The Boise State men’s basketball team opens the season Tuesday night against Vanguard at ExtraMile Arena at 7 p.m. The Broncos were picked to finish second in the Mountain West behind San Diego State.
Here are five storylines to watch early in the season:
POINT GUARD PLAY
Boise State appears to have two capable point guards in returner Jace Whiting and UC San Diego transfer Roddie Anderson as they look to replace mainstay Marcus Shaver Jr. Who will start? It could change as the season goes on.
Anderson led all Big West freshman in scoring with 15.8 points per game in conference play last season and had at least 20 points in each of his final three games. He started 27 games as a freshman and was seen as a strong addition to the Boise State roster.
Whiting returned from an LDS mission to play in 33 games as a true freshman last season and even made five starts. He averaged 3.1 points per game as Shaver’s backup, but looked much improved during the 3-game Foreign Tour to Canada this summer.
“Both of them have proven they are worthy of playing,” Rice said. “You saw that 2-3 months ago (in Canada) and they are both getting better. You knows (who will start) but I do know both of them are going to play. … and there will hopefully be times we can play them together because they are a lot different.”
Rice joked the Broncos have “a 2-quarterback system” at point guard and said he expects both of them to have major roles.
“(Jace) got quality experience last year and Roddie got quality experience,” Rice said. “Now we need those two to be leaders and point guards at a Mountain West level.”
NEWCOMERS AT CENTER
Another intriguing position battle is at center, where transfers Cam Martin (Kansas) and O’Mar Stanley (St. Johns) are competing for minutes. The Broncos also plan to play the two together at times.
Martin is more of an outside shooter, while Stanley is a rebounder and inside player who can score around the basket.
“Those two are a lot different,” Rice said. “What they bring to the table is a lot different. One is 25 years old (Martin) and what you see from him Tuesday to the end of the year, you’re going to see a guy that gets a lot better because he really hasn’t played in 900 days.”
Martin was a Division II All-American and averaged 25 points per game at Missouri Southern before transferring to Kansas, where he redshirted on the National Championship team in 2022 and was limited to four games last season due to injury.
Stanley averaged 15.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in Canada, while the 6-foot-9 Martin averaged 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 67 percent from 3-point range.
DEGENHART’S IMPROVED SHOOTING
Tyson Degenhart should see his shooting numbers increase this season with him not having to play on the interior as much. Degenhart, who was forced to play center and guard the opposing teams post players for much of last season, struggled from the outside as a result. He shot just 32.8 percent from 3-point range.
Degenhart has slimmed down with the move to the perimeter and should see his shooting numbers improve.
“People have no idea how good of a shooter that guy is,” Rice said. “Last year he was doing 400 pound squats and then we’re saying go do a finesse shot. He was doing all of our heavy lifting last year and I think it affected his 3-point shot a little bit.”
Degenhart, a preseason All-Mountain West First Team selection, led the Broncos in scoring at 14.1 points per game last season. He’s questionable for Tuesday’s game at Vanguard due to a facial injury, but is expected to play Sunday against San Francisco.
BENCH DEPTH IS BETTER
One strength for the Broncos this season appears to be their depth. One of Anderson or Whiting won’t start, and either Martin or Stanley likely won’t start as well. Throw in freshman Andrew Meadow and returner RJ Keene and the Broncos can easily go nine deep this season. Others including Kobe Young could have roles off the bench as well.
The hope is that Boise State won’t have to ride its starters 35-plus minutes a game like they did for much of last year. Even resting Max Rice or Degenhart for an extra minute or two per game could pay off.
“We’ve got a great nucleus of veterans backed up by a great nucleus of young guys,” Rice said. “And I trust them. They’ve earned my trust.”
Rice said he’ll play those who deserve to play – but ultimately the best five will play the most as the Broncos look to ‘accomplish the mission’ each night.
“In the end every person that comes into this arena and every player on this team wats to win,” Rice said. “And if I’m not doing everything I can to help them win, whether that’s playing guys for 40 minutes or subbing a guy, whatever that is, we have to figure that out.”
BRUTAL EARLY SEASON SCHEDULE
Boise State needs to get off to a better start in November than it has in each of the two previous seasons. The Broncos are 8-6 in the opening month the past two years, including two devastating Quad 4 losses, but from December on the Broncos are 43-12 with no Q3 or Q4 losses. Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal pointed this stat out in his Mountain West preview earlier this week.
And Boise State has one of its hardest nonconference schedules in recent memory. After Tuesday’s opener against Vanguard, the Broncos will play seven straight games against teams ranked in the Top 100 at KenPom. Sunday’s 2 p.m. game against San Francisco (No. 92) will be a sneaky tough test, followed by games at Clemson (No. 43) and against Virginia Tech (No. 59) in the opening round of the ESPN Events Invitational.
As of now Northwestern State (No. 335) is the only Division I team outside the top 175 at KenPom on Boise State’s schedule.
