When Boise State started the game 2-for-11 from the field in the first nine minutes Tuesday night, if I had told you the Broncos would lead by 20 points at halftime, you would have said “What?” In Boise State’s final trip to Laramie for the foreseeable future, a 27-2 first-half run fueled an 81-65 win that included a lead of 23 at one point. Remember the 25-6 run Grand Canyon used to romp past the Broncos two weeks ago? We thought that was impressive. Boise State played with a moxie not recently seen. Andrew Meadow tore it up again, scoring 21 points. Meadow is shooting 70 percent from the field over the past five games. It was only the Broncos’ second true road win of the season (the other was at Butler). And Leon Rice’s Mountain West era ends with a 12-4 record at Wyoming.
THE STREAK-BREAKER
Javan Buchanan couldn’t avoid cramps last Friday against Colorado State, but he otherwise returned with a vengeance in the Broncos’ 79-73 victory that snapped a four-game losing streak. Buchanan, with freshly-shorn hair, scored 10 points, eight of them before his second-half cramping, and logged four first-half steals. RJ Keene had a haircut, too, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t drain a pair of three-pointers. Dylan Andrews, with all his hair, led Boise State with 21 points, including four from deep.
THE MISSING PIECE THIS SEASON
I may be biased, but one thing Boise State men’s hoops is really missing is the presence of Tyson Degenhart. The Broncos wouldn’t have been saddled with a four-game losing streak if Degenhart was still on the floor. It obviously goes way beyond his status as Boise State’s career scoring leader. Degenhart’s leadership touched everybody, even during his freshman season four years ago. After the infamous 46-39 home loss to Cal State Bakersfield, Degenhart was inserted into the lineup, and the Broncos went on to three NCAA Tournaments and should have been in a fourth. If he was on this year’s team and the guys around him were in a funk, he’d fix it in the huddle during the next timeout. It’s an intangible that’s been tough for Boise State to replace.
TRANSFER PORTAL ‘TRANQUILITY’
With the transfer portal having closed Friday night, the over/under on frontline players Boise State loses to the portal every year remains at 2.5. Roster retention has been a feather in coach Spencer Danielson’s cap. And the Broncos were under this year, with Ty Benefield transferring to LSU and Chris Marshall to Arkansas. Last year, it was three, with Prince Strachan, Andrew Simpson and James Ferguson-Reynolds departing. And following the 2023 season, only Taylen Green and Eric McAlister left among key contributors, and McAlister declared before Danielson was named interim coach. The track record is good. It’s up to Boise State to prove on the field now that roster retention and continuity count. We won’t be able to judge what the Broncos brought in out of the portal until next season is underway.
ADDITIONS DONE – OR ALMOST DONE
Boise State released its official list of transfer portal acquisitions and junior college additions on Tuesday. There are 15 of them, although the window is still open for more. The latest new face is defensive lineman Andrew Rheubottom from De Anza College in the Bay Area. The Broncos have been trying to restock the D-line, and Rheubottom is the reigning California Region II Defensive Player of the Year. He 6-0, 277 pounds (although Bronco Nation News says he’s 6-2). Either way, Rheubottom’s a bit undersized for this generation of defensive tackle, but that could change once he gets in Ben Hilgart’s strength and conditioning program. There’s only one other D-lineman on the list, Mikalo Edward out of Central Washington. That would be a good position for another addition.
WHO MIGHT THE BRONCOS FACE TWICE?
We have Pac-12 scheduling possibilities narrowed down, with help from John Canzano’s “Bald Faced Truth” column. The conference is waiting for Friday’s deadline on a decision for the 2026 CFP format. The three options for what would be a ninth league game have been: 1) a non-conference scheduling alliance with another Group of 6 league, 2) one home-and-home Pac-12 series, and 3) a “flex option” on the final week of the regular season that would create conference games based on enhancing the Pac-12’s chances of a CFP berth. The scheduling alliance looks like it’s out, and the flex option would create travel chaos for visiting teams that final week. So home-and-home seems most likely. Canzano notes that it’s probably just a one-year thing, as the Pac-12 is likely to add at least one more football school next year.
BOISE STATE’S SUPER BOWL DROUGHT
If you want to see Boise State break its eight-year drought of having no player representation in the Super Bowl, you know who to root for in the championship games on Sunday. In the NFC, it’s Seattle (understanding that you may be in the Seahawks’ corner anyway). With Zach Charbonneau done due to a torn ACL, there’s a chance George Holani could be active against the LA Rams. Holani’s been on injured reserve but is eligible to return. You know DeMarcus Lawrence will be active. He certainly was in the rout of San Francisco, with two forced fumbles and a sack of Brock Purdy. After all the frustration in Dallas, Lawence is happy and hungry. In the AFC, Denver’s your team against New England. Former Boise State safety JL Skinner is in his third season there as mainly a special teams standout.
It’s too bad Khalil Shakir isn’t in this conversation. Shakir did his part in Buffalo’s gut-punch 33-30 loss to Denver last Sunday, with seven receptions for 75 yards, including a beautiful 46-yard catch-and-run and participation in a successful Boise State-style hook-and-lateral. In two playoff games, Shakir hauled in 19 catches on 21 targets. His regular season totals: 72 grabs for 719 yards and four touchdowns.
STEELIES ON A PLAYOFF PACE
The Idaho Steelheads seem to be in a two-out-of-three pattern after winning twice last week in their three-game series at Orlando. That’s better than one-out-of-three or none-out-of-three, and it bodes well for the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The highlight of the Florida trip came in last Friday’s 3-0 win as Jake Barczewski logged his first ECHL shutout, turning aside all 31 Solar Bear shots-on-goal. The Steelies have an extra day of rest this week, with the Allen Americans coming to Idaho Central Arena for games on Friday and Saturday. Idaho is 23-11-3 on the season and is in second place in the ECHL Mountain Division, seven points behind Kansas City.
IT’S COMING TOGETHER FOR AC BOISE
The last of the four light standards was hoisted Tuesday at AC Boise Stadium (formerly Les Bois Park), as things will happen quickly now. Athletic Club Boise has signed most of its roster, and those players will gather today for the first time. They start training camp next week at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, where they have a couple of closed friendlies set up against MLS teams over the following two weeks. AC Boise CEO Brad Stith says everything’s on track—at the stadium and on the pitch. The season opens March 7 in Sarasota, FL, with the home debut on Saturday, April 4.
YOTES STILL VERY MUCH IN IT
After a sweep of Bushnell and Corban last weekend, College of Idaho will find out how much its ship is righted when it heads for Lewis-Clark State Friday night. It was against the Warriors on December 6 that the Yotes first found some Cascade Conference trouble, falling 87-67—on their home floor, no less. Now, the Yotes are 12-6 overall and (more importantly) 7-3 in league, just one game in back of a four-way first-place logjam that includes LCSC. C of I plays at Walla Walla Saturday night.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BENCONNECTED…I-T and computer support, personified.
January 21, 1990: At the Australian Open, John McEnroe becomes the first player in the Open era to be kicked out of a Grand Slam event for accumulating three behavioral code violations in one match. In his fourth round match against Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors—up two sets to one but trailing in the fourth—McEnroe was given a point penalty for “racquet abuse”, which handed Pernfors the game, a service break, and a 4-2 lead. McEnroe, who had an earlier violation for “lineswoman intimidation”, went ballistic, ranting until he was finally disqualified.
(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.)
