No choice but to win the WAC
Boise State’s stated goal this season is to make the NCAA Tournament, a place the Broncos haven’t been in 14 years. RPI ratings make it painfully clear that there’s only one way to get there—for anyone in the WAC. Following up on my Sunday Sports Extra segment this week, it really doesn’t matter if you win or lose week-to-week in the WAC from here on out, as long as you’re in the upper echelon of the conference, and as along as you have some kind of momentum the first week of March. Because the WAC is going to get only one team into the Big Dance. You’ve gotta win the WAC Tournament.
It’ll be just the second time it’s happened since the Mountain West split off from the WAC. With the highest-ranked team from the league at No. 81 in the RPI, that’s just the way it is. No matter who wins the conference tourney in Las Cruces in March, there won’t be anyone else ranked high enough to warrant an at-large berth to the NCAA’s. The WAC is accustomed to being the ninth or 10th-rated conference in Division I; this week it’s No. 18, and that’s a season-high. That’s thanks to the league’s sorry performance in non-conference games—57-59 this season compared to 64-49 a year ago. The only WAC victory over a Top 25 team was Boise State’s upset of BYU a month ago.
Boise State is No. 124 in RPI ratings. So why is the Wolf Pack 43 spots ahead of the Broncos in the RPI when BSU dominated Nevada in Reno 10 days ago? I’m not sure. BSU, now 15-5, had a bad loss at home to Loyola Marymount, but it also had the victory over BYU. Nevada’s worst loss was a two-pointer on the road at San Jose State. That wasn’t as bad as the Broncos’ Loyola meltdown, but the Pack, now 12-7, doesn’t have a win that stacks up to BSU’s conquest of BYU. Utah State is in between BSU and Nevada at No. 104. The next indicator of the WAC’s appeal, or lack thereof, will be how many TV games it gets in ESPN’s Bracket Buster in three weeks. It could even be zero—the Wolf Pack, Aggies, and Broncos are on the bubble.
All we know about Boise State’s Jeremy Childs right now is what the Statesman appears to have dug up: that, according to his brother, the sophomore wide receiver will be suspended from school for spring semester. Childs will be able to return to the team this summer, the brother says, after being punished for plagiarism. However this plays out, Childs will certainly hear about it in visiting venues during the 2008 season. You can start with Oregon in September. Have you read about the “welcome” UCLA’s Kevin Love received from the Ducks’ student section last Thursday? There won’t be that kind of passion for Childs, but those guys are going to do their homework.
If it’s all true, and Childs is gone from spring football, the rest of the wideout corps will want to take advantage of various opportunities. Austin Pettis and Titus Young can stake claims as go-to guys, just in case Childs doesn’t rejoin the team this summer. Vinny Perretta is no doubt anxious to reestablish himself as a starter after being sidelined for the remainder of the 2007 season in September with a shoulder injury. Julian Hawkins would like to be more than just a solid role player as a senior. Tanyon Bissell and Toshi Franklin are also going to be seniors this year and have one last shot at being key ingredients in the Bronco offense.
While the hype slowly builds for Super Bowl XLII Sunday, the NFL’s 30 other teams begin their posturing for the 2008 season. Fruitland’s Jordan Gross had another solid season for Carolina, a team that, well, didn’t have such a solid season at 7-9. The Sporting News says the team wants to hang onto its feature performers. “With left tackle Travelle Wharton and right tackle Jordan Gross both potential free agents, it’s likely the Panthers will keep only one of them,” writes TSN. “Gross is the first priority, which means the team could have a hole at left tackle. The Panthers may consider moving Gross to the left side, a spot he has played in the past, and pursue a cheaper right tackle.” Gross has started every game of his five-year NFL career since coming out of Utah as a first round draft pick in 2003. He said on Idaho SportsTalk he’ll likely be back.
Idaho Steelheads coach Derek Laxdal looks like he’s made all the right moves lately in this season of constant player upheaval. First you have goalie Matt Zaba, who’s now 4-0 after shutting down Stockton last night in Qwest Arena, 4-1. Zaba, acquired January 11 from the New York Rangers organization, had 22 saves and was riding a shutout until a Thunder power play goal with less than 7½ minutes left in the game. Then you have rookie defenseman Ethan Graham, who notched his first goal as a Steelhead to open the scoring, and left wing Bill Kinkel, who tallied his second since joining the team the first of the year. The Steelies and Thunder tangle again tonight—the visit from Stockton is its first to Boise since losing to Idaho in the Kelly Cup quarterfinals last spring.
Would you believe…the Idaho Stampede’s roster is now 25 percent NBA? Sonics forward Mikhael Gelabale yesterday became the third NBA assignee on the current Stampede squad. The 25-year-old from Guadeloupe has a lot more NBA experience than Mouhamed Sene or Josh McRoberts, but Gelabale’s not playing as much this season as he did a year ago for Seattle. He’s appeared in 24 games, averaging 2½ points—last season he played in 70 games and scored 4.6 per game for the Sonics. Gelabale hasn’t played in Seattle’s last five games, hence the trip to Boise to get court time. Friday night the Stampede seek to become the first D-League team to reach 20 wins this season—and to tie the league’s all-time record winning streak at 15 games—when they host Bakersfield in Qwest Arena.
This Day In Sports…January 30, 2004:
The Mountain West Conference extends—and TCU accepts—an invitation to join the league in 2005. It was a disappointing day for Boise State, which had hoped to be included in the Mountain West’s expansion. Commissioner Craig Thompson said the conference’s expansion talks will “at least pause, or cease”, while BSU president Bob Kustra tried to mobilize the money it will take to make the school a viable candidate in the future.
(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 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)
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