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Postgame Thoughts from bNO - Indiana State Edition

I know it's late but I really wanted to offer some postgame thoughts on another complete, exciting, and fun Bronco victory. Things got very busy yesterday and then in the evening when I could have sat down and typed this up the excitement of seeing TCU at 18 int he BCS and then getting gut checked with VT in the sugar was enough to forget about how excited I was about BSU Basketball for at least a few hours. By the time I hit the hay I was ok and thinking about the game today (Game Preview Coming Soon to a Fanpost near you). Bronco Nation, use this snub to get behind the basketball team, a team that has just as much of a shot of getting into the dance as BSU has of getting into the BCS, if not better. No more talking about the BCS, I'm starting to get angry again..

So last Saturday night's basketball game!

Indiana State Sycamores score

Starting out, Indiana State sunk a few baskets before Boise could get on the boards. after about ten minutes of slow play by both teams Boise tied it up and ended up leading most of the game. This was a type of team I haven't seen on the hardwood in a long time, calmly maintaining a the control of the game. By now most of you know what this win means and how it was won so let me just offer my thoughts.

What does this win mean?

This win is impressive. Indiana State is picked to take third place in the MVC and Boise State, picked last in the MWC edged them by nine points. According to Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak logic that must mean that the MWC is at least 9 points better than the MVC, or is it 40 points after Boise beat Drake by that many? I'm confused as to how this works, I need to ask Larry about it. All joking aside this is a very good Missouri Valley conference. Not only is #1 preseason Creighton sitting at #26 in the AP Poll after dealing the MWC the first loss of the season in the MWC vs. MVC Challenge with a win over San Diego State, but yesterday evening the MVC collected another impressive win in #2 MVC favorite Witchita State's near twenty point win over #20 UNLV. The Challenge ends in a tie this season but by far the most impressive victories came from the MVC.

MVC vs. MWC

You'll notice in the table above that Drake edged Air Force over the weekend. This was a game to watch to see how BSU may fare in the Mountain West this season as Air Force was picked to finish #5 in the MWC Preseason media poll. I've been saying since that poll was released that I thought BSU could contend with CSU and MWC and after this challenge series I feel even better about that. (You'll notice CSU lost to Northern Iowa, MVC Preseason #4) This win means we can contend for at least the #5 spot in the Mountain West.

Favorite Plays:

1) Wes Perryman's 3 ball and Dunk. Wes had a great take away only to let the easy layup roll off the rim. Being the only senior starter on this team his composure is more than important and for that reason I was stoked when the next time Boise brought the ball to their side of the court he sunk a three ball while saying, "I don't need to make no stinking layups, three ball in yo face!" In the second half he had another fast break and with a sycamore right on his heels he slammed it down igniting the crowd. We love dunks and unfortunately we don't see to many right now. I think our freshmen are smart for going for the easy roll ins, nothing worse to your ego and composure than a dunk bouncing right out of the hoop.

2) Drmic's Fadeaway. The trees didn't go down lightly, in fact they came storming back in the last couple minutes to make it a 4 point game at one point. Every bucket Boise made was crucial. As the shot clock widdled down to the last few seconds, Anthony was trying to penetrate and then opted for a fadeway jumper that was AMAZING. This guy has talent, it was a beautiful shot. Coach Rice has sure recruited a heck of a squad, any guy that can pull off a fadeaway of that importance with a few seconds on the shot clock is a heck of a recruit. This also made me feel better after seeing Drmic go to the trainers room limping. Turns out it he just knocked knees with the court or another player.

3) The 3 pointer one of the third graders sunk in the 5 v. 5 third grade game they played during halftime. For the record I enjoyed this a billion times infinity over the main line dancers... Maybe they can find a way to do both every time. My wife came to the game with me and this was her favorite part. The kids were really hilarious and loved the crowd excitement. Great crowd giving them lots of ooos and aaas.

4) Every play where the ball got under the hoop to Buckner. Seriously, this guy is the guy we've needed for a long time. Love what he's done for our presence in the paint and I may be his greatest fan. Who can't get behind a guy who passed on a baseball scholly to take care of this grandma?

Other Thoughts:

Jake Odum of Indiana State went from having a triple double in the game before this one to not even getting a single double verse Boise State. That's awesome. Not sure if they picked on him after seeing what he did last week but I can only think Coach Rice was in the holiday mood and decided to cook him up a nice warm humble pie.

Indiana State shot decent but didn't have many attempts. This was a result of us not giving them many open looks. This was a key part of my game preview, Boise State executing well and it paid off!

Fans

Normally this is where I start chasitzing but we had 5,342 fans in attendance and you could tell. Our arena is huge, it's most often not going to look "full" but this was about as good as it gets for a team coming to town no one really knew about. Kudos to the athletic department for cooking up the free entry with a football ticket and making it a good experience. To be honest, I think the top tier should be free most games. Great job supporting the team, I hope we continue to see crowds around the 4500-5000 mark for these games with limited interest. When UNLV and SDSU come to town I think we'll pull upwards of 6 or 7K (hopefully). One thing I do have to say, for being fifty three hundred strong we are awfully quiet on defense... Maybe this will help fans, every time the other team has the ball (especially when they are within 10 points of the lead) that like a team trying to convert a 3rd down. We don't want them to succeed. If we are up by 10 or more points then yell like it's first or second. That help? Also, there was a point where game play was stopped after ice flew onto the court from the student section (or thats what it looked like at least). Throwing ice is a bad idea. In fact we shouldn't be throwing anything, only Toledo fans do that.

Those are some of my thoughts from the game the other night, hopefully I'll get a Game Preview down by tonight. Another winnable game with some good story lines tonight. Boise State looks to even up the all time series vs. Idaho State and is poised to do so. I hope you've found these thoughts "better late than never!"

GO BRONCOS!

This content was not created by OBNUG and therefore may not meet our standards. On the contrary, it probably exceeds them.

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