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Wednesday Weekly: March 11, 2026.
Does Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News know something we don’t? Wilner has been publishing power rankings for the new Pac-12 men’s basketball lineup all season, and his final ones Tuesday kind of stopped me in my tracks. No. 1, of course, is Gonzaga, which also dominates his postseason awards. But No. 2 is Boise State, one spot ahead of Utah State and two in front of San Diego State. And Wilner really didn’t add any rationale to it, except to say, “If the new Pac-12 is as topsy-turvy as the current Mountain West—(where) the Broncos are a major player in the mayhem—then it will be fun to watch.” Boise State is No. 57 in the NET rankings, and Utah State is No. 29. Now we’ll see if the Broncos can go on a run in the Mountain West Tournament beginning tonight and eventually meet the Aggies.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REINFORCEMENTS
Drew Fielder takes a Mountain West Player of the Week honor into the first round tournament game against San Jose State after scoring 56 points in Boise State’s two wins last week. Fielder is key for sure this week, as the Broncos need four wins in four days to get to the NCAA Tournament. But it’s the team’s depth that could go a long way in getting it there. Boise State, featuring Peanut Carmichael, Dom Parolin, Spencer Ahrens and AG Neto, hasn’t had this deep a bench in years. It’ll be interesting to see how coach Leon Rice uses it. No Bronco is averaging as many as 30 minutes per game. Two players exceeded a 30-minute average last season—and two years ago, three did.
THEY’LL WEAR WHITE TONIGHT, TOO
Boise State has been comfortable lately in its home white uniforms. The Broncos got to wear them on the road at Colorado State, and we saw a cool, calm and collected team stop CSU’s eight-game winning streak in the 78-67 win Saturday at Moby Arena. That bodes well going into the Mountain West Tournament. Two weeks ago we were handicapping Boise State’s chances of a 20-win season. Sure seemed shaky, didn’t it? Well, it’s done. Now, with a five-game winning streak, the Broncos are the team that’s the hottest going into the Mountain West Tournament, where—if they keep winning—they won’t potentially face Utah State or Grand Canyon until the championship game. (That’s a dangerous way of looking at things, though.)
JEANTY HAS A ROAD-GRADER
The Las Vegas Raiders’ signing of Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum is being hailed as the best acquisition so far in the NFL’s free agent season. It’s certainly tops in Ashton Jeanty’s book. It shows the Raiders are serious about giving the former Boise State great some room to do his thing moving forward. The advantages for incoming quarterback Fernando Mendoza go without saying. What Jeanty went through in his rookie season is the stuff of legend, and not in a good way, as 84 percent of his 975 rushing yards came after contact. The Raiders were also supposed to have the No. 14 overall pick in the first round next month via their trade of Maxx Crosby to Baltimore, but the Ravens backed out of the deal Tuesday night. Jeanty would have politely voted that Vegas take an offensive lineman.
ALWAYS HOPE FOR HOLANI
I think Boise State fans are savvy enough to not get too excited for their old fave George Holani—even after what happened with the Seattle Seahawks Monday. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, but how big an opportunity that creates for Holani remains to be seen. He was a Seahawks safety valve in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl, but he’s not viewed as a frontline running back. Zach Charbonnet may not be ready in September, as he didn’t have surgery on his torn ACL until late last month. So look for Seattle to search for a veteran free agent and lean on the NFL Draft to shore things up. That doesn’t mean Holani won’t be a factor, as the Seahawks have locked him in this year with a new contract. They like George—just not as an RB1.
NOW THAT’S HOW YOU DEBUT
After a one-hour and 40-minute weather delay, Athletic Club Boise won its first game in franchise history last Saturday night, as Boise’s new pro soccer team took a 1-0 road victory over the Sarasota Paradise. On a crossing pass from Eagle’s Blake Bodily, Ukrainian midfielder Denys Kostyshyn scored in the 75th minute for the winning margin. Goalkeeper Joseph Andema was stellar, making key saves on Sarasota chances just before Boise’s goal and again in stoppage time. AC Boise doesn’t play again until March 22 at Union Omaha. That will be followed by their home debut April 4 against the Spokane Velocity.
LATE-SEASON TWEAKS FOR THE STEELIES
The Idaho Steelheads need to shore themselves up ahead of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, and to that end they acquired forward Jack Adams from the Orlando Solar Bears and traded defenseman Jaden Shields to the Rapid City Rush. Adams scored 11 goals with 24 assists in 47 games this season with Orlando. The Steelheads offense has not been the same without Brendan Hoffman, who’s been gone a month now but is still the team leader with 32 goals. Hoffman has played nine games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and has scored one goal with three assists. The Steelies have lost seven of their last 10 games going into their two-game series at Allen Friday and Saturday. Fifteen games remain in the regular season.
STUFF HAPPENS IN MARCH
Boise State women’s basketball fell victim to Cinderella Monday night. Ninth-seeded Air Force, which had shocked top-seeded San Diego State on Sunday, edged the Broncos 68-66 in a heartbreaker in the Mountain West Tournament semifinals—the day after they had won a 62-61 thriller over New Mexico. Boise State now crosses its fingers for the WNIT. Hopefully the Broncos’ 25-9 season has legs. In the women’s title game Tuesday night, the slipper didn’t fit the Falcons, and Colorado State won the crown 56-42.
A DOUBLE VANDAL WHAMMY?
The Idaho men’s and women’s hoops teams are both playing for NCAA Tournament berths today in Idaho Central Arena. The men made the Big Sky championship game against Montana late tonight by subduing Eastern Washington 81-68 Tuesday night. It was the Vandals’ 20th win of the season, their first 20-win campaign in eight years. And it’s been well-chronicled that Idaho hasn’t been to the Big Dance since 1990. The Vandals women continue to roll, having taken a 59-51 semifinal win over Sacramento State Tuesday. Idaho improved to 28-5 and will face Montana State for the championship this afternoon. (The Bobcats’ longtime coach is former Boise State women’s great Tricia Bader-Binford.)
CANYON COUNTY’S POSTSEASON
College of Idaho did receive an at-large invite to the NAIA Tournament after all. The defending champion Yotes will begin play Friday in the first round against William Penn of Iowa—in Orange City, Iowa. They’ll have to win twice there to get back to the nationals in Kansas City. It’s a much more difficult path than C of I is accustomed to. And amidst all the madness locally, we’ve gotta mention Northwest Nazarene men, who got an at-large berth in the NCAA Division II West Regional. The Nighthawks, 18-10, will face juggernaut Point Loma on Friday in Hayward, CA.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by THE JAMES…craft food and cocktails, with heart and soul.
March 11, 1986, 40 years ago today: The NFL adopts the instant replay review rule to begin on a limited basis during the 1986 season. The move established the replay official in the booth and concentrated on plays involving possession, sidelines, goal lines, end lines and the line of scrimmage. Instantly controversial, the rule was gone by 1992 after 10 percent of replay review rulings were deemed to be inaccurate. After seven seasons without reviews, the new replay system was instituted in 1999, giving coaches the ability to challenge calls on the field.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
