Monday, June 1, 2009.

Is it just me? Or are the college football preseason magazines coming out earlier every year? In the old days, you couldn't wait for Street & Smith's to hit the racks. And that was usually mid-July. Phil Steele steals a lot of thunder these days, though. Steele isn't shy, calling his publication the "Most Accurate Preseason Magazine the Last 10 Years!" The guy's got a track record. When Fresno State was the trendy pick to win the WAC a year ago, Steele was one of the few beacons in the dark predicting Boise State to win the championship. This season, he not only has the Broncos winning the WAC again, he has them No. 12 in the country. And unlike some magazines that go heavy on "starters lost and starters returning," Steele goes through exhaustive sets of numbers to back up his picks. More to follow in the coming weeks.

Boise State All-America candidate Kyle Wilson will be modeling this morning. BSU is unveiling new Nike uniforms for the 2009 season, and Wilson will show them off. Will the new unis give the Broncos as many color combinations as Oregon has? Probably not--and, I hope not. The Ducks wore 13 different combos last year (jerseys, pants, helmets), even unveiling a new Nike jersey late in the season against Arizona. It had wings on the shoulders. And Oregon won. The Ducks wore yellow tops in their 37-32 loss to BSU in Autzen Stadium last September, and never donned the yellow jerseys again the rest of the season.

The Boise Burn kicked off the second half of the af2 season with a 51-40 win over Amarillo. Which is fine, until you notice that the Dusters came in at 1-7 and yet stayed with the Burn, keeping it a one-possession game entering the fourth quarter. The Burn offense, held to only 181 yards, didn't have its mojo, but special teams and defense more than picked up the slack. The main man there was Terrance Sanders, who had two kickoff returns for touchdowns and a third TD called back because of a penalty. Sanders added an interception from his cornerback spot. The Burn, off to what is easily the best start in franchise history, are now 7-2--still two games behind the undefeated Spokane Shock in the af2 West Division.

Matt Ballenger surprised Colorado and coach Dan Hawkins in mid-April when he left the Buffaloes in the middle of spring football. Ballenger, stuck in the No. 3 quarterback spot, said he wanted to play basketball, and he wanted to do it closer to his home town of Nampa. Well, the former Skyview star is making the switch to college basketball, and he's indeed doing it close to home. He'll make it official today when he signs with the College of Idaho. It's kind of a surprise to coach Mark Owen and the Coyotes--they weren't sure they could get Ballenger.

If Idaho Stampede coach Bryan Gates ever made it to a head coaching job in the NBA, it would be one of the league's all-time great stories. There are those who think Gates could at least end up on an NBA bench. Pro Basketball News has compiled a list of "Top 10 Pro Coaches Not In The NBA," and Gates is No. 2. "Gates is one of the brightest young coaches in the pro game--anywhere," said PBN. "He led the Stampede to a D-League championship in 2008 and is on many NBA GM's radar today." That's something for a guy who didn't play college hoops but loved the game so much that he volunteered to be an intern of sorts under Bobby Dye in the Stampede's first season in 1997-98. And the rest, as they say...well, actually there may still be some history to be made.

Boise State got about as much as it could have hoped for from its contingent at the NCAA Track & Field West Regional meet in Eugene. Ryan Grinnell came through in two of his three events to lead a group of three Broncos headed to the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, AR. The junior from Skyline High in Idaho Falls won the triple jump and finished fourth in the high jump. Australian senior Simon Wardhaugh won his specialty, the hammer. And Pontus Thomee, a sophomore from Goteburg, Sweden, broke out with a second place finish in the men's javelin. Two Treasure Valley athletes also qualified for nationals. James Rogan of Eagle, a junior at Idaho, finished third in the hammers, and Matt Lamb of Emmett, a junior at Washington State and a two-time All-American, was fifth in the discus.

Former Boise State All-American Wesley Moodie has equaled his deepest foray into a Grand Slam tournament since winning the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 2005. Moodie and playing partner Dick Norman of Belgium have made the semifinals of the French Open after a walkover this morning versus Jose Acasuso of Argentina and Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. It's not clear yet whether the walkover was due to injury or something else, but Moodie and Norman have advanced. The duo reached the quarterfinals by beating Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Paul Hanley of Australia in three sets over the weekend.

This Day In Sports...June 1, 1979, 30 years ago today:

The Seattle Supersonics beat Washington, 97-93, to win the NBA Finals in five games. It remains the only NBA championship for Seattle, led by Jack Sikma, Gus Williams, and Downtown Fred Brown off the bench. The Bullets were coached by Dick Motta, the pride of Fish Haven, Idaho, who guided Grace High School to the 1959 Idaho Class AA championship.

(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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