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Tuesday, March 18, 2014.
We thought we’d be discussing some kind of Boise State basketball postseason appearance today, but with the Broncos bowing out, it’s time to recap the seniors. The natural place to start is Ryan Watkins, whose senior year was far and above anything that preceded it during his career. Watkins finished his four-year stay with 10 boards in last Friday’s loss to New Mexico and averaged 11.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season. He’s only the third player in Boise State history to average a double-double over an entire season—and the first since Steve Wallace 42 years ago. With one final blast versus the Lobos, Watkins passed the late Bill Otey for second in career rebounding with the Broncos. Watkins’ total of 814 boards trails only current Idaho Stampede forward Jason Ellis and his 948 from 2001-05.
Jeff Elorriaga’s non-box score contribution was leadership. He made his statistical mark through his three-pointers. With a trio of treys against New Mexico, Elorriaga finished with 221 in his career, third on Boise State’s all-time list behind Coby Karl and Abe Jackson. Even with a broken bone in his back for his final 10 games. Elorriaga connected on 17 three-pointers the last five games after logging 17 in his previous 16 contests. Thomas Bropleh’s career ended in a most bizarre way—the ejection last Friday after coming down hard with a foul on the Lobos’ Cameron Bairstow. Bropleh averaged 27 minutes over the final 14 games and became one of the Broncos’ key playmakers. Nobody hit more timely shots than Bropleh down the stretch.
In a “season wrap” interview with Bob Behler, coach Leon Rice talked about his returnees for next season, and the guy with the biggest upside is Nick Duncan. The 6-8 Australian weighs 241 pounds. If he carries that weight next winter, it’s probably going to be redistributed. “You’re going to see a big physical change in Nick the next six months, 12 months, 18 months,” said Rice. “He’ll have a Mountain West body.” Duncan ended the season quietly after a couple surges as a true freshman—one early in the Mountain West schedule and another midway through. Duncan scored just five points with one three-pointer over the final five games of the season.
On the homepage of Sports Illustrated.com yesterday was a big photo of Bairstow with his mouth wide open during one of his patented energy plays. The guy always seems to have his mouth hanging open. The photo led into Seth Davis’ video piece tabbing the Lobos as one of the teams primed to upset the apple cart in the NCAA Tournament. If UNM, a No. 7 seed, can handle Stanford in the opener, it would likely face Kansas in the South region. “If these two teams meet in the round of 32, remember now, Kansas will be without its big center, Joel Embiid, and New Mexico has two big studs—and I mean studs—inside in Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk.” Davis likes the Lobos to beat the Jayhawks—and win a possible Sweet 16 matchup versus Syracuse to make it to the Elite Eight.
Yesterday was Pro Day at Boise State—not as active a Pro Day as, say, two years ago when Kellen Moore and a cast of thousands were auditioning for NFL scouts. Most of the attention yesterday was focused on defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, who’s expected to be Boise State’s highest draft pick in May (and maybe its only one). Most NFL representatives worked Lawrence out as a prospective linebacker. But it was tough for the cameras to keep from drifting over to quarterback Joe Southwick, unseen since his KTVB interview following his early arrival home from the Hawaii Bowl in December. Southwick did well in drills—he wouldn’t talk to reporters about the hotel incident in Hawaii, but he proclaimed the ankle he broke against Nevada last October to be healthy.
What’s Jay Ajayi doing during Boise State spring football? He’s trying to hone his game. Ajayi bears a striking resemblance to Doug Martin when he has the ball tucked under his arm. That’s reflected in the 1,425 yards and 18 touchdowns Ajayi amassed as a sophomore last year. Now he has to have that Martin look in another facet of football. “We’ve seen him run,” said coach Bryan Harsin. “Now we’ve got a couple things in protection we need to give him.” Truth be told, the superb job Martin did in his protection assignments during Kellen Moore’s final three seasons was half the battle in propelling him into the first round of the NFL Draft. Also on the running back front, Derrick Thomas is making a bid to be the primary backup—he’s been the Offensive Player of the Day the past two practices.
The College of Idaho campus is buzzin’ about football, as season tickets to the Coyotes’ re-naugural (is that a word?) season will go on for sale for the first time tonight at the J.A. Albertson Activities Center. The Yotes held their first practice in pads Saturday, wrapping up the first week of spring football. The current C of I roster lists 61 players, and 47 are from the state of Idaho. The program is filling the niche it hoped to fill.
Boise State’s most prominent golf alumnus will be honored by his alma mater in “A Bronco Celebration with Graham DeLaet” a week from Friday at the Steuckle Sky Center. DeLaet will be taking a breather from the PGA Tour that weekend for some down time at his Meridian home. It’ll be just two weeks ahead of the Masters. DeLaet’s currently 12th in FedEx Cup standings and has already won $1.6 million this season, pushing his career earnings past the $6.5 million mark.
The Boise Hawks have circulated their first alumni report of the spring. Most of the time we’re talking about pitchers when we discuss ex-Hawks in the majors, but three position players are coming on strong this spring. Things can change drastically when the bell rings, of course. But Houston shortstop Marwin Gonzalez is hitting .481 in spring training games with six doubles and six runs batted in, Baltimore catcher Steve Clevenger is batting .474 with one home run and five RBI, and Texas catcher Robinson Chirinos is also hitting .474 with one homer and five ribbies. Albert Almora has batted .545 for the Cubs, going 6-for-11, but he’s currently in their minor league camp.
In women’s basketball, Idaho was given only a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite a 25-8 record and a second straight WAC championship. The Vandals face Louisville in the first round Sunday afternoon in Iowa City, IA. The Boise State women will extend their season with a berth in the Women’s Basketball Invitational, the WBI, taking on Grand Canyon of the WAC Thursday night in Phoenix. The Broncos go in at 17-13.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by FRANZ WITTE NURSERY…we really dig what we do!
March 18, 1994, 20 years ago today: Boise State, upset winner of the Big Sky Tournament the week before, takes on Denny Crum and Louisville in the NCAA West Regional at Arco Arena in Sacramento. The Cardinals dominated early and led by 12 at halftime, but BSU whittled away in the second half—closing to within five at one point behind four three-pointers from freshman J.D. Huleen. Shambric Williams was the night’s high scorer in his final BSU game, but Louisville won it 67-58.
(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 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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