Friday, February 16, 2007.

It was interesting to me when I first heard of Gerry Washington’s return to Boise tonight, because just a couple weeks ago he was the subject of one of my “This Day In Sports” items in the Scott Slant. It was January 31, 1998, during his junior year, that Washington set a Boise State record for most free throws made in a game without a miss in a 72-67 loss to Idaho in the Kibbie Dome. G-Dub was 14-of-14 from the line—he is still eighth on BSU’s career list for free throw percentage at 78½ percent. Hopefully he’ll recognize his familiar surroundings tonight during the Albany BracketBuster game at Taco Bell Arena. And maybe his infectious spirit can rub off on the current Broncos at the charity stripe.

BSU will have to be sharp tonight. Albany just had an eight-game winning streak snapped last Sunday in a four-point loss to America East Conference leader Vermont and is gunning for at least an NIT berth (it has a better shot than the Broncos right now). The Great Danes have been out West once already this winter, upending Utah by a point just after Christmas before falling by seven at Utah Valley State the next night. Other than that, there aren’t many ways to hype tonight’s game. The angle on Boise State back in the New York state capitol is Coby Karl, son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who coached the CBA’s Albany Patroons to a 50-6 record 16 years ago.

Idaho’s not officially considered part of the BracketBuster (only the TV teams get that designation), but when you take a zillion mid-major teams and pair them up with teams of similar ability, who cares where you draw the line? The Vandals are part of the scheduling tomorrow night, and they have a legit shot at their fourth win of the season when Big West cellar-dwellar UC Riverside comes into Cowan Spectrum. This might be Idaho’s best shot the rest of this season, as the Highlanders are limping along at 5-20. The Vandals really need a victory—they’re 3-22 and have an eight-game losing streak going. The highlight of BracketBuster weekend in the WAC was going to be Northern Iowa at Nevada tomorrow. But the Panthers have plummeted from 15-4 to 16-11 in the past four week, losing seven of their past eight games.

I didn’t have room for this yesterday, but the item that jumped out at me among the NCAA rule changes this year was moving kickoffs back to the 30-yard-line. That gets Boise State special teams coach Jeff Choate’s motor going. In college football, that’ll cut way back on touchbacks, making kickoff return teams and kick cover teams all the more important. And it’ll make leg strength a key ingredient for Bronco kickers. With Anthony Montgomery graduating, it’ll be open season in spring football. BSU will be looking for a Tyler Jones-type among three freshman candidates, two of them competing in the spring and the other joining the fray in fall camp.

David Lowery was 11-of-17 (three of those were blocked) with a long of 40 as a senior at Timberline. Meridian High’s Kyle Brotzman was 6-of-11 during his senior year, including a 52-yarder. Lowery and Brotzman are coming off redshirt years—then there’s Brad Elkin, right out of high school in Tacoma. Elkin is coming in this August as a punter, but Choate will be tempted to give him a look as a placekicker. The all-stater connected on 7-of-10 field goals last year, including a 51-yarder, the longest in the state of Washington in 2006. Elkin also had 17 touchbacks.

If the Idaho Steelheads can keep it going in these final two games of the series against Las Vegas, special teams will certainly be a factor. The Steelheads came into the showdown set with a pedigree, as their penalty killers didn’t allow a goal in 15 opportunities in the three games versus Victoria last week. The Wranglers had a pedigree, too, ranking second in the ECHL on the power play on the road with 19 percent. But the Steelies had the upper hand in Wednesday night’s overtime victory, holding Vegas to 1-for-6. Meanwhile, Lance Galbraith deserves mention going into these matchups—the Rooster leads the Steelheads with six goals and nine points in six games against the Wranglers this season. He had a goal and two assists on Valentine’s Day.

After dropping its first match of the season last Saturday at USC, the Boise State men’s tennis team tries to draw on that fresh lesson during one of its most important weekends of the year. The Broncos are in Chicago for the National Team Indoor Championships, where they open against Ole Miss this morning. BSU is seeded 12th and Ole Miss 5th in the 16-team field. The Broncos, currently ranked 17th in the nation, fell 5-2 to the Trojans. “The match with USC is encouraging, for we feel that if we could have brought home the doubles point we could have won the match,” said coach Greg Patton. “We are taking this experience with us to the National Indoors in order to inspire us to knock out some of the top teams in the nation.”

Back to hoops—the Arkansas RimRockers were only 9-20 going into last night’s game, but that didn’t stop them from snapping the Idaho Stampede’s league-record 12-game road winning streak in convincing fashion, 99-85. Arkansas led by six at the end of the first quarter and held the Stamps at bay from there, handing them their first road loss since December 5. The Stampede shot only 41 percent, a bottom-out number for an NBA D-League team, with Ronell Taylor suffering through an 0-for-11 night. Former Boise State star Jermaine Blackburn had his best game of the season, though, leading the Stampede with 20 points. The Stamps face the RimRockers again tonight—then tomorrow Randy Livingston and Peter Ramos play in the D-League All-Star Game as part of NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas.

This Day In Sports…February 16, 1984:

Bill Johnson, who started skiing as a Mitey Mite at Bogus Basin, becomes the first American to win the Olympic downhill. Johnson brashly predicted that he would win after having the fastest training runs on the course at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)

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