Monday, May 5, 2008.

Here we are on Cinco de Mayo, over six weeks after Boise State's season ended in the NCAA Tournament, and there's still no announcement on a contract extension for Greg Graham. In the world of college sports these days, it's rare for a head coach to get close to the final year of his contract (as Graham is) without either an extension or a dismissal. But no news is no news. It doesn't phase Graham--and it didn't phase Sean Amadiyi, a 6-7 forward from Arizona Western College whose signing was announced Saturday. Amadiyi, who played for New Mexico as a true freshman, was a third-team JC All-American this season after averaging 16 points and six rebounds and shooting 71 percent from the field.

Graham's 2008 recruiting class is essentially complete as he awaits a new deal. Imadiyi joins forward Robert Arnold and guard La'Shard Anderson who committed during the November early signing period. Imadiyi has the looks of a Reggie Larry-type, similar in size and athleticism. But you never know how quickly JC guys can be assimilated into the system. Aaron Garner was the highly-touted transfer a year ago, but he ended up averaging less than eight minutes a game, scoring 1.8 points a night. Garner is poised to contribute as a senior, thiough, setting the table with a strong performance in the WAC Tournament.

Idaho's decision to not sell any individual game tickets to the Bronco-Vandal game November 15 can be spun as a marketing ploy, but it is being tattooed as nothing but a way to keep Boise State fans out of the Kibbie Dome that day. Word is that, although it's been difficult to find official information on it, BSU will receive its normal allotment of visitors' tickets for the game. Once those are gone (and there aren't that many), creativity will have to prevail as Bronco faithful look for Idaho State fans with whom they can share a "Gem State Twinpack".

You'd never hear Chris Petersen and Dan Hawkins clamoring for a Boise State-Colorado game, nor did Hawk, in his Bronco days, ever yearn to play Arizona State while Dirk Koetter was there. According to new Hawaii coach Greg McMackin, he and June Jones don't feel that way. "I'd love for us to compete against one another as two great programs. June and I have talked about that," McMackin told the Honolulu Advertiser. Hawaii has approached SMU about a game, but the Mustangs claim they're full, with the assumption that the $400,000 contract buyout UH claims Jones still owes the school is a stumbling block.

So Advertiser columnist Ferd Lewis has an idea. "Square off at Aloha Stadium in a 2009 game with added incentive, the kind of reality challenge college football has never seen," writes Lewis. "If UH wins, Jones pays up at midfield after the game with one of those 5-foot cardboard checks. If SMU prevails, Jones gets to tear up the contract at midfield." Gotta love it.

The Boise Burn have plenty of stories to tell after their 77-14 annihilation of Stockton Saturday night at Qwest Arena. But the big one belongs to George Williams. He's a guy who's always talked the talk--and in af2, he's always walked the walk. Especially when he gets in the end zone. Williams has been there more than anyone in league history now, scoring six touchdowns against the Lightning. For his career, Williams has 171 TDs and 1,036 points. The rest of the story: a fourth straight win for the Burn in front of a third straight crowd of 5,000-plus. And a stifling defense that keeps getting better, allowing just one Stockton offensive touchdown.

The Cubs want that first World Series title in 100 years this season, and they ain't messin' around. Former Boise Hawk Rich Hill went directly from Chicago's starting rotation to Triple-A Iowa Saturday, a day after his season-long bases-on-balls plague peaked in St. Louis. Hill walked four of the first six Cardinals he faced and now has 18 walks in 19 2/3 innings. "Obviously, it's difficult to go down there," Hill said Saturday. "I haven't been right since the beginning of Spring Training. I'm going to go down and work on what needs to be worked on and get back up here as soon as possible." Manager Lou Piniella said he's holding a spot in the rotation for Hill for when he gets "straightened out."

The College of Idaho took three out of four in its weekend series with the University of British Columbia, but UBC needed only the one win to clinch the host spot in the NAIA Region I Tournament. The Coyotes finished yesterday with a Senior Day doubleheader sweep of the Thunderbirds at Simplot Stadium. C of I and UBC now turn right around for a rematch in the regionals Thursday night in Vancouver.

Nampa's Tyler Aldridge is still finding his way in his rookie season on the Nationwide Tour. He was sitting pretty after 14 holes in the second round of the South Georgia Classic Friday. Aldridge was cruising along at two-under in the Valdosta, GA, event before he hit the skids with back-to-back double-bogeys, followed by a bogey. He finished at three-over 75 and missed the cut by two strokes. Aldridge has played in six Nationwide events this year and has made the cut only once--at the Panama Movistar Championship in January.

This Day In Sports...May 5, 1987:

The Basketball Hall Of Fame inducts three of the NBA's most exciting players ever: former scoring champions Rick Barry and Pistol Pete Maravich--who averaged, respectively, a league-best 35.6 points for the San Francisco Warriors in 1967 and a league-best 31.1 points for the New Orleans Jazz in 1977, and guard Walt Frazier, who excelled on defense as well as offense for the New York Knicks.

(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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