7 Sports

Bronco fans cheer after the NCAA tournament pairings are announced Sunday

BOISE - The Boise State men's basketball team will play the Louisville Cardinals in Birmingham, AL in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The team will travel and play the Cardinals to open the tournament -- the first time the Bronco men have played in the Big Dance in 14. Boise State and Louisville also squared off in the opening round during their last appearance in 1994.

Louisville finished the season 24-8 -- while the Broncos grabbed a 25-8 record.

The Broncos will play this Friday at about 7:40 p.m. The game will begin 30 minutes after the prior game ends. It will air locally on CBS channel 2 (cable channel 8).

"Their team is very athletic and very explosive," head coach Greg Graham said. "They'll get out and get after us."

The team was hoping for a higher seed, but the selection committee gave the team the 14th seed.

"I think everyone sold the WAC short this year," Graham said. "From about the middle of December on we played very well, but we (the WAC) started a little slow."

Graham said the preparation for Friday's game will start right away.

"We've got about 20 more minutes to celebrate, then we have to get to work," he said.

The team earned an automatic NCAA bid by winning the WAC tournament in a three-overtime thriller against New Mexico State Saturday night.

Despite Boise State's geographic location in the west, tournament organizers placed the team in the east region bracket.

If Boise State upsets Louisville, they could face a budding school rival. If the Oklahoma Sooners win their first round game, the two teams would collide in Birmingham on Sunday.