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Wednesday Weekly…March 12, 2025.
It was somewhat surprising to see Boise State’s Javan Buchanan named Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year Wednesday. We didn’t really think of Buchanan that way, but it’s certainly a show of respect from conference coaches and selected media members. Now, if Buchanan can look at that as momentum and parlay it into a good performance (and hopefully more) at the league tournament in Las Vegas. It begins with the toughest matchup of all for the Broncos—San Diego State Thursday afternoon. Since a 17-point night at Nevada 2½ weeks ago, Buchanan has scored a total of 16 points the past four games while shooting 3-for-18 from the field with zero three-pointers. It’s all hands on deck now, and Boise State really needs the Indiana Wesleyan transfer. Opposing coaches believe he can do it. Buchanan needs to as well.
TYSON IN RARIFIED AIR
One of the headliners of the Mountain West awards was Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart, who was named first-team all-conference for the third consecutive year. In school history, only Chris Childs in the late 1980s and Tanoka Beard in the early 1990s—both in the Big Sky—have ever accomplished that. And in the 26-season history of Mountain West hoops, the only other three-time first-teamer has been former BYU star Jimmer Fredette. Ironically, it’s Beard who Degenhart is chasing for the Broncos career scoring record. He’s 32 points away from breaking Beard’s mark. To Degenhart, that’s second-fiddle to trying to scratch out a win over San Diego State Thursday. But he could really use three games to get the record instead of two, and Boise State will only have three guaranteed if they can get past the Aztecs.
‘THANK YOU ALVARO’
Former Boise State PA announcer KJ Mac used to have a thing for assists. He’d say “Thank you (fill-in-the-blank)” after a nice dish resulted in a Broncos basket. KJ would have worn out that phrase this season with Alvaro Cardenas running the show. Cardenas, the one-year wonder from San Jose State, is tied for sixth in the nation in assists with 213 while setting the school single-season record. Cardenas is just the ninth player in Mountain West history to record at least 200 assists in a campaign. And he was named second-team All-Mountain West on Tuesday.
MEANWHILE IN VEGAS…
Yahoo Sports metrics give Boise State a 28 percent chance of winning its quarterfinal game against San Diego State Thursday afternoon. That’s all you need to know. It would be a major upset if the Broncos were to extend their stay in Las Vegas, which is their only hope at the NCAA Tournament. It can happen, but the Aztecs are favored for a reason. In two losses to SDSU this season, Boise State has shot 35 percent from the field and 21 percent from three-point range and has averaged 13½ turnovers. Those numbers have to turn around.
AFTERMATH OF LAST FRIDAY
Considering the roll Boise State was on, the 83-73 loss to Colorado State last Friday left the Broncos with the worst-case scenario. They’re almost back where they were six weeks ago—off most NCAA Tournament bubbles (they’re in Jerry Palm’s “First Four Out” now) and likely required to win three games in three days this week to get in. And Boise State is saddled with a No. 5 seed in the Mountain West Tournament, forcing the game against this year’s nemesis. San Diego State routed Nevada 80-61 in its home finale Saturday night. It’s possible, sure. But the Broncos haven’t pulled off something like that since they were the fifth seed in the 1994 Big Sky Tournament and won three straight games to take the title and go to the Big Dance. And that was on their home floor.
SPRING BALL HAS SPRUNG
With the dawn of spring football this week came a few revelations. On defense, Boise State apparently feels good enough about its returning cornerbacks, Jeremiah Earby and A’Marion McCoy, and the slew of newcomers at that spot, that it has moved Davon Banks to nickel. The loss of Rodney Robinson to graduation leaves a huge hole at nickel, and Banks, who transferred from Washington last year, has the experience to make the move. Banks had 35 tackles, a sack and a pick-six last year. Running back Sire Gaines will indeed be limited this spring—in fact, he wasn’t at the first practice. But coach Spencer Danielson said he expects Gaines to be full-go sooner rather than later. And wide receiver Chris Marshall, well, he’s still on the team. His status is still not fully clear. Marshall appeared in just four games last season.
MORE GRIDIRON GOODS
Props to Boise State for putting out a spring football prospectus this year. It’s been a long, long time. That makes it easy for us to come up with nuggets like: 25 newcomers on the roster for spring alone, with a lot more to come this summer. The most important might be transfers on the defensive line—Dion Washington from Hawaii and Malakai Williams from Idaho. And, there are just two players remaining who are getting a sixth year due to COVID-19, and both are wide receivers. Latrell Caples and Borah High’s Austin Bolt were both true freshmen in 2020.
ASHTON = EDGERRIN?
An article in The Athletic made a comparison of this year’s top running back picks with former NFL stars, “based on build and running style.” This is one I hadn’t heard before for Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty: Edgerrin James. Hmmm. James was known for his “superior acceleration to the hole” and his “ability to make people miss.” Okay. And he’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now on to Dane Brugler’s post-combine mock draft in The Athletic: 6th overall, Las Vegas Raiders, Ashton Jeanty, Boise State. Here’s what Brugler says: “The Raiders are in the market for playmakers. Ideally, one of those would be a quarterback, but adding Jeanty to Chip Kelly’s offense would vastly upgrade a unit lacking an identity.” Man, Ashton could give them an identity. And I like the idea of him starting his NFL career with Pete Carroll.
REBELS OR BOBCATS?
In some order, and probably in short order, the Pac-12 will finalize a media rights deal for 2026 and beyond, and it will bring in the required eighth football member. The two options for the latter seem to be UNLV (if the Rebels can wiggle their way out of their Mountain West deal) and Texas State. Respected West Coast college sportswriter Jon Wilner, you’d think, would vote for UNLV. Au contraire, and he makes an interesting point: “UNLV makes sense because of geography—because it’s right there—but the Rebels are not the best bet for longer-haul growth. Texas State is the play for 2030,” writes Wilner. His reasoning: It would cost the Pac-12 less, the Bobcats (and the Pac-12) have huge growth potential in booming Texas, and Texas State’s football program has been consistently better than UNLV’s.
A FAMILIAR MARCH EVENT IN CALDWELL
For the fourth straight year, College of Idaho is hosting the NAIA Championships First and Second Round at what we now call Elgin Baylor Arena. The first game Friday night features two far-off opponents, Florida Memorial University and Friends University of Wichita, KS. Then the main event: C of I goes for its 30th win of the season versus UC Merced, which is making history with its first-ever at-large berth in the NAIA Tournament. The Bobcats are 20-6 after winning the Cal Pac regular season championship. As for the Yotes, same ol’ same ol’. Two years removed from their last national championship, they have another deep roster, led by Cascade Conference Defensive Player of the Year and former Rocky Mountain star Straton Rogers.
NO BIG SKY CINDERELLA
It’s chalk in the Big Sky Tournament, as top-seeded Northern Colorado faces No. 2 seed Montana tonight for the championship in Idaho Central Arena. Idaho picked up a season-signature win Monday night with an 80-70 upset of Portland State, but the Vandals could not keep pace with the Grizzlies Tuesday night in the semifinals, falling 78-55. Idaho was led by former Owyhee star Jack Payne with 18 points. The other semifinal was also a blowout, as UNC took down Montana State 72-45.
STEELHEADS KNOW THEY CAN DO IT
The Idaho Steelheads faced their toughest assignment of the season last week and acquitted themselves well. The Steelheads were on the road against the Kansas City Mavericks, the best team in the ECHL Mountain Division and won two of three games. And the two victories weren’t close. First came a 5-0 decision, with goalie Ben Kraws recording his second career pro shutout. Then it was a 6-2 Steelies win that featured two goals apiece from Patrick Moynihan and Connor Punnett before K.C. took the final game of the series. Friday and Saturday the Steelheads are back in Idaho Central Arena, hosting the Tahoe Knight Monsters. Idaho is currently two points out of the final divisional playoff spot.
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March 12, 2010, 15 years ago today: Less than 24 hours after a 24-point first-round loss to Utah State at the WAC Tournament, Boise State fires men’s basketball coach Greg Graham. Two years after winning the WAC championship, the Broncos finished the season 15-17, including an 0-7 start in conference and a record 24-point loss to Idaho on their home floor. But the primary issue was plummeting attendance, which dropped to 3,061 fans per game in the 2009-10 season, the fewest ever in Taco Bell Arena. Graham was 142-112 in his eight years at Boise State. He would be replaced by Leon Rice.
(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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