Finally, the regular season of college basketball is over. It's selection Sunday, and good news for Boise State Basketball fans. The team has made the NCAA Tournament as a number ten seed in the West Region. The Broncos did lose over the weekend to Utah State during the Mountain West Basketball Tournament.

On Thursday, the team will travel to Sacramento, California, to take on the Northwestern Wildcats, a number seven seed. Thursday's meeting will be the first meeting of the two teams. This game will be another opportunity for the Broncos to punch up as they take on the Wildcats from the Big Ten Conference.

Boise State's Most Underappreciated Star

Boise State seems to mean "football" for most, right? On a national stage, after all, it's the blue turf and the success that the Broncos have had on it that made the university a household name. What happens on the hardwood, however, is far from appreciated at the level that it should be. Leon Rice came to Boise State as a blessing from one of the most powerful basketball programs in the nation: Gonzaga University. Now, the winningest basketball coach in the history of the school seems to take immediate heat if the Broncos aren't in the Final Four. Spoiled by wins on the football field, fans seem to expect the same of the basketball program but when the investment in basketball is so much less than football--can you really have these types of expectations!?

Boise State has appeared in nine NCAA Men's basketball tournaments. Coach Leon Rice is responsible for four of those appearances. The Broncos were in the big dance last year. 2023 is the first time the team has made back-to-back tournament appearances.

The team had an impressive run during the regular season. Boise State finished the regular season with a 24-9 record and a 13-5 mark in the Mountain West, finishing second in the league standings after the regular season. The Broncos eclipsed 24 wins for just the fifth time in the history of the program.

History has not been kind to the Broncos in the past. The Broncos have danced in the NCAA Tournament eight times, winning the Big Sky Tournament in 1976, 1988, 1993, and 1994, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in 2008, and earning at-large berths in 2013 and 2015 before winning the Mountain West Tournament title in 2022. Boise State is 0-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and is 4-4 this season against other teams in the field.

We wish them good luck in the Big Dance!

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