LAS VEGAS - Boise State men's basketball coach Leon Rice said he won't be watching the scoreboard this week - he did that as a Gonzaga assistant a few years ago, and the team he needed to lose pulled out a win.
"I'm not going to watch," Rice said.
That doesn't necessarily mean his players won't.
The Broncos (21-10) will find out at 4 p.m. Sunday whether they are in the field of 68 in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in school history, and first as an at-large team. The program is in this position for the first time, and its players may not find themselves anxiously waiting to hear their name. Some will be paying attention to other bubble teams.
"Now we're going to have to watch closely, unfortunately, hope nobody steals an automatic bid," junior guard Jeff Elorriaga said. "We're happy to be in this position, and I just hope to hear our name called Sunday."
Rice stumped for his team after Wednesday's loss to San Diego State, pointing out tough road games in nonconference play, and the fact the Broncos play in the toughest conference, according to the NCAA's RPI rankings.
"I think if you look at our résumé with four top-50 wins, I think we played 16 top-100 games, we went out and played people," Rice said. "We played people in the preseason, played on the road, at Michigan State, at Creighton.
"We did all that we could do. I think the committee really views that. Did you go out and schedule? Did you play a lot of high-level teams? There's some other teams they're talking about getting in that have one top-50 win. I think ours stands up."
