Tuesday, May 6, 2008.

A Dallas Cowboys blog from the Dallas Morning News brings an unexpected endorsement of Orlando Scandrick, the fifth round pick out of Boise State. It comes from a guy who saw Scandrick do some amazing things. Writes Albert Breer, "Shortly after the NFL Draft, SMU coach June Jones visited Wade Phillips. And he made a bold statement. The Cowboys' best draft pick, Jones insisted, would be fifth guy they took. That would be Scandrick, whom Jones faced in the WAC in his days as Hawaii coach." According to Phillips, Jones marveled at Scandrick's "presence on the field." In Bronco victories over the Warriors in 2005 and 2006, Scandrick returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown and took two defensive two-point conversions to the house. Breer reports that Scandrick had a strong rookie camp in Dallas over the weekend.

We're over a week removed now from the draft, and tryout season is underway for those who weren't selected. One guy heretofore not mentioned is a familiar name but a longshot. Former Boise State star Marty Tadman was in the New York Jets' rookies-only camp with Bronco teammate Tad Miller over the weekend. They were two of 34 unsigned players in for a look-see by coach Eric Mangini. Due to his Defensive Most Valuable Player award at the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Tadman is a known quantity. But that'll be part of his challenge. His "quantity" is only 5-11, although he has bulked up to over 200 pounds from his BSU playing weight of 180. Neither Tadman nor Miller has been signed by the Jets at this point.

After proclaiming that his conference had passed the Mountain West last summer, WAC commissioner Karl Benson watched his league generally struggle in non-conference games last season. Then the WAC had a luke-warm year in the NFL Draft, seeing only eight of its players selected after a banner year in 2007 with 17. But this has been pointed out by a number of people: the Mountain West had only seven players chosen, and four of those were from San Diego State. BYU, the school with a considerable draft pedigree, had only one player picked, linebacker Brian Kehl in the fourth round by the New York Giants. Utah had none.

Boise State men's basketball coach Greg Graham was a guest on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday and said negotiations were close to complete on his long-awaited new contract. Graham dropped a hint regarding its length when talking about coaching the Broncos for six years now. "Hopefully, it'll be double digits," said Graham. Ten seasons would take him through the 2011-12 campaign.

With as much success as College of Southern Idaho has had, coaching searches are a part of life at the Magic Valley school. But this time CSI won't need one. The Golden Eagles' incredible run has landed coach Barret Peery a job as an assistant at Utah under Jim Boylen. But CSI was ready, naming Portland State assistant Steve Gosar as its new head man yesterday. Peery won Scenic West Conference championships in each of his three seasons in Twin Falls and went 85-19. CSI was the No. 1 junior college team in the nation the last four weeks of the regular season. The Utes are salivating over Peery's recruiting prowess. All nine of his sophomores this season have landed in Division I programs.

Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals begins tonight in Boston as the Celtics host Cleveland. Don't expect to see a lot of Idaho Stampede heritage on the floor despite the presence of Lance Allred and Damon Jones on the Cavs' roster. Allred, signed for the remainder of the season after his March callup from the Stampede, hasn't been active in the playoffs. He got into three games late in the regular season and scored a basket and a free throw in the regular season finale three weeks ago. Jones, the 1999 CBA Newcomer of the Year with the Stamps, has seen all of 13 minutes in three postseason games, with one three-pointer to show for it. Jones, now 31, averaged 6½ points a game during the regular season.

Our former Boise Hawk of the Day is Robb Quinlan, trying to get some consistency back in his game after serving as a solid role player the past five seasons for the Angels. Quinlan showed signs Sunday with a two-run homer to help L.A. of Anaheim get past the Orioles, 6-5. The round-tripper was the first of the season for the 1999 Northwest League Most Valuable Player, and the RBIs were only his second and third of the year. Quinlan's busiest season was 2006, when he hit .321 with nine home runs while spending considerable time filling in at first base for the mononucleosis-striken Casey Kotchman. Quinlan tutored the then 16-year-old Kotchman when he was in Boise for the summer with his dad, Hawks manager Tom Kotchman.

We've been watching the Kelly Cup Playoffs from afar since the exit of the Idaho Steelheads on April 14. And we've been watching former Steelheads standout Scott Burt in particular. Don't look now, but Burt and the Utah Grizzlies are one monumental series upset away from the Kelly Cup Finals. The Grizzlies dusted off the Victoria Salmon Kings Sunday four games-to-one and now face Las Vegas in the National Conference Finals beginning next Tuesday. Utah was the sixth seed in the conference after winning 32 of 72 regular season games, but this is why they created those things called "playoffs". Burt, who had three postseason goals in the Steelheads' run to the Kelly Cup championship a year ago, doesn't have a tally yet this year.

This Day In Sports...May 6, 1931:

A day I make a note of every year--the day my favorite baseball player of all time was born. Willie Mays is 77 years old today. Mays broke in as a 20-year-old rookie with the New York Giants in 1951, made the most famous catch in World Series history in 1954, and had the best years of his career in San Francisco after the Giants moved West. He ended up with 660 career home runs. Willie was the most complete player in the game's history.

(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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