Thursday, March 20, 2008.

Snippets of the Boise State-Louisville game tomorrow night will be seen nationally on CBS—all of it, presumably, will be seen locally on KBCI. It’s a rare countrywide window for a WAC basketball team, which once again brings up the conference’s ESPN contract. Here’s the WAC with only one team in the NCAA Tournament, and the smaller West Coast Conference with three. Is the net effect of TV exposure taking hold, with the WCC cashing in on its recruiting advantages? Are West Coast Conference players on the whole that much better than their WAC counterparts?

The WCC had 11 ESPN or ESPN2 appearances this season to the WAC’s five (just two during league play). And the WCC gets three more national snippets on CBS tomorrow—13th-seeded San Diego plays UConn in the West Regional, Gonzaga takes on Davidson in the Midwest, and Saint Mary’s, a No. 10 seed, faces Miami in the South.

It’ll be interesting to see what role will Reggie Larry will play tomorrow night. Whatever it is, it had better be a big one if BSU has a chance of an earthshaking upset. ESPN.com’s analysis of the clash with Louisville calls Larry “undersized but fearless,” an apt description considering the matchup he faces and the attitude he’ll need. The first-team All-WAC selection will have to help Matt Nelson defend the Cardinals’ formidable bigs down low, while on the offensive end the Broncos would like Reggie to be free to create, depending on what the UL defense gives him. Either way, Reggie’s gotta be the man. He led led the team in scoring (19.3 points per game) and the entire WAC in rebounding (9.1 per), with 14 double-doubles.

If the WAC feels disrespected with only one berth and a No. 14 seed, how about the Big Sky? That league’s regular season champion, Portland State, also won the tournament, but it gets a 16 seed and has to play Kansas today in the Midwest Region. Other NCAA Tournament observations: UCLA seems to be a stronger top dog than the last time the Bruins had a No. 1 seed. That was 1995, the year Tyus Edney went coast-to-coast in what is now Taco Bell Arena to beat Missouri and launch its drive to the national championship. And if the monumental upset were to happen tomorrow night, BSU would possibly face Oklahoma in the second round. Would that be the sidebar of the weekend or what? But not only will it be monumentally tough for the Broncos to beat Louisville, I’m not so sure the Sooners are going to get past St. Joseph’s.

Boise State is 2-2 against teams in the tournament this year, having beaten BYU and San Diego and suffering losses to Washington State and Siena. BYU is seeded eighth in the West Region and drew Texas A&M in the first round today. WSU is in the East Region and benefits from a No. 4 seed—the Cougars play Winthrop today. And Siena, the Metro Atlantic champion, is the 13th seed in the Midwest and goes against Vanderbilt. The Broncos are now the only WAC team still playing, as Utah State lost last night in the NIT at Illinois State, 61-57.

That special intersectional matchup arranged by the Women’s NIT takes place tonight in Taco Bell Arena. Uh, Boise State against Idaho State, of course. With that said, there seemed to be more grumbling about this same ol’-same ol’ on BSU’s part after the announcement than ISU’s, and the team that wants to be there in a game like this is usually the team that wins. ''It's nice because we lost to them earlier in the year,'' said Bengal senior star Natalie Doma. ''To go up there and have another chance at them, it's a good opportunity.'' Doma, the Big Sky's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, does not want her career to end here. The Broncos, meanwhile, have had a couple days now to summon up some desire for tonight’s game.

Spring football hits the fast lane tomorrow with Boise State’s first spring scrimmage at Bronco Stadium. The Broncos will start to sort out the quarterback craziness just like a year ago. It’s the same cast of characters, minus Taylor Tharp and plus Kellen Moore. Coach Chris Petersen naturally says nothing has been decided, but he did spend a moment yesterday defending senior-to-be Bush Hamdan, the guy who went from odds-on starter in fall camp last August to fourth on the depth chart at one point last fall. “There was never a thought about him transferring,” said Petersen, who said Hamdan has been the consummate team player. “That was really frustrating for me to hear things like that when they were totally not true.”

Goaltending might win championships. It also stops losing streaks, and Kellen Briggs filled the bill last night in leading the Idaho Steelheads to a 1-0 win over Stockton. It was Briggs’ third professional shutout, as he stopped all 25 Thunder shots he faced on the heels of a three-game personal losing streak. For the Steelheads, the hot hand stayed hot, as John Lammers scored the game’s only goal on a power play late in the second period. It was Lammers’ 10th goal in the past nine games. The victory vaults the Steelies into a three-way tie with Alaska and Victoria atop the ECHL West Division. The three-game series with Stockton resumes tomorrow night in Qwest Arena.

Boise State begins competition at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis today. The Broncos qualified virtually their whole team after winning the Pac-10 championship. Two of the nine BSU entrants this week are seeded—former Centennial standout Kirk Smith (10th at 184 pounds) and Tyler Sherfey (11th at 157). Coach Greg Randall expects “four or five” of his wrestlers to contend for All-America honors and feels a top 15 finish is possible.

This Day In Sports…March 20, 2004:

One of the most unique nights in Boise State basketball history. When the Broncos blitzed UNLV 84-69 three nights before in the NIT, it looked like they’d be traveling for their matchup with Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the next round. After all, Taco Bell Arena was booked all weekend. But a date was hastily arranged with the Idaho Center, and 10,153 BSU fans hastily scooped up tickets to see the Broncos get past UWM, 73-70, on a raucous night in Nampa. Their NIT run would end three nights later with a 66-53 loss at Marquette.

(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.)

---

---