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Wednesday Weekly…February 19, 2025.

The rotation seemed to have settled down—a four-game winning streak with a new starting lineup. But the fifth didn’t work out so well in a 64-47 loss at Viejas Arena last Saturday. The last thing Boise State needs is a carbon copy tonight against Mountain West leader New Mexico. So who might coach Leon Rice rotate in more? Javan Buchanan played only 15 minutes at San Diego State, so he’s due for more. Buchanan had been one of the hottest Broncos going in. 

But is it time to go all in on Pearson “Peanut” Carmichael? Sure he had those three careless turnovers in a minute and a half at UNLV two weeks ago. But Carmichael may have gotten over the yips now. It was Peanut whose five points in a minute got the monster Aztecs lead down to 11 last Saturday. In 10 games since he burned his redshirt year, Carmichael is averaging 11.5 minutes and 4.6 points per game. He’s also shooting a team-high 39 percent from three-point range (albeit on a small sample size—23 attempts). Carmichael can score; sometimes you have to cross your fingers, though.

THE REALITY OF IT ALL

Boise State’s only logical path now to a fourth straight NCAA Tournament berth goes through the Mountain West tournament next month. The Broncos would have to win it, and they’d have to do it by taking at least two games from conference teams they haven’t beaten yet. One could be New Mexico, who comes into ExtraMile Arena tonight about a month after pummeling Boise State 84-65 in The Pit—a game the Lobos led by 29 at one point. There were similarities between that game and the 17-point defeat absorbed by the Broncos at San Diego State. In both games, they were out-physicaled. Boise State doesn’t have the inside presence it thought it would have this season. O’Mar Stanley is having an inexplicably sub-par senior season, and 7-foot Arizona transfer Dylan Anderson has not panned out (yet, at least).

LOOKING BACK, RELUCTANTLY

Boise State coach Leon Rice has always professed to admire San Diego State’s defense. “Admire” might not be the right word after what happened in Viejas Arena.  That smothering the Broncos endured included 10 blocked shots. They could rarely find an open look from the get-go. Scoring droughts of 6½ minutes wrapped around halftime and 5½ minutes in the second half were killer. It was Boise State’s fewest points in a Mountain West game in three years—since the Broncos put up 42 points at Viejas—and won (holding the Aztecs to 37).  

THE BRONCOS WARMLY WELCOME A VANDAL

Max Olson of ESPN has come up with the top transfer portal addition for every Way-Too-Early Top 25 team. And for No. 24 Boise State, how about this: it’s Malakai Williams, the defensive end from Idaho. Writes Olson, “Edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan proved he’s one of the best defenders in the Mountain West during the Broncos’ run to the CFP. Williams should be a good complement and a quality addition for their pass rush. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound senior was a two-time team captain at Idaho and one of the more disruptive edge rushers in the Big Sky last season, recording 37 pressures according to Pro Football Focus and producing 35 tackles, 7.5 TFLs and 6.5 sacks. Boise State restocked along the D-line during the portal window with four transfers coming up to boost the depth up front.”

THE KELLEN & CARR THING

When Kellen Moore’s name first came up as a head coaching candidate in New Orleans, I immediately thought of the Saints’ quarterback situation, and a certain Boise State game in 2011. That’s the only time Moore faced current Saints QB Derek Carr, and he led the Broncos to a 57-7 romp over Fresno State on the Bulldogs’ home field. Carr had one of his worst games. Fourteen years later, the two will probably laugh about that—and more importantly, it has no bearing on any decision Kellen the coach will make. What is relevant is that Carr is nearing the twilight of his career, and his contract is an albatross for a team that needs an infusion of young talent. I will say the duo would be on the same page schematically, though, if Carr sticks around. They would get along, and their leadership styles would be similar.  

A PAC-12 CANDIDATE ON THE FRINGE

We don’t know exactly what the Pac-12 lineup will look like two years from now, but John Canzano, the former Oregonian columnist who now runs his Bald Faced Truth website, suggests we keep an eye on Saint Mary’s. The Gaels, who have had one of the best hoops programs in the West this century, are reportedly interested in joining rival Gonzaga in the Pac-12. The problem for Saint Mary’s is its arena—it seats only 3,500. If the Gaels can’t expand, they’d have to build a new place almost double that size in their hometown of Moraga. I’m kind of biased. I grew up in the town next to Moraga before moving to Boise in high school, and the first college basketball game I ever saw with my dad was at Saint Mary’s. Wouldn’t bother me at all to see them in the Pac-12. What a great hoops league that would be.

YOTES PLAY FOR THEIR STORIED PAST

I’m going to go out on a limb and say College of Idaho is favored in its Cascade Conference matchup against Evergreen State Friday night in Caldwell. The basketball facility inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center will be officially renamed Elgin Baylor Arena, and the Coyotes will be plenty inspired by the legacy of one of the greatest NBA players of all-time—a guy who started his college career at C of I in 1954-55. (Baylor averaged 32.8 points and 18.9 rebounds per game that season.) The Yotes, riding a 14-game winning streak, have already clinched the Cascade regular season championship and have earned homecourt advantage (again) throughout the conference tournament, which starts next Tuesday.

A COMEBACK AND AN ATONEMENT

Gotta mention what the Boise State women did Tuesday night in ExtraMile Arena. What a way to break a five-game losing streak. Not only did the Broncos erase a nine-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to beat Wyoming 78-73, they avenged an all-timer of a beatdown 2½ weeks ago. In the Laramie game, Boise State shot less than 31 percent while the Cowgirls were hitting at a 56 percent clip, and the Broncos fell 79-45. In the rematch, Boise State took the lead on a Natalie Pasco jumper with 2:43 remaining, lost it, and got it back with a Pasco three-pointer at the 1:31 mark. A Dani Bayes three gave the Broncos the lead for good with 1:09 left, and Tatum Thompson closed it out with four free throws. Thompson scored 25 points and Bayes 21.

STEELHEADS SHOW SOME SPUNK

Forty-nine games down and 13 to go in the regular season for the Idaho Steelheads, and they’re playing with an edge as a Kelly Cup Playoff spot remains in doubt. In West Valley City over the weekend, the Steelheads took two of three from the Utah Grizzlies, coming from behind in each of the victories. In last Friday night’s 3-2 win, Connor MacEachern tied it up with 6:49 to play, and Patrick Moynihan netted the game-winner with 1:02 remaining. Then on President’s Day, trailing 4-3 midway through the third period, Brendan Hoffmann knotted things up. MacEachern ended it with a goal just over three minutes into overtime. The Steelies are back home Friday and Saturday for a two-game set against the Wichita Thunder.

This Day In Sports…brought to you by HIGH DESERT HARLEY-DAVIDSON…let’s ride!

February 19, 2010, 15 years ago today: Tiger Woods holds one of the most-watched sports press conferences in television history. Although it wasn’t really a press conference—it was a 13½-minute statement apologizing for as many as a dozen affairs revealed after a Thanksgiving night incident that had Woods leaving his Florida home and crashing his SUV down the street, with wife Elin not far behind to presumably lend assistance. A wide array of sponsors subsequently dropped him, and he went into rehabilitation for sexual addiction. At his media event, Woods gave no indication as to when he would return to golf. (He’d be back that April for The Masters but would play very little the rest of the season.)

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)

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