Leon Rice could have opened the season with a few easy games to help get his players some confidence and start the year off with wins.
In fact that’s what the rest of the Mountain West did.
But Rice, knowing that playing harder opponents early in the season can pay off later – even if they lose – wasn’t afraid to schedule a pair of tough games right out of the gate.
After a 68-66 loss to South Dakota State on Wednesday, the Broncos now up the competition even more with a 5 p.m. game at Idaho Central Arena in downtown Boise against Washington State.
“Everyone else in our league – nobody played anybody above 150 (in the KenPom rankings),” Rice said. “It makes you better. It’s the preseason for a reason – to get better. In the long run it will help us.
“That’s why we scheduled these two games. There’s going to be a lot of dividends. They are both good resume opportunities, and they get you better. We’re trying to win the league.”
It’s a tough debate – schedule easier to start and get on a roll or test your team early and potentially risk taking a loss or two. For Rice, he went with the latter.
“We have a lot to figure out with this team and we will, but sometimes it takes time,” Rice said. “And when you are playing lesser opponents you can mask your (issues) and you can win those games a little easier.”
Boise State topped Washington State last year in Spokane, 58-52, in a competitive neutral-court game. The teams agreed to do a similar game at a ‘neutral court’ in Boise this year.
“You’ve got two really good teams and two teams that are hungry and going to compete,” Rice said. “Last years game was a great game.”
For fans frustrated with the game being downtown and not at ExtraMile Arena – and not part of the season ticket package – Rice said it was the only way the game could happen.
“WSU wouldn’t come here. They aren’t playing us (at ExtraMile),” Rice said. “We don’t have the game. It’s just no. They aren’t coming. For us to get the game, it had to go down there.”
Two other benefits: the game will help fund Boise State’s Academic-Achievement Fund, which rewards players with educationally-related benefits, and it being a ‘neutral site’ game helps with the computer rankings more than had the game been at ExtraMile Arena.
“We want those fans to understand that,” Rice said. “We’d bring everybody to ExtraMile if we could get them, but they have to agree to it. And it’s getting harder and harder to do that because the Power 5 leagues are playing more and more league games, so the Power 5s don’t play road games anymore. They don’t. There’s none. Those games are hard to get so to get a Power 5 here in Boise, it’s going to happen less and less.”
Boise State is looking to rebound after a tough loss to South Dakota State last Wednesday in which Tyson Degenhart and Marcus Shaver Jr. went 0-7 from 3-point range, starter Chibuzo Agbo fouled out in 10 minutes and didn’t score and the Broncos gave up the winning bucket with 1.3 seconds left.
The Broncos dealt with fatigue and sloppy play at times, something they hope to improve upon against the Cougars.
“Mistakes that are so simple to fix,” Rice said. “The good thing is a lot of the stuff is correctable. But the problem is we have to fix them in a hurry because we play a really good team tomorrow.”
The game will be televised on the Mountain West Network. Bronco Nation News will have the Lithia Ford of Boise Pregame Show around 4 p.m. on our YouTube channel.