BY MIKE PRATER
@KTIK.COM
LAS VEGAS – Boise State basketball coach Leon Rice had one of the best teams in the Mountain West during the regular season.
It’s scary how one bad night in Vegas changes your perspective.
Rice thinks his program is growing, and it is, though November through February presents a very different picture than March.
Rice takes pride in the direction of his program, as he should, but the only direction the Broncos are headed now is home after a frustrating 78-75 loss to Utah State in the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night in Las Vegas.
It’s easy to get sucked into the emotions of one tough loss, as fans did and always do on social media, but the outcome was another painful reminder that this program has been stuck under a ceiling for 30 years.
Right now, Rice’s primary issue is the lack of winning in March.
Boise State had one of its best teams in school history, one of its best players in future NBA Draft pick Chandler Hutchison, and both team and fan base invested time, energy and passion into something good.
Now think about something bad: Taco Bell Arena is hosting the NCAA Tournament and eight of college basketball’s finest teams next week … and the Broncos and their 23 wins will be who knows where playing in the Not Invited Tournament.
The March trend in the Rice Era is disturbing:
- 63.5: His overall winning percentage in eight seasons, the best in school history.
- 50.0: His winning percentage in March (17-17).
- 36.8: His winning percentage in postseason games (7-12).
The most frustrating part about the trend is that it goes back decades. It’s not just a Rice thing …
- Boise State has won three regular season championships since leaving the Big Sky in 1994.
- Boise State has won one conference tournament title since leaving the Big Sky.
- Boise State has played in seven Mountain West Tournaments, has been bounced after one game five times, and has never reached the championship game.
- Boise State is 0-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 0-2 under Rice.
Sorry, that’s a ceiling, or as an emotional Rice was asked after the Utah State loss, that’s “slow growth.” He didn’t like the question, and responded with a long rambling answer that put the focus back on his regular season success.
“I don’t know, I don’t see that. I don’t get that. We’ve been the most consistent team in the league the last four years. We finished in the top three the last four years. You’re talking about San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico. I don’t understand where the slow growth is talking about.
“We went from the WAC to contending. We won the Mountain West. We contended for a title four years. And so I don’t get what – I think it’s ignorant to say ‘slow growth.’ You’re talking about a UNLV program that has won a national championship, a national championship. You’re talking about a San Diego State team that’s 18 straight years of being terrific, talented, toughest places to play in this league.
“Slow growth is – we’re selling out Taco Bell Arena. We’re 15-1 at home and on and on and on. We’re putting a guy in the draft this year.
“So ‘slow growth’ may be the most ridiculous term I ever heard from anybody about the basketball program and where we are. And you don’t measure a program by a three-day tournament. You measure it by how it does in the league every year, because that’s over the course of three months. And that’s night in, night out, for three months.
“One game, anything can happen in college basketball, unless you’re by far the most talented team. And that’s not who we’ve been. We’re not by far the most talented team. We’ve got a bunch of tough kids that compete every night, that battle and they’re in every single game. You just didn’t win the last four minutes tonight. So that statement makes no sense.”
Rice also had an odd answer concerning the Broncos’ lack of success in the Mountain West Tournament.
“Might be we overachieved during the season,” said Rice, who gets a one-year contract extension and a $25,000 raise for winning 18 games in a sport where top teams reach 35. “Maybe you watch those two teams, they’re pretty darned close. And these guys played for three months and finished second. So I don’t think we roll in and out talent to everybody. People just assume that, ‘Oh, they’re going to get to the championship and win it.’
“If you look player-for-player, there’s a lot of talent in this league. So maybe it’s a fact that we overachieve in the regular season, I don’t know.”
Final thought: It was a surprise to see so few Boise State fans at the tournament, especially compared to football’s traveling fans. If one thing is certain after Thursday’s loss, it’s this … Fans enjoyed this year’s basketball team, as they should have, but they still don’t trust the program.
Mike Prater, editor of The Opinionator, co-hosts Idaho Sports Talk with Caves & Prater weekdays from 3-6 p.m. on KTIK 93.1 FM The Ticket and can be heard on Bronco GameNight after BSU football games on KBOI 670 AM and KTIK 93.1 FM. He can be reached at [email protected], and found @CavesandPrater(Facebook) and @MikeFPrater (Twitter).
Photo of Boise State players Chris Sengfelder and Lexus Williams courtesy of Mountain West / NCAA Photos
