Presented by BBSI.
Friday, February 20, 2015.
Boise State faces Nevada only once this season because of the Mountain West rotation. That’s tomorrow afternoon. “At least it’s at home,” you say. But in Taco Bell Arena last year, the Wolf Pack provided one of the low points of the season, hitting the Broncos with an 83-81 double-overtime defeat on Senior Night. It’s likely—likely—that this year will be different, considering how Boise State is playing defense now and how challenged Nevada is offensively. Of course, the Broncos have their own frustrations on offense after going 1-for-18 (5.6 percent) from three-point range in Wednesday night’s win at UNLV. It was the lowest single-game three-point percentage for Boise State in more than 13 years. I would expect the ship to be righted at home tomorrow.
Nevada brings some talent in tomorrow afternoon, but what does that mean? The Wolf Pack has Tyron Criswell, last season’s national Junior College Division II Player of the Year at Central Community College in Omaha. Criswell has been starting for Nevada since late January, but something he said when he committed to the Pack stuck with me. He expected to start right away, with an established goal of making the NBA. “I just want to go where I could play the most and get more exposure,” said Criswell. “Exposure is all about if you are seeing the floor. You've got to be out there to get noticed, because I'm a junior college guy. So I don't have time to be going somewhere and sitting on the bench behind people." Maybe Nevada’s chemistry is better now that Criswell has learned the Division I ropes, but the Wolf Pack’s record doesn’t show it.
There was a Kevin Allen sighting with 6½ minutes left in the first half Wednesday night at UNLV. It was Allen's first appearance in four weeks and only his third in Mountain West play. He played five minutes and scored four points. If Allen can contribute down the stretch it would be huge, because he hasn’t been. Also interesting in the Las Vegas triumph was Chandler Hutchison. The true freshman is starting to do the little things—someday he’ll be a complete player. The Broncos would love it if it was sooner rather than later. Boise State grabbed its first lead since the 14-minute mark of the first half versus the Rebels on a putback by Hutchison with 17:18 left in the game. He followed with a monster block a minute later. Hutchison had only six points, but he contributed five rebounds and three blocked shots before he was pulled with four fouls.
There was not a Mikey Thompson sighting in Vegas, nor was there a Montigo Alford sighting. Thompson and Alford missed their third straight game for Boise State due to suspension, and we don’t know yet when the discipline ends. Props to BSU coach Leon Rice for sticking to his guns, because he's been missing Thompson and Alford at a crucial point in the season. Fortunately for the shorthanded Broncos, they got it done in regulation at UNLV. They did not want that to go into overtime, gassed as they were at the end.
Boise State’s Jay Ajayi gets down to physical brass tacks today with the bench press at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. That’ll be followed by Ajayi’s on-field drills tomorrow with the rest of the running backs. NFL Network analyst Charles Davis is high on Ajayi. "He's going to be one of those kids who, as soon as we talk about him, people will go, 'What is the comparison?'” said Davis. “Immediately, people are going to compare him to the Muscle Hamster, who also came out of Boise State, in Doug Martin. I don't think (Ajayi) is Doug Martin—I like him better than Martin coming out. I think (Ajayi) is a complete back who developed real quickly at Boise State, and I thought his one year under (coach) Bryan Harsin was a godsend because he had him doing everything."
Harsin’s amended Boise State contract has been approved by the State Board of Education, as has the one for defensive coordinator Marcel Yates. Harsin’s deal now goes five more years for a base total of $6.25 million, plus a $100,000 bonus for him and another $100,000 bonus to be split among the Bronco staff. Yates breaks new ground as an assistant, getting the first multi-year deal. His contract goes three years and totals $990,000.
Kellen Moore was on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday, talking about his future. The former Boise State star is a restricted free agent and is all in for a return to the NFL this year. Moore has spent the last three seasons with the Detroit Lions as their No. 3 quarterback and has never taken a regular season snap. “Obviously everyone wants to play at the end of the day,” said Moore. But he’s fine with Detroit if nothing else works out. “If the worst-case scenario is going back there as a ‘three,’ I’d take that any day,” Moore said.
Going into their three-game series at Stockton this weekend, the Idaho Steelheads are in somewhat of a rut, having split their last 10 games. There’s still a lot of time left, though. With 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Steelheads are in third place in the ECHL's Pacific Division, six points behind the Colorado Eagles and three back of the Ontario Reign. The Steelies’ scoring leader right now is Wade McLeod, who’s 13th in the ECHL with 49 points. The league’s leading scorer is Chad Costello of the Allen Americans, one of the old Central Hockey League teams absorbed into the ECHL at the beginning of the season. Costello has 81 points, a whopping 22 points better than second-place Brendan Connolly of the Alaska Aces.
Circling back to hoops: the Idaho Stampede are staring their 30th loss of the season in the face tomorrow night. The Stampede host the Bakersfield Jam, sporting the best record in the D-League West Division, in CenturyLink Arena. The Stamps do have Kevin Murphy back, though. The University of Idaho men fell 72-65 at Northern Arizona last night. The Vandals play at Southern Utah tomorrow night. The College Of Idaho men go into the final week of Cascade Conference play at Evergreen State tonight and Northwest University tomorrow night. The Coyotes are ranked No.3 in NAIA Division II. The NNU men downed Alaska-Fairbanks 67-56 last night on ROOT Sports. The Crusaders host Alaska-Anchorage tomorrow night. And the Boise State women face a trap game tomorrow at Nevada, which is 3-10 in the Mountain West.
More notes: Boise’s Brian Scott won’t be racing in the Daytona 500 after all tomorrow. Scott failed to qualify last night in the Daytona Duels after his car was grazed during an crash involving Danica Patrick. Graham DeLaet’s in decent shape going into the second round of the Northern Trust Open near Los Angeles. Troy Merritt? Not so much. DeLaet shot a one-under 70 yesterday at Riviera Country Club. Merritt came in at three-over 74.
The 2015 U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association Western Regionals continue at Brundage Mountain. The men’s giant slalom is set for today, followed by the women’s and men’s slalom tomorrow—all on the Alpine course. The Boise State men’s tennis team makes its annual trek to the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, AL, where they are two-time defending champions. The Broncos open today against No. 24 South Florida. And the 15th-ranked Boise State women’s gymnastics team is at 23rd-ranked Ohio State. This is the first meeting between the two squads since 1993.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by the ASHLEY INN OF CASCADE…your adventure starts at our front door!
February 20, 1963: Centerfielder Willie Mays signs a contract with the San Francisco Giants that will pay him $100,000 for the 1963 season, making him baseball’s highest-salaried player. The Giants were rewarding Mays for leading the team to their first pennant since moving to San Francisco in 1958 (it would be 27 years before they’d get another). Mays led the National League in 1962 with 49 homers and drove in 141 runs.
(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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