Presented by MOUNTAIN WEST BANK.
Friday, March 21, 2014.
After spring scrimmage No. 1 yesterday, Boise State offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. zeroed in on Thomas Sperbeck as one player who was really standing out for the Broncos. If Sperbeck is going to be that kind of playmaker, then a big need will be fortified, because that’s what it’s all about. Behind Matt Miller and Shane Williams-Rhodes, Kirby Moore, Geraldo Boldewijn and Aaron Burks are gone now.
Moore was steady when healthy but was a possession receiver. Boldewijn and Burks were tremendous athletes but never quite made the “playmaker” category. You always got the feeling that Boldewijn was still trying to fully grasp American football right to the end. Burks was an early enrollee in 2009 but still redshirted. And he never reached the mountaintop. By mid-September last year, coaches thought enough of Sperbeck to play him as a true freshman—he logged five catches for 40 yards on the season.
Don’t discount the fact that Sperbeck is a coach’s son. Those guys have worked out pretty well for Boise State. The Broncos have one now at quarterback (Grant Hedrick)—and they had that other coach’s son at QB who played from 2008-11. Sperbeck’s dad, Marshall, has been head coach at Sacramento State since 2007. In fact Marshall Sperbeck was Nevada’s starting quarterback in 1981 and 1982 and played Boise State twice in grinders, with the Broncos winning 13-3 and 20-13.
Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates wasn’t gushing about his unit’s effort in the scrimmage. The offense may be getting a new system installed, but the defense has a bigger hill to climb after allowing 413 yards and almost 25 points per game in 2013. That was quite a fall-off. Coach Bryan Harsin was on the outside looking in last year and can only theorize on the reason for the slip. “The league is better—there’s better offenses,” Harsin said last week. “There were some pretty darn good quarterbacks in this conference, too. Derek Carr at Fresno is pretty good.” But Harsin doesn’t care so much why it happened. He wants to know what the Broncos are going to do about it. “That’s going to help them,” said Harsin. “It becomes, ‘What did you learn from it?’”
Former Idaho State star Jared Allen may be poised to come back to the West. One report yesterday said Allen and the Seattle Seahawks are close to a deal. Another said he’s going to mull it over this weekend and could still explore other opportunities. The 10th-year defensive end was said to be ready to walk away from football if he didn’t get what he thought was his true value on the open market, but somebody is likely to pony up. Allen, the Buck Buchanan Award winner with ISU in 2003, registered 11½ sacks for the Minnesota Vikings in 2013, 12 in 2012 and 22 in 2011.
The first full day of the NCAA Tournament did not disappoint. In the last game of the night, San Diego State let New Mexico State off the hook in the final minute and let things go to overtime in a 60-60 deadlock. The WAC champions had never led. With only two teams in the tournament, Mountain West pride hung in the balance. The Aztecs did just enough in OT, getting by NMSU, 73-69. Next up for the MW regular season champion is one of the round of 32 Cinderellas, North Dakota State.
Just as important as New Mexico’s formidable front that includes Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk is the experience the Lobos bring to their NCAA Tournament matchup with Stanford today. UNM is appearing in the tournament for the third straight year, while the Cardinal are in for the first time in six seasons. The Lobos are trying to atone for their shocking loss to Harvard in the round of 64 last year, when they were a No. 3 seed and a popular darkhorse pick for the Final Four. Gonzaga, with former Skyview High star Kyle Dranginis coming off the bench, is a No. 8 seed and takes on a tricky No. 9 this afternoon, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are a popular bracket pick.
The Idaho Stampede meet up with their old Continental Basketball Association brethren this weekend, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The two teams play tonight and tomorrow night, just as they did the night the Stampede were born in November, 1997. With the Big Dance in full force, here’s a local tie-in off the Stamps’ roster. Derrick Caracter was playing for Louisville when Boise State met the Cardinals in the 2008 NCAA Tournament in Birmingham. Caracter went 4-for-4 from the field and scored nine points in Louisville’s 79-61 win over the Broncos. He would later transfer to UTEP and finished his career with the Miners. In 18 games with the Stampede this season, Caracter is averaging 11 points and six rebounds per game.
The Boise State women’s basketball team won its opener in the WBI last night, edging Grand Canyon 52-51 in Phoenix with Yaiza Rodriguez Ortego hitting the ultimate winning bucket with 1:39 left. The Broncos made 14 steals in the game, with the resultant extra possessions making the difference. BSU moves on to the quarterfinals tomorrow night at Stephen F. Austin. The Idaho women play their first round game in the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon against Louisville in Iowa City, IA.
The Idaho Steelheads run into another hot netminder—albeit one they’re familiar with—when they play at Utah tomorrow night. The Grizzlies’ Igor Bobkov was the ECHL Goaltender of the Month for February (the Surgut, Russia, native had a better month than his countrymen in the Olympics). Bobkov went 7-1 with a 2.17 goals-against average and had a save percentage of .919 in eight appearances during February. Will the Steelheads counter with the newly-returned Josh Robinson? He has been reassigned from the AHL’s Texas Stars to the Steelies for the third time this season.
Despite a pair of wins last weekend, the Boise State men’s tennis team dropped to No. 23 in the rankings this week. Coach Greg Patton knows they’ve just gotta control what they can control, and three matches lie ahead this weekend at the Appleton Center. The Broncos host Marquette tomorrow morning, then play doubles against Montana tomorrow night and singles versus the Grizzlies Sunday morning. The biggest match of all comes Sunday afternoon when Boise State faces it prime Mountain West rival, Fresno State. Patton promises “more drama than all the TV networks collaboratively could put together.” That’s serious.
Boise State senior Jake Swartz won each of his first two matches at the NCAA Wrestling Championships yesterday in Oklahoma City, advancing to the quarterfinals at 184 pounds. Senior heavyweight J.T. Felix won his first match, but lost in the second round. None of the Bronco women competing at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Minneapolis yesterday came close to placing. On campus, the Boise State softball team opens Mountain West play with a crucial three-game series against Fresno State at Dona Larson Park.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by HANDYMAN CONNECTION…trusted home improvements.
March 21, 1964, 50 years ago today: UCLA coach John Wooden wins the first of his 10 national championships with a 98-83 win over Duke in the NCAA title game. The Bruins were led by tournament MVP Walt Hazzard. Wooden and UCLA would take nine more crowns over the next 11 years. Then the Bruins would go 20 years before getting another—that would be in 1995, when Tyus Edney’s coast-to-coast drive with four seconds left against Missouri in the BSU Pavilion launched their title run under Jim Harrick.
(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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