Thursday, March 27, 2008.

There were hints at the composition of the next rendering of the Boise State offensive line last Friday at Bronco Stadium. Let it be duly noted that on the first snap of the first spring scrimmage of 2008, left to right, it was tackle Nate Potter, guard Ben Iannacchione, center Thomas Byrd, guard Jon Gott, and tackle Matt Slater across the front. Gott was presumably filling in for the only experienced returnee on the O-line, right guard Andrew Woodruff, who missed the scrimmage with an injury. Gott and Iannacchione have waited a long time—they’re both seniors. Slater is a sophomore, and Potter and Byrd are both freshmen.

Potter, the former Timberline star, is the man most under the microscope, as he’s penciled in as the replacement for All-American left tackle Ryan Clady, who was the replacement for Green Bay Packers starter Daryn Colledge. But the whole group is in a fishbowl this spring. The Broncos may have the deepest group of running backs in their history, but it won’t mean anything if there’s nowhere to go. Coach Chris Petersen isn’t losing any sleep over it, though. “We’ve got some good young players, and I think that they have talent, so…that’s the fun about reloading,” said Petersen.

Boise State started spring ball a week earlier this year to divide drills evenly before and after spring break, which is this week. Nevada moved it way up, starting February 29 and wrapping up with the Silver & Blue Scrimmage last Saturday. And it was all about Colin Kaepernick, who had the memorable game in the Wolf Pack’s incredible 69-67 quadruple-overtime loss at Bronco Stadium last October. The sophomore quarterback looked eerily similar in the scrimmage, with five carries for 146 yards, including touchdown runs of 65 and 52 yards. Kaepernick was below-par in the air, though, going 5-for-15 for 74 yards. He took the Nevada job last fall when Nick Graziano was lost for the season with a foot injury. Graziano missed the spring session, so he’ll be behind the eight-ball when he returns this summer to compete with Kaepernick.

Time moves quickly in the NCAA Tournament. Seems like a long time ago now that BSU was getting settled into Birmingham, but it was only a week ago. Now hoops focus turns to the future, as the Bronco lineup will have to be overhauled for next season. BSU is anxious to unveil 6-8 forward Ike Okoye, who sat out this season after transferring from Wyoming. He’s a different player than Matt Nelson—not as physical, but more athletic. Mark Sanchez also fits into the inside puzzle with Nelson and Reggie Larry departing. But the Broncos, still with one scholarship to give, are looking for a junior college big man to reinforce the block.

On the outside, BSU will have to determine if it’s already seen a couple answers for Tyler Tiedeman and Matt Bauscher. Was Aaron Garner delivering a preview of an entirely different senior season when he dropped 14 points on Utah State in limited duty off the bench in the WAC semifinals? It seems the potential is there, just as it appeared it would be when Garner came out of junior college. Coach Greg Graham has all but tabbed Paul Noonan as the heir apparent to Tiedeman on the wing. Graham said Noonan was the best pure shooter on the team from the get-go last November. The freshman showed flashes of that this season, certainly from the free throw line.

Jen Warden, just three years removed from what could have been considered a “mutual agreement departure” from Boise State, has been fired as head women’s basketball coach at Colorado State. The Rams went 0-16 in the Mountain West before pulling two stunning upsets in the conference tournament to finish 4-28, the worst hoops season—men or women—in school history. Warden was 21-69 in three seasons at CSU after going 29-59 at BSU, giving her a career record of 50-128.

From the San Diego area comes word that one of the best high school basketball players ever to come out of the state of Idaho died suddenly St. Patrick’s Day of an apparent heart attack. Kim Goetz was 50 years old—he had been playing tennis with a friend when he was felled. Goetz came out of Moscow to star on the College of Southern Idaho’s 1976 national junior college championship team. He then transferred to San Diego State, where he became known as one of the country’s best long-range bombers in the days before the three-point line. Goetz was right up there with the best the state ever produced—Gary Freeman, Jim Boatright, Steve Hayes, Steve Connor, Brian Welch, and Cory Violette. Goetz had a brother, Kevin, who played at Boise State.

The first place perch that the Idaho Stampede has occupied most of the season is precarious at best right now, and this is the time of year the Stamps would like to secure it. The two D-League division winners with the best records will receive a bye from the first round of the playoffs. The Stampede match that profile right now, but the L.A. D-Fenders have closed to within a game of Idaho in the West Division with a 101-90 win over Colorado yesterday. L.A. has also vaulted past the Stampede to the top of the D-League power rankings. The Stamps are 30-12 with eight games left to play, the first two of which are against Utah tomorrow night and Saturday night at Qwest Arena.

The Idaho Steelheads look to reintroduce Steve Silverthorn on the ice tomorrow night in Stockton. The off-and-on anchor of the Steelheads’ goaltending corps was reassigned to Idaho last Friday but didn’t arrive in Boise in time to play against the Thunder in their Qwest Arena series. The 2007 Kelly Cup MVP hasn’t played for the Steelies since January 5. Silverthorn was 2-5 with a 3.36 goals-against average in nine appearances with Iowa. He had struggled a bit with Idaho this season, going 8-9-4. But his goals-against average was decent at 2.53.

This Day In Sports…March 27, 2002:

Boise State names Oregon assistant Greg Graham as its new head basketball coach, replacing the fired Rod Jensen. Graham had been the offensive guru of a Duck program that had made the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, losing to Kansas three days before the announcement. He had coached at U of O for five years under Ernie Kent and promised to turn the tables in terms of style at BSU—going up-tempo in hopes of getting fans back in the Pavilion.

(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.)