There was a bus, one of those nice luxury rides, waiting outside in the parking lot, more than ready to take the Boise State basketball team on a two-hour joyride from Dayton to Indianapolis.
It never happened.
There was a potential meeting, an opportunity to play the biggest game in school history, in Indianapolis on Friday, against the Florida Gators.
It won’t happen.
Mike Prater
Boise State’s once-promising season is over with a sudden thud – the Broncos lost Wednesday night and will fly home Thursday to contemplate another lost opportunity, another loss in the NCAA Tournament, another offseason of angst, skepticism and a search for better days ahead.
Colorado won 60-53 in Dayton.
Boise State is 0-10 in the NCAA Tournament.
Today, sadly, it’s beyond painful to be a Boise State basketball fan.
That overnight bus ride from Dayton to Indianapolis would have been a beauty, 120 miles of pure joy and wild celebrations for a tight basketball family that worked so hard all season, but in the end, just wasn’t good enough with the most basic element of basketball: Shooting.
A journey that started 48 years ago with Boise State’s first loss in the NCAA Tournament will continue at least one more year. Brutal. Painful. Depressing.
All because grown men on college basketball scholarships couldn’t make enough shots.
Boise State missed 16-of-18 shots from 3-point range.
Boise State missed 21 layups.
Boise State overall shot 34 percent.
Boise State, despite all its momentum of this season, tied its program low for most points ever scored in a NCAA game.
Head coach Leon Rice – now 0-3 in First Four games in Dayton – walked away from the post-game handshake line with his head hanging low.
Assistant coach Tim Duryea, the team’s offensive coordinator, was sent to do Rice’s dirty work on the KBOI postgame radio show: Duryea said that he’s never seen a college basketball team miss so many “point blank shots … We just didn’t convert anything.’’
He’s being accurate.
His players were not.
Boise State looked ready at the start, but not really. There was intensity in the building. You knew Boise State – “disrespected’’ by the NCAA Selection Committee – was going to play strong defense and rebound, and it did, for the most part.
But the offense … well, it was offensive, which has become a Boise State tradition in big games, postseason games, games that matter. Boise State has averaged 59.8 points in five tournament losses under Leon Rice. In those five losses, the Broncos have shot 38.7 percent.
This time, O’Mar Stanley, who at least finished with 11 rebounds, missed the Broncos’ first shot of the game, in the paint.
Max Rice, playing his 160th and final game at Boise State, missed the Broncos’ second shot, a 3-point bomb from nowhere. He finished with two points.
Rough night for father and son, with mom and two brothers also in attendance.
“Max has done some great things, but to go out 1-for-9, that’s going to eat at him the rest of his life,’’ Leon said. “I know how he is because it means everything to him. So in that way it’s really hard.’’
Tyson Degenhart, the leading scorer this season at 17 points a game, finished with six after getting skunked in the first half. He scored the first points of the second half, quickly missed his second shot, and never found a rhythm.
Big-man Cam Martin finished with 10 points in his final college game, including a sweet tip-in that made it a 43-43 game.
The Broncos, because of their defense and because Colorado really isn’t that good, led 49-45 with 271 seconds remaining to crush a 48-year drought.
Colorado outscored Boise State 15-4 over those final 271 seconds.
The Buffs got the job done – and the joyride to Indianapolis.
The Broncos were outplayed – and got sent home to a frustrated fan base.
“Tough, tough, tough loss that we’ll have trouble with for the rest of our lives,’’ Leon Rice said.
Last year, after that first-round loss to Northwestern, Rice made his infamous “super team’’ comment. He stayed away from such nonsense this time – was a bit more modest, but still more than positive about the direction of his program.
“You hate to move on and turn the page, and I’m not ready to do that, but there’s always – the program’s growing every year. And that’s what we’re proud of,’’ he said. “The next step is to make a big run, and we’ll get there. … It’s coming.’’
Which is code for: What’s going to happen next season?
Screw that.
Right now, like most of you, I have no interest in talking about next season.
The 0-for-10 stigma is too fresh, too ugly – and too painful.
Mike Prater is the Bronco Nation News columnist who co-hosts Idaho Sports Talk (KTIK 95.3 FM on Monday-Friday from 3-6 p.m.) and the Boise State football postgame show (KBOI 670 AM). He is on Twitter @MikeFPrater and can be reached at mikefprater@gmail.com
Turnover at 49-45 was back breaking. Mass exodus at Stanford, get one of those guys.