Air Force at Boise State men’s basketball series: How to watch, prediction, odds
For the second time in as many days, Boise State men’s basketball coach Leon Rice said he expects Arizona transfer Devonaire Doutrive to make his Bronco debut Wednesday at ExtraMile Arena.
Rice appeared on Jon Rothstein’s College Hoops Today Podcast on Monday and indicated that Doutrive had finally made it through all the red tape. Rice said as much again Tuesday when speaking to local reporters on a Zoom call.
“We anticipate having (Doutrive) tomorrow night,” Rice said Tuesday. “I hate not just being able to open up about things and speak the truth about all the situations these guys are in, but sometimes there’s privacy concerns and sometimes those kind of things, so I’m kind of bound by outside influences not to say anything. I always hate that.”
Rice emphasized that the 6-foot-5 junior guard’s delayed debut was not discipline-related.
The Broncos host Air Force in a two-game Mountain West series at 9 p.m. Wednesday (Fox Sports 1) and 6 p.m. Friday (WatchStadium.com) at ExtraMile Arena.
Doutrive played his last college basketball game for Arizona on Nov. 21, 2019. When he takes the court Wednesday night, he’ll have gone 412 days between games.
“It gives you another guy that can put tons of pressure on the defense by the way he can get into creases and cracks,” Rice said. “He can really, really shoot, too. He’s just another great offensive weapon, and with his athleticism, I anticipate him being another great defender.”
Update: Doutrive made his Boise State debut in Wednesday’s 78-59 win over Air Force.
NOTABLES
▪ The first NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings of the 2020-21 season were released Monday, and the Broncos were in prime position. The NET is used to help select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament, and based on Monday’s initial rankings, Boise State would be impossible to pass up. The Broncos checked in at No. 13, which was the highest ranking among Mountain West teams. Colorado State and San Diego State were the next highest among MW squads at Nos. 40 and 41, respectively. The NET rankings are updated daily.
▪ Rice was a guest on the College Hoops Today Podcast with Jon Rothstein this week. During the interview, Rothstein said: “I firmly believe that this year, with the way things are set up, we have a great chance to have a team other than Gonzaga who doesn’t play in a power conference, get to a Final Four. Could it be Saint Louis? Could it be a team like a San Diego State? Or could it be another team in the Mountain West Conference? One right now that has yet to lose a game at full strength? That’s Boise State.”
“That is the cart, literally, being put ahead of the horse there,” Rice said. “That’s a ways to go. We’ve gotta win the next one. We’ll see. So much can happen between now and then. Now, we’ve got some ability and we’ve been doing some good things.”
▪ In the latest Top 25 polls, Boise State received three votes in the Associated Press poll and 11 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll.
▪ Through Monday’s games, the Broncos were one of five teams in the country to rank among the Top 50 in both scoring defense (No. 20) and scoring offense (No. 47). Among their company? Second-ranked and unbeaten Baylor.
“They’re almost mutually exclusive. You can’t do both, really,” Rice said. “... We play fast and the faster the better, especially with this team. You like to have that and you like to have both numbers be great, but it’s really hard to do.”
▪ The NCAA announced its official plans Monday to host the entire 2021 men’s basketball tournament in Indiana. The tournament will be hosted by Ball State, Butler, the Horizon League, Indiana, IUPUI and Purdue. Practices will be held at the Indiana Convention Center. Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 14. The NCAA had already announced in mid-November its plans to hold the tournament at one geographic location, which meant ExtraMile Arena on the campus of Boise State would no longer host first- and second-round games in 2021 as originally planned.
▪ Boise State has won eight consecutive games for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The longest winning streak in school history is 10 games, a feat achieved by the Broncos’ 2015-16 and 1987-88 squads.
AIR FORCE AT BOISE STATE
When: 6 p.m. Friday
Where: ExtraMile Arena
Live stream: WatchStadium.com
Radio: KBOI 670 AM (Bob Behler, Abe Jackson)
Records: Boise State 9-1, 5-0 MW; Air Force 3-6, 1-4 MW
Series: Boise State leads 14-6
Last meeting: Boise State won 78-59 on Wednesday in Boise
Vegas line: Boise State by 18
KenPom rating: Boise State 72; Air Force 286
KenPom & ESPN predictions
Ken Pomeroy, who created the popular college basketball statistical website KenPom.com, ranks every Division I team using an adjusted efficiency margin, which Pomeroy defines as the difference between a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency.
According to Pomeroy’s detailed statistical analysis, Boise State has a 93% chance of beating Air Force. His score prediction is a 74-58 BSU victory.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index: Boise State has a 97.4% chance of winning with a predicted point differential of 22.
Note: All stats and rankings are through Monday’s games.
Women’s basketball: Loville honored by MW
Boise State junior guard Jade Loville was named the Mountain West Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Tuesday.
Loville averaged 26.5 points, five rebounds and three assists per game as the Broncos swept San Jose State and extended their winning streak to 13 straight games dating back to the end of the 2019-20 season. It is the fourth-longest active streak in the nation.
The Sammamish, Washington, native dropped a career-high 31 points on 52% shooting in the first game against the Spartans. She followed it up with 22 points in the series finale, including 10 points in the first 6 minutes. Loville played 76 of a possible 80 minutes in the two games.
The Broncos (5-0, 2-0 MW) hit the road for the first time this season for a two-game series at Air Force (2-5, 0-2). The games are scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday and 2:30 p.m. Friday. Both games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, which is available at BroncoSports.com/mwn. A live radio broadcast is available on 1350 AM.
Update: Boise State lost 76-52 to Air Force in Game 1.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 3:04 PM.
