combs said. "It's a bigger conference and I'm going to have an opportunity to play next year with them only having four returning guys from last year's roster. Coaches have been telling me to come in and take what I think is mine and that'll set me up for the year after that. I think it's the best place that'll better me on and off the court."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Kael Combs: Nixa basketball standout commits to Wyoming