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Wednesday Weekly…March 26, 2025.
Boise State men’s hoops is prepping for next Monday’s opener against George Washington at the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. In related news, the basketball transfer portal opened on Monday, and Broncos guard Chris Lockett is in it. There could be more before or after the Crown. Will it be due to lack of playing time here, or massive NIL opportunities elsewhere? With Tyson Degenhart, O’Mar Stanley and Alvaro Cardenas gone two weeks from now, there will be wide open opportunities for players who have been backups. Maybe that’ll keep some other guys from jumping. Maybe.
On the other end of that spectrum is junior-to-be Andrew Meadow, who will be Boise State’s top returning scorer, assuming he comes back. Meadow, who’s been more Kurt Rambis than Hanson brother since he cut his hair at the beginning of the year, will be asked for a lot more than his considerable basketball skills moving forward. He’s been a lead-by-example guy his first two years, with grit, confidence and aggressiveness. Meadow will be assigned with morphing those traits into his teammates. But it’s Tyson’s team for at least one more game.
LOCKETT WANTS TO PLAY
Lockett’s entry is no surprise, considering what happened after the loss at Colorado State two months ago. After coach Leon Rice shortened his bench, Lockett played in only six more games, going scoreless in five of them and logging double-digit minutes in only one. It’s understood that the 2023 Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year would seek a new home. Who else? Well, I’m hearing guard RJ Keene is going to stay after scoring very little but proving to be the scrappiest defensive player on the team. Talk about a glue guy. How many schools have one of those in this day and age? Since that aforementioned night at CSU, Keene has averaged 22 minutes per game.
AZTECS HAVE IT WORSE (FOR NOW)
Boise State and San Diego State are basketball rivals, but there’s a lot of respect for Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher, and you have to feel a little badly for him. First on Monday, SDSU lost point guard Nick Boyd to the transfer portal (money money money), and it got worse later in the day when 7-footer Magoon Gwath entered the portal, too. Gwath will probably test the NBA waters, but Dutcher thinks if he stays in college he could get in excess of $1 million. “Financially, it’s hard for us to compete with some of these other schools for these upper-level kids,” Dutcher told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We can compete in every other way. We can’t compete financially with the money that’s being offered for some of these players. It is what it is. It’s a new world.” We’ll see if his friend Leon Rice is singing the same tune in a week.
ANOTHER ‘NATTY’ FOR THE YOTES
College of Idaho’s amazing depth means the Coyotes are always fresh from beginning to end. And last night was the end—the glorious end, as C of I routed Oklahoma Wesleyan 93-65 in Kansas City to win its second NAIA national championship in three years. Tournament MVP Samaje Morgan was spectacular again, scoring a game-high 28 points. And then there was the Yotes bench, which contributed 38 points, with 21 of them coming from Dougie Peoples. These guys are shooters; they hit just under 56 percent from the field and made 16 three-pointers. What a run this has been by coach Colby Blaine. In seven seasons at C of I, Blaine is 205-30. Let that sink in. He’s 175 games over .500. The Yotes finished 35-2 this campaign, giving Blaine 30-win seasons every time out except for the COVID year.
PRO DAY SPOTLIGHT
Ashton Jeanty is obviously the main attraction today during Pro Day at Boise State. Jeanty is going through a lot of the drills he skipped at the NFL Combine. But it’s a huge day for Ahmed Hassanein, who did fine in Indianapolis but is on the NFL Draft bubble. Hassanein, seeking to become the first Egyptian player in NFL history, is still an unfinished product as far as the NFL is concerned—albeit a very impressive unfinished product. Another player worth tracking today is wide receiver Cam Camper, who was added to the Pro Day list last Friday. Camper was a playmaker in his one season as a Bronco after transferring from Indiana, but there are lots of wideouts like him in the draft. He’ll have to have a Billy Bowens-type performance. (Bowens starred at Pro day last year but suffered a heartbreaking knee injury during drills.)
THE SEARCH FOR ‘SECOND DOG’
Spring football resumed Monday at Boise State, and now offensive coordinator Nate Potter and quarterbacks coach Zac Hill get serious about the quarterbacks room. Do the Broncos ration Maddux Madsen’s practice reps in order to see who on the roster might be capable of being his backup this year? At the same time, do they go fishing in the transfer portal? Kaleb Annett was last year’s scholarship recruit, but at the end of the season at the Fiesta Bowl, he was behind Max Cutforth, who came in as a walk-on from Skyview High two years ago. There are two junior college transfers, Trenton Giles and Eagle’s Jack Benson. And Meridian’s Zeke Martinez is in as a walk-on this year. But there is plenty of uncertainty right now behind Mad Dog. Cutforth is the only one who has thrown a collegiate pass—he’s 2-for-2 for 13 yards.
PAC-12 CLOCK IS TICKING
Veteran writer John Canzano spends a lot of time keeping his finger on the pulse of the Pac-12, and the addition of that eighth (or even ninth) football school is in the home stretch. He notes that the league “has been weighing an assortment of factors other than geography,” like brand, athletic success, the will to invest, travel expenses and economics. Canzano says that “at least one of the potential candidates on the list has offered to take zero media rights distributions in the early years of membership, per a source.” He thinks one might be Texas State, and he likes the Bobcats’ chances. They’re willing to invest, and their donors have deep pockets. That might open the door for UTSA or Rice. Nevada’s only hope is that the Pac-12 wants UNLV, and the Nevada Board of Regents won’t let the Rebels go without the Wolf Pack.
THE STEELIES’ STANDINGS WATCH
Idaho Steelheads coach Everett Sheen told the Idaho Press going into last weekend that his team probably still needs 20 points in the standings to make the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Steelheads collected four points when they finished a sweep of the Allen Americans. With 10 games remaining, the Steelies are three points back of the fourth and final playoff spot and four points out of third place. But the teams ahead of them are going to keep earning points, too, hence the need for 20. If the Steelheads can keep goaltender Ben Kraws from another AHL callup (not up to them), they’ve got a shot. Kraws logged back-to-back shutouts in the three-game takedown of Allen. But the task this week is enormous, as the Steelies face a nemesis on the road: the Tahoe Knight Monsters.
VONN MAKES HISTORY ON ‘HOME SNOW’
The World Cup Finals in Sun Valley have already produced some history. Lindsey Vonn became the oldest female Alpine skier to make the podium in any event—by six years—when she finished second in the super-G last Sunday at age 40. A heckuva way for Vonn to finish her comeback season at age 40 after a knee replacement. especially on Sun Valley’s tricky Challenger course. Vonn hit the podium for the 138th time in her career, and it brought the house down. She acknowledged after the race that it was probably her last event on U.S. snow. Competition wraps up with the slalom on Thursday—legendary Mikaela Schiffrin is scheduled to race then. Hope the warm temps don’t mess things up.
FULL-BLOWN PITCH FOR GIRLS FLAG
Full disclosure: I work with Optimist Youth Football, a community non-profit treasure for the past 75 years. There’s an event on Saturday, April 5, at the Caven-Williams Indoor Facility at Boise State that’s going to set the table for the future. It’s the Optimists’ first Girls Flag Football Clinic, featuring U.S. national team member Laneah Bryan. It’ll focus on Girls Flag 5s, the same sport that will debut in the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A. If you have a daughter or granddaughter between ages 8 and 17, register today. This is Optimist Youth Football’s second year offering Girls Flag 5s leagues, and it is growing quickly. It’s the right place and the right time for this sport in the Treasure Valley. I’m tellin’ ya—Girls Flag will be a sanctioned sport in Idaho within five years.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by POOL SCOUTS…perfect pools, scout’s honor!
March 26, 1960: The birthday of one of those great USC running backs, Marcus Allen. He was also a great NFL running back, the first one ever to reach 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards in his career, which spanned 16 seasons with the L.A. Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. As a Trojan, Allen rushed for 2,342 yards during his senior year in 1981. He’s the only player ever to win a Heisman Trophy, an NCAA national championship, a Super Bowl, an NFL Most Valuable Player award and a Super Bowl MVP honor. Marcus Allen…65 years old today.
(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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