BOISE – Less than two weeks after losing to Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Boise State men’s basketball team has already hit the transfer portal to add to its roster for next season.
The Broncos landed a commitment from UC San Diego transfer point guard Roddie Anderson III on Tuesday. Anderson III averaged 13.1 points, 3.6 assists and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman this past season and was named Big West Freshman of the Year by HoopsHD.com.
Anderson, a 6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Huntington Beach, Calif., scored at least 20 points in each of the final three games of the season for UC San Diego and had three 25-point efforts in the final 12 games.
Boise State was in search of a starting point guard with the departure of Marcus Shaver Jr., and the comparisons are strong. Anderson ironically had a nearly identical stat line (Shaver Jr. averaged 13.6 points and 3.8 assists last season) and is listed as the same height and five pounds heavier than Shaver Jr.
Anderson III needs to improve his outside shot and overall shooting percentage, although he did finish with better numbers from the field (39.4 percent) and 3-point range (29.8 percent) than Shaver Jr. had last season.
According to research from KTVB’s Jay Tust, Anderson was one of just three freshman nationally to average at least 13 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
A Twitter report last week said Anderson had heard from Arkansas, Utah, Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State and UMass in addition to Boise State.
Both his parents were athletes at Utah State, with his dad Roddie playing basketball and his mom Kelly playing softball.
With Anderson in the fold the Broncos will turn their attention to landing a starting center. Boise State also would like to add additional players at the guard/wing position and in the post.
Burke Smith already entered the transfer portal for the Broncos, and other seldom-used reserves including Mo Sylla and Pavle Kuzmanovic would seem like candidates to leave as well.
The Broncos went 24-10 last season and finished in second place in the Mountain West but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
Boise State is currently set to lose Shaver Jr., Naje Smith, Lukas Milner and Smith from last year’s team. The Broncos are hoping to significantly improve the overall talent and depth heading into next season – and adding Anderson is a nice start.
