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Monday Special…March 17, 2025.
When it happened last November at the Cayman Islands Classic title game, the last-second three-pointer by Boston College looked like a heartbreaking loss to an ACC team. Harmless long-term, in other words. But just like the wins over Clemson and Saint Mary’s boosted Boise State all season, the BC defeat dogged the Broncos. The Eagles ended up No. 202 in the NCAA NET rankings, hence a bad Quad 4 loss that essentially offset the wins over the Tigers, No. 22 in the NET, and the Gaels, No. 21. Boise State was also hurt by its December loss to Washington State in Idaho Central Arena. While it was one of the Broncos’ worst performances of the season, the Cougars looked pretty good at the time. Wazzu did a slow fade the rest of the campaign and finished No. 112 in the NET. So there you go
SILENCE ON SELECTION SUNDAY
The bad omen for Boise State came early in the Selection Show. The first matchup revealed in the second South Region bracket: No. 6 seed Ole Miss versus the winner of the First Four game Tuesday night between San Diego State and North Carolina. It wasn’t the Aztecs who spelled doom—it was the Tar Heels, who were left out of most bracketology projections. UNC was 1-12 in Quad 1 games, and nobody’s really been able to explain why they got in. But with the Broncos predicted to be the first team out, we kind of knew at that point what was coming. As it turns out, Boise State was the fourth team out, so it wasn’t that close.
The Broncos still have some healthy postseason equity, though. They opted last night to bypass the NIT and will probably be part of the field unveiled this morning for the new College Basketball Crown, the 16-team tournament in Las Vegas that will be the first to use NIL to compensate players. The other three schools included in the First Four Out, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio State, are also missing from the NIT, which leads us to believe the CBC field is going to strong (although the Hoosiers say their season is over). Amazingly, the event doesn’t start until two weeks from tonight.
IT WAS ‘MW TITLE OR BUST’ AFTER ALL
Boise State obviously had to beat Colorado State in the Mountain West title game Saturday night to get into the Big Dance. That definitively didn’t happen. At one point during the first half, the Broncos missed 12 of 13 shots while falling behind by 17 points. They got it down to 10 at halftime and to five a minute into the second half, but then the bottom fell out. CSU’s lead ballooned to 25 points with 6½ minutes left before Boise State closed the gap in mop-up time for the 69-56 final. Tyson Degenhart had another big night with 22 points, but no other Bronco was in double-figures. Andrew Meadow was able to attempt only three shots. The Selection Committee isn’t supposed to put extra weight on recent results, but that game had a bad look.
FOUR-BID CONFERENCE
Some feared the Mountain West would get only three teams in the NCAA Tournament this season after landing a record six bids a year ago. But four made it, thanks to Colorado State’s disposal of Boise State Saturday night. In addition to San Diego State’s First Four game against UNC, No. 10 seed New Mexico faces Marquette Friday in the South region, No. 10 seed Utah State takes on UCLA Thursday in the Midwest, and No. 12 seed Colorado State plays Memphis Friday in the West. The Lobos, Aggies and Rams all have a shot.
NOT TO FORGET THE NEW MEXICO GAME
Let’s set aside the “What have (or haven’t) you done for me lately” subject to talk about Friday night’s 72-69 win over New Mexico. That, paired with the Thursday MW Tournament win over San Diego State, was a highlight of the season. Boise State trailed by eight points late in the first half and by six at halftime. But the Broncos chipped away while outrebounding the Lobos by seven, and the tide was turning when Degenhart broke Tanoka Beard’s school career scoring record with his 1,945th point with 10 minutes left. Then Meadow had the best 24 seconds of his career in the final minute, nailing a three-pointer and gathering in a downfield pass from RJ Keene for a dunk that put the game away. It’ll also be remembered for Emmanuel Ugbo’s breakout, as the sophomore put up a career-high 17 points and three blocked shots.
THE UNDERRATED SPENCER DANIELSON
From The Athletic comes that publication’s ranking of the top 20 Group of 5 coaches for 2025. And from nowhere to No. 11 is Spencer Danielson of Boise State (he wasn’t eligible a year ago because he had only coached four games). Seems like Danielson should be higher, but this explanation from The Athletic works: “Danielson is only this low because he has been a head coach for barely a year. He’s 15-3 overall, with those three losses coming to No. 1 Oregon on a last-second field goal, to Penn State in the CFP quarterfinals and in a bowl game against UCLA in which Boise State played its third-string quarterback. Danielson must replace Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty this year, but expect the coach to move up this list quickly in the years ahead.” Pretty good for a 36-year-old kid from Azusa Pacific.
JOB SECURITY FOR BOISE STATE ALUMS
Even when former Boise State players in the NFL peaked a decade ago, there was always uncertainty for some of them going into the offseason. There were 13 former Broncos active in the NFL at the end of last season, and all 13 now have contracts for 2025. The last two aboard at the end of last week were kick returner Avery Williams, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles after four years with Atlanta, and running back Alexander Mattison, who departs Las Vegas for the Miami Dolphins. Williams logged 1,841 career return yards and 109 rushing yards for the Falcons, while Mattison recorded 420 yards on the ground and 294 through the air for the Raiders last year following five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
YOTES READY FOR KANSAS CITY
College of Idaho racked up a lot of blowouts in Cascade Conference play this season. So the Coyotes might look at the first and second rounds of the NAIA Championships as blessings. The Yotes will be more battle-tested going into the main event in Kansas City after getting past UC Merced 59-46 and Friends University 75-65 over the weekend in Elgin Baylor Arena. The win over Merced pushed C of I’s record to 30-2 and gave coach Colby Blaine his 200th career victory. The Yotes have reached the 30-win plateau on all six of the full seasons Blaine has coached. Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene was not able to maintain a seven-point halftime lead against No. 2 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills in the opening round of the NCAA Division II West Regional on Friday. The Nighthawks fell to the Toros 66-59, ending their season at 20-8.
STEELIES IN CRUNCH TIME
The Idaho Steelheads have work to do and not much time to do it. The Steelheads are 29-21-9 after being swept on home ice by the Tahoe Knight Monsters over the weekend, 2-1 and 4-0. Idaho has 13 games left and is six points (in effect, three full games) behind Wichita for the fourth and final Kelly Cup Playoff spot in the ECHL Mountain Division. It’s been an impressive debut season for Tahoe, which is 36-20-5 and is in second place in the division behind Kansas City. The Steelies remain home in Idaho Central Arena this week for a three-game series against the Allen Americans.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BACON BOISE…fresh breakfast and brunch every day!
March 17, 1988: In one of the great thrillers in Boise State history, a Bronco rally falls short, as Michigan wins 63-58 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City. Boise State trailed by 19 points midway through the second half before its defense finally started wearing down the Wolverines. The Broncos pulled to within three in the final minute, and Brian King’s three-point attempt to tie went off the rim with five seconds left. All five Michigan starters would go on to the NBA: Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Rumeal Robinson and Gary Grant.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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