Earning an at-large bid for the 2023 NCAA men's tourney, the Boise State Broncos have been given a ripe opportunity to advance in the West Region.
For the second straight season, the Mountain West Conference landed four teams in the men's NCAA tournament. If they hope to keep receiving multiple at-large bids in future seasons, chances are they'll need to pick up a win or two in the 2023 tourney.
The Boise State Broncos would love to be one of those teams to accomplish that feat.
Boise State (24-9) is back for the second year in a row, earning an at-large bid this season, a year after winning both the Mountain West regular season and conference tournament. After bowing out as an 8-seed in an opening round 64-53 loss to the Memphis Tigers in the 2022 NCAA tourney, the Broncos will try to accomplish a list of firsts this time around, as a 10-seed in the West region.
The Broncos will be looking for their first win (0-8) in the NCAA tourney and first ever win against a Big Ten program (0-9). Head coach Leon Rice, too, will be looking for that first win (0-3) as a head coach in the Big Dance.
The Nevada Wolf Pack began play for the Mountain West with a First Four game on Wednesday, losing to Arizona State 98-73. Boise State will be the last of the Mountain West teams to begin action, with no. 10-seed Utah State and no. 5-seed San Diego State, both in the South region, opening play earlier in the day on Thursday.
Boise State Broncos vs Northwestern Wildcats. March 16. 7:35 pm (ET) in Sacramento, on truTV.
Boise State Broncos
Losers in three of their last five games, Boise State aims to right the ship after a disappointing close to the regular season and conference tournament
The Broncos reached the semifinals. In both of their conference tourney games, the Broncos had excellent first-halves followed by abysmal second-halves. A combination of cold-shooting and fatigue did them in both games. While they were able to survive a quarterfinal overtime victory over the UNLV Rebels, success could not be found in a semifinal loss to Utah State.
Boise State rolls with a rotation of seven players. Off the bench, Jace Whiting and Lukas Milner handle the majority minutes. Both had decent showings in the conference tournament. But, the Broncos could stand to see solid two to three minute spurts, in both halves, from players deeper down the bench if they hope to win on Thursday. Easing the load of the five starters, who have played a lot of high-usage minutes all season, is a must.
All five averaged double-digits in the points column. Each could lead the team in scoring on any given night, with Tyson Degenhart (14.3) and Max Rice (13.9) leading the way. Degenhart shoots 53.7 percent from the field, with Rice knocking down 41.5 percent of his three-point attempts.
Chibuzo Agbo (11.5) also shoots well from deep at 40.8 percent, while Marcus Shaver Jr. is consistent across the board, averaging 13.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
These starters also share the burden on the boards, with all averaging 4.6 or more. Shaver is tops, followed by Naje Smith's 5.5 (to go along with 10.1 points). Smith is coming off a Mountain West tournament where he scored 32 points on 9-16 shooting (4-7 from deep) and collected 10 rebounds.
The Broncos are fairly matched across the board with Northwestern, in terms of stats and style of play (with Boise State holding an edge in many categories). Boise State shoots 45.5 percent from the field (36.5 percent 3-point attempts) and 73.5 percent from the free throw line.
The Broncos grab 35.6 rebounds per game, compared to 34.6 by Northwestern.
This game will likely be a defensive-minded affair. Boise State has proven to be a good perimeter defensive team and should see this continue against a Wildcat team that doesn't shoot all that well from deep. With similar styles between the teams, a game in the high-50s or low-60s will likely be on the agenda.
A 7-seed in the West region, the Northwestern Wildcats (21-11) return to the NCAA tournament for only the second time in program history.
The Wildcats won a game back in the 2017 tournament and enter this season's edition having finished tied for second place in the Big Ten conference.
Northwestern, like Boise State, enters the tournament on somewhat of a down note. The Wildcats have lost four of five, including an early exit to Penn State in the conference tournament. Two of their last four losses have been to Penn State, by a combined five points, and a third was to Illinois by four.
A win over Purdue, no. 1 in the East region, is on Northwestern's resume, along with two victories over the Indiana Hoosiers. One of their more glaring losses was a 29-point loss to Pittsburgh, who picked up a First Four victory over Mississippi State on Tuesday night.
Auburn also defeated Northwestern earlier this season, 43-42.
Northwestern averages 67.7 points per game but has only reached the 70-point mark once in their last 11 games. They defend well, holding opponents to 62.5 points, nearly two points under what Boise State allows.
The Wildcats shoot 40.6 percent from the field (32.1 from three-point range) and hit 75.1 percent of their free throw attempts.
Boise State will have to contend with a first-team all-conference selection in Boo Buie. Buie is adept at getting into the paint and to the line, averaging 17.1 points per game. Like Shaver, Buie can fill up the box score, averaging 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
Northwestern also has the Big Ten defensive player of the year in Chase Audige, who averages 2.4 steals per game. Audige is also the team's second-leading scorer, chipping in 13.8.
The Wildcats have four other players scoring between six and nine points per game but they won't dig too much deeper into the bench than Boise State.
West region outlook
The Kansas Jayhawks (27-7) hold the no. 1 seed in the West region and, on paper, a good choice from this region to reach the Final Four. The Jayhawks won 9 of their last 11, with both losses coming to Texas.
By no means do this mean it will be a cakewalk for the Jayhawks.
UCLA (29-5), 2nd-seed, and Gonzaga (28-5), the third-seed are both playing well. The Bulldogs are a bit more under-the radar than in previous seasons, in terms of national title contenders. They boast All-American Drew Timme and enter the tournament on a nine-game winning streak.
The Bruins enter the tournament hobbled but could get Adem Bona, who was injured in the PAC-12 conference tournament, back in the lineup this weekend. Plus, they have experience in Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell.
The winner between Boise State and Northwestern will take on either the Bruins or UNC-Asheville on Saturday.
Underdog teams to keep an eye on in West region: TCU (6), VCU (12), Iona (13)
photo credit: rawpixel
Comments