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Monday Special…April 7, 2025.
We’ve done this a lot over the past four years, but here goes with a final rundown of a big game by Tyson Degenhart. He tried to will Boise State to victory in the Crown semifinals against Nebraska Saturday, but his Broncos career ended in a 79-69 loss. Degenhart went out in a blaze of glory, putting up 26 points with eight rebounds and breaking the 17-year-old school single-season scoring record of 661 held by Reggie Larry. In last Wednesday’s win over Butler, Degenhart became the first Bronco ever to top 2,000 career points. His final totals: 676 points this season and 2,037 for his career. Numbers that deserve to be remembered alongside the records of Boise State’s other iconic No. 2, Ashton Jeanty: 2,601 rushing yards last season and 4,769 in his career.
THE SCRIPT FLIPPED IN A HURRY
It was a tough way to go out for Boise State Saturday. A good start by the Broncos morphed into trouble dealing with the Cornhuskers’ bulk on the boards, as well as their red-hot three-point shooting that wasn’t supposed to be a strong point. Still, there could have been a turning point with seven minutes to go. Boise State had sliced Nebraska’s lead to eight ; then Alvaro Cardenas missed an open-look three-pointer from the corner, and Andrew Meadow was unable to get the putback. The future was on display, though, as Meadow scored 14 points and true freshman Peanut Carmichael 13 for the Broncos. Perhaps the transfer portal has some answers for the future—like a big man who pans out the way Dylan Anderson didn’t.
A MORE PAINFUL PORTAL?
It was the Javan Buchanan we saw glimpses of all season, and the one who—if he is consistent—could be a premier player in the Mountain West moving forward. If he stays. Buchanan poured in 27 points for Boise State in the Crown quarterfinals against Butler last Wednesday, and I was thinkin’ about that. Buchanan transferred to the Broncos from Indiana Wesleyan last spring, and he hails from Lafayette, IN. Butler, of course, is from Indiana. Buchanan was playing like Butler didn’t recruit him or something.
The following day, Buchanan was on Idaho SportsTalk and was noncommittal about what might happen after the tournament. The NIL money being thrown around now by power programs is so much more than even 16 months ago, when Boise State football was able to hang onto Ashton Jeanty. You just don’t know. Something we did learn on the FOX telecast: Buchanan has been dealing with hip and back problems and needs surgery for both.
POSITIVE SIDE OF THE PORTAL
The Boise State careers of Degenhart, Cardenas and O’Mar Stanley are officially over with the end of the College Basketball Crown. The Broncos have a possible successor to Cardenas at point guard. Dylan Andrews, late of UCLA, committed to Boise State last week, with one year of eligibility remaining. Andrews is a one-time four-star recruit out of Gardena, CA, who started 60 games for the Bruins the past two campaigns. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.4 assists this season, but he put up 12.9 points per game in 2023-24. Old Broncos foe Donovan Dent, who transferred from New Mexico, is expected to take Andrews’ spot at UCLA.
THE FOOTBALL PORTAL
Boise State’s defense took another transfer hit late last week. A week after Andrew Simpson entered the portal, defensive end Braxton Fely went in there with him. Fely was an underrated piece of the Broncos D-line the past three seasons, and he was a force last year, earning second-team All-Mountain West honors after recording nine tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks. It must have been interesting when Fely broke the news to coach Spencer Danielson, as that’s who officiated Fely’s wedding last summer. He has one year of eligibility remaining, and he’s from Orem, UT. We’ll see if Utah or BYU are in the mix.
This has to open up a shot for someone who’s not too familiar yet. Last Friday I threw out some names to see if any would stick: Dion Washington, Michael Madrie, David Latu, Lopez Sanusi, or even former Borah High star Trevor McKenna. Well, in Saturday’s closed scrimmage, Madrie started at tackle, and coach Spencer Danielson said Latu and Sanusi are each having a solid spring. Latu is a transfer from BYU who saw limited action as a Cougar. Sanusi is a story waiting to happen, as he’s from Dublin, Ireland, and comes from the NFL Academy in England. Washington seems like a natural fit, though, considering his production at Hawaii.
JEANTY: NO. 6 OR NO. 10?
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman has weighed in with his 5th annual mock NFL Draft. And as much as we’ve being hearing about Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty being taken No. 6 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders, Feldman has Vegas going for Jalon Walker, the EDGE from Georgia. “Walker, the 2024 Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker, is too tempting to miss out on,” writes Feldman. He projects Jeanty going No. 10 overall to the Bears, noting that “Chicago strengthened its interior O-line this offseason, and a juiced-up running game should be a big help for last year’s top pick, Caleb Williams.”
Field Yates of ESPN.com goes the Vegas route in his latest mock draft, however. “The Raiders have a thin running back room(Raheem Mostert is listed atop the depth chart) and will almost assuredly address the position in the draft,” writes Yates. “They averaged 3.6 yards per carry and 79.8 per game last season, both bottom of the league. New coach Pete Carroll has historically relied on the running game, so Jeanty is an easy match. I believe Jeanty has the best chance of any player in the class to be a Pro Bowler in Year 1.”
AFTER SUNSET…OR EVEN AFTER SUNRISE
The new Pac-12 may get creative with football scheduling to maximize exposure and revenue. Get ready for some weird kickoff times, perhaps. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News sees the Pac-12 acting like a start-up, saying the conference could look at Tuesday night, late-window Friday night or Sunday night games. It could be 10am Mountain time kickoffs on Saturdays. Or it could be under-utilized opportunities like Sunday and Monday on Labor Day weekend or the night before Thanksgiving. Our other favorite columnist, John Canzano, looks at the latest Pac-12 expansion possibilities. Writes Canzano, “My top three: UNLV, Texas State, and Memphis…followed by a gap…and the others.” His others are Tulane, South Florida, Saint Mary’s (basketball only), Rice and UTSA.
THE PLAYOFFS COME INTO VIEW
The Idaho Steelheads took care of business in a big way over the weekend, sweeping three road games in three days, with extra travel to boot. The Steelheads scored seven goals in back-to-back nights in victories at Allen Friday and Saturday before moving on to Tulsa on Sunday and winning 5-2. The defeat of the Oilers was crucial, as the Steelheads jumped Tulsa into a tie for fourth place in the ECHL Mountain Division—and the fourth and final divisional spot in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Three games remain in the regular season, all at Idaho Central Arena this week against first-place Kansas City.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by MCCAULEY GROUNDSKEEPING…let your landscape and lawn worries be gone!
April 7, 1969: Before a crowd of 45,000 fans that included President Richard Nixon, the New York Yankees spoil the managerial debut of Ted Williams at Washington’s RFK Stadium by beating the Senators, 8-4. However, the Hall of Famer—who in 1941 was the last player to hit over .400—would lead the previous year’s cellar-dwellers to a surprising fourth-place finish and a solid 86-76 record. Williams would be voted the American League’s 1969 Manager of the Year.
(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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