‘We’re going to keep growing.’ Boise State focused on fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid
This was supposed to be the Broncos’ year.
The Boise State men’s basketball team hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game in 10 all-time trips, but this year felt different. It felt like the Broncos were finally going to win on college basketball’s biggest stage and soak in the national respect that has slipped through their fingers time and time again.
It’s difficult to pinpoint one reason this year felt different. Maybe it was the program’s ever-growing history of success. Boise State won more than 20 games for the fifth straight season and made the tournament in three consecutive years for the first time in program history.
Maybe it has something to do with all the experience the Broncos put on the court this year.
Leading scorer Tyson Degenhart, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2021-22, was named first-team all-conference for the second year in a row. Sixth-year senior Max Rice moved into the top 10 in conference history in career wins, and he may have saved the Broncos’ season with his late 3-point heave that helped Boise State beat San Diego State in the regular-season finale.
Maybe this year felt different because of how well the Broncos’ new pieces gelled with the veterans.
Chibuzo Agbo, who transferred from Texas Tech last season, was the hottest shooter on the court at times. Point guard Roddie Anderson III brought a defensive intensity with him from UC San Diego. O’Mar Stanley was the post presence the team so desperately needed, and seventh-year senior Cam Martin overcame an injury to give the Broncos some valuable minutes down the stretch.
This year felt like the Broncos’ “One Shining Moment,” but no matter how different it felt, the result was the same.
Boise State hung with Colorado in the First Four, but costly turnovers and an anemic offensive performance sent the Broncos home early with a 60-53 loss. The program is now 0-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 0-5 under head coach Leon Rice. The team also lost in its first game of the Mountain West Tournament this year.
“Like I told these guys, it doesn’t minimize what they accomplished this year, and we’re going to break through, because when you keep knocking on the door, then eventually you get the seed you deserve, and you get the matchup,” Rice said Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio.
The Broncos have struggled offensively in all five of their tournament appearances under Rice. The most points they’ve scored in an NCAA Tournament game was in an 80-71 loss to La Salle in 2013. They managed just 55 against Dayton in 2015, 53 against Memphis in 2022 and 67 against Northwestern last season. Their 53 points against the Buffaloes was a season-low effort this year.
Degenhart, Max Rice and Stanley combined to score just 12 points against Colorado, and the Broncos shot just 34% from the floor. Despite the lack of production from its stars, Boise State had the lead with less than four minutes to play, but the season still ended in heartbreaking fashion.
“This was a really, really tough draw and then a tough, tough loss that we’ll have trouble with for the rest of our lives,” Leon Rice said. “When you have a good team, that’s the way it is. There’s a lot of things we’ve got to keep upgrading and we’ll keep moving forward.”
The future is bright
Leon Rice is optimistic about the future because of what the Broncos have coming back next season and the players who have been waiting for their chance to make a tournament run.
Degenhart, Stanley, Agbo and Anderson are all expected to return. There’s a chance Agbo could test the waters in the NBA Draft, but he still has a year of eligibility left because of COVID-19. Degenhart could also declare for the draft, but he’s been a critical building block for this program, and it’s hard to imagine him not coming back for another shot at a NCAA Tournament win.
Neither Agbo’s nor Degenhart’s name appears on any projected NBA Draft list. The draft is only two rounds.
The only players the Broncos are certain of losing are Max Rice and Martin, both of whom have exhausted their college eligibility. There is always the possibility of players hitting the transfer portal, but if four of this year’s five starters return, it’s hard to imagine next season not being another good one.
The Broncos also have reinforcements on the way. Six-foot-4 guard Chris Lockett Jr. redshirted this year. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana after averaging 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals a game as a senior at Isadore Newman High. He led the program to back-to-back state titles and a 52-7 record in his final two seasons.
The Broncos also have another post player ready to hit the court next year. Emmanuel Ugbo, a 6-8 forward from the Netherlands, was deemed ineligible to play by the NCAA this season, but he and Stanley could be a dangerous one-two punch in the paint next year. He averaged 14.2 points and 7.1 rebounds a game for his club team in 2022-23.
Boise State also got valuable minutes out of freshman Andrew Meadow and redshirt sophomore RJ Keene this season, and 6-3 Pocatello point guard Julian Bowie signed his letter of intent in November. He was named the 4A All-Idaho Player of the Year in 2022-23 after averaging 29.7 points a game during the state tournament, and he could give the Broncos another scorer off the bench next season.
“We’re going to keep growing,” Leon Rice said. “That’s always our thing, keep growing this program. This offseason is huge for that. The players that we have, we’re going to continue to build on, and with the players we have coming, there will be some great ones. You just have to keep fighting and get better every day.”
It’s hard to imagine Boise State not getting its fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid, but the Broncos will never earn the national respect that Mountain West member San Diego State has earned until they can win in the Big Dance.
This story was originally published March 22, 2024 at 11:42 AM.
