Thursday, January 17, 2008.

Contenders or pretenders. That won’t necessarily be decided tonight, but it will be a topic depending upon what happens to Boise State when the Broncos take on Utah State in the challenging Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. It’s going to take a complete effort to keep the Aggies honest. If BSU isn’t hitting from the outside, allowing them to collapse on Matt Nelson and Reggie Larry, it’ll be advantage USU. The Broncos play five of their next seven games on the road, and this is the road big-time. A win tonight would tie a school record for consecutive road victories at seven—and what a way to reach it. BSU is a well-documented 0-13 all-time in Logan.

The question tonight is: who’s hot hand will rule the court? USU has won seven straight games and nine of its last 10 after starting the year 3-4, outscoring opponents by almost 18 points per game and holding them to under 39 percent from the field. BSU still leads the nation in field goal percentage at 52.3 percent, with Matt Nelson second individually at 67.5. But on the road this season the Broncos have been shooting 54.7 and scoring 85.6 points per game. If it comes down to making free throws at the end tonight, look out for Utah State. The Aggies are third nationally from the line at 78.5 percent. And BSU had best not foul USU star Jaycee Carroll—he’s second in the country at just under 93 percent.

The Boise State women, coming off a history-making victory, are home tonight for the first time in over a month when the host Utah State in Taco Bell Arena. The Broncos became the first team ever to win two consecutive conference road games over the legendary Lady Techsters, though that term is being used loosely these days (La Tech ain’t what it used to be). But BSU does have momentum going now as it tries to even its WAC record at 2-2.

The final day of the 2008 NBA D-League Showcase is upon us, with three more games in Qwest Arena. The Idaho Stampede wrap it up tonight at 7:15 against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Blazers front office personnel will be watching one of their prize projects, Josh McRoberts, currently allocated to the Stampede by Portland. The former Duke star had a most interesting box score line in the Stampede’s first game of the Showcase Tuesday night: zero points and 12 rebounds. But oh well—whatever it takes to help the team win, and the Stamps have been doing plenty of that. They’re gunning for their 11th consecutive victory tonight.

Former Nevada star Nick Fazekas made his Showcase bid to get back in a Dallas Mavericks uniform with a nice double-double yesterday in Tulsa’s 94-79 win over Albuquerque. Fazekas, who said on Idaho SportsTalk a couple weeks ago he firmly believes he should be on the Mavs roster right now, scored 17 points with 12 rebounds as the 66ers won their fifth straight. At least he’s getting some good coaching out of the deal, as he’s being tutored by veteran mentor Joey Meyer, the one-time DePaul coach. Fazekas’ former Wolf Pack teammate, Ramon Sessions, wasn’t quite as sharp yesterday, going 5-for-14. Sessions is on assignment from the Milwaukee Bucks. Colorado plays the Colorado 14ers this afternoon at 1:45.

The hiring of Greg McMackin is the best possible solution to a bad situation at Hawaii. It salvages most of the 2008 recruiting class with National Letter of Intent Day less than three weeks away. And it allows UH to make the transition from June Jones with about half of the former coach’s staff intact. Now McMackin gets to look forward to his debut as Hawaii head coach—at Florida. Some in Honolulu are suggesting that Jones dropped a big hint about exiting Hawaii when, campaigning for the Warriors’ Colt Brennan, he brashly called Tim Tebow a “system quarterback” in the days leading up to the Heisman Trophy presentation. McMackin gets to clean up that mess in The Swamp. Good luck.

It was last summer that WAC commissioner Karl Benson proclaimed that his conference had passed the Mountain West. Well—drum roll please—the winner of the Bowl Challenge Classic for the 2007 season, with a 4-1 bowl record, is…the Mountain West Conference. BYU is being mentioned as not only a BCS bowl hopeful in 2008, but a longshot national championship contender. And the WAC team that caused the stir a year ago is back behind the curtain. The Sporting News wraps up the bowl season in this week’s issue and has this on the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: “Boise State went from national darling to minor bowl flop. East Carolina is poised for non-BCS greatness.” A little fodder for the wall in the Bronco weight room.

While the Idaho Steelheads gear up for a big weekend series against Alaska, they’ll have an eye on one of their brethren, poised to make his NHL debut. B.J. Crombeen, who finished last season with the Steelheads and helped them win the Kelly Cup championship, was called up to the Dallas Stars from Iowa yesterday. The 22-year-old right wing scored five postseason goals for the Steelies last spring. The Stars play the Sharks in San Jose tomorrow night. Meanwhile, the Steelheads welcome back Greg Rallo when they take the ice against the Aces tomorrow night. Rallo, now third on the team in scoring with 14 goals and 29 points, has been out for a month on injured reserve. And John Lammers is back on the club from Iowa. Lammers was money in the 2007 playoffs, with two goals in the Kelly Cup-clinching win in Dayton.

I mentioned Roy Jones Jr.’s 39th birthday yesterday. Well, Dontrelle Willis turned 26 last Saturday. Only 26? It seems like he’s so much older, as eventful as his big league career has been so far. But the former Boise Hawk is just now approaching his prime, and it could be very prime time as he moves on to Detroit. Willis had his worst season last year with the Marlins, going 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. But, as Ryan Fagan points out in The Sporting News, “Playing for a contending team should work wonders for him. Plus, American League hitters won’t be accustomed to his herky-jerky delivery.” The D-Train came to the Tigers in the blockbuster trade that included slugger Miguel Cabrera. Detroit has already secured Willis with a three-year contract extension.

This Day In Sports…January 17, 1971:

In a comedy of errors, the Baltimore Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in Super Bowl V. The game was marred by 11 turnovers and a slew of penalties. The game’s most spectacular play happened in the second quarter, when Colts tight end John Mackey caught a tipped pass and romped 75 yards for a touchdown. Jim O’Brien booted a 32-yard field goal with five seconds left to give Baltimore the victory—at least some consolation for the shocking loss to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III in 1969.

(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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