Broncos banking on luck changing
Editor’s note: This is the seventh in an 11-part series previewing UNM men’s basketball opponents for the coming season. The series includes articles and capsules on all Mountain West opponents published in the reverse order of the league’s preseason poll and concludes with capsules for each nonconference opponent.
Six consecutive 20-win seasons from 2013-18.
Four consecutive top-three finishes in the Mountain West, including a co-championship in 2015.
The Boise State Broncos quietly made the case as arguably the most consistent contender in the Mountain West Conference under head coach Leon Rice from the 2012-13 to 2017-18 seasons.
Then came last season.
The Broncos finished 13-20 (7-11 in league play), had a stretch of losing eight out of nine games and lost six in a row at one point.
So, after that long run of success, they were just due to have a dud of a season, right?
Not so fast. The team actually was far more competitive than the record showed, going 1-9 in games decided by three points or fewer or in overtime, and it lost 10 games in which it held the lead at halftime.
“It seemed like 10,000 (games),” Rice said last month at the MWC media summit, where his Broncos were picked to finish fifth in a preseason media poll.
Four starters and six players are back for the Broncos, including preseason All-MWC pick Derrick Alston Jr., a 6-foot-9 guard, and potential all-league guard Justinian Jessup. Rice is optimistic last season’s experience will pay dividends.
“We tell these guys, and we talk about it a lot, every team goes through a Death Valley,” Rice said. “Every year, every team does. Sometimes it might be two games. Sometimes three games. A month, maybe. Sometimes it might be the whole season. But when you come out of that at the other side, you’re better for it. You learn a lot. You’re hungrier. You’re appreciative of how tough it is to win games. I’ve got a group of guys, they get it.”
While Rice insists he is confident his players are better today because of what they went through last season, what did the coach learn from it?
“That games were 40 minutes and they should have been 39,” Rice said.
His offseason petition to the NCAA to shorten games fell on deaf ears, but with a potential one-two punch of Jessup and Alston leading
the charge, several coaches around the MWC agree the Broncos aren’t far off, if at all, from being a title contender.
Jessup is a 1,000-point scorer in his career and one of the game’s top 3-point shooters. Alston is on NBA radar with potential that started to show late last season when he averaged 13.4 points.
Oregon transfer Abu Kigab (6-6 forward) will be eligible in midDecember (after Boise State plays UNM in Albuquerque on Dec. 4). The Broncos are awaiting an NCAA ruling on whether Arizona transfer Emmanuel Akot (6-8 guard) can play this season. Both should raise the Broncos’ level of play.
HE SAID IT: “If he takes that next jump, whew!” — Rice on the possible improvement this season of Alston Jr.