BOISE -- March madness has hit college basketball all over the country. The Western Athletic Conference joins the craziness starting tomorrow when the women's tournament gets underway in Reno, while the men get things started on Thursday at the Lawlor Events Center.
The first men's game will feature Boise State and Utah State. The Aggies are arguably the hottest team in the nation, they've won 15-straight and 19-of-their-last 21 games. Two of those wins came at the expense of the Broncos who outside Utah State could be considered the 2nd hottest team heading into tournament play. So they're hopeful they can keep that momentum going heading into the post-season.
Boise State Head Coach Greg Graham says, "The big thing now is not to relax. We made it and we relax...we do that and we're done. We got to keep forging ahead. We've been talking about 3 days in March and we're here and no we need to make sure we take advantage of these 3 days." Senior guard Anthony Thomas adds, "You know it's like a whole other season for us. It's a different pace, different tempo and a different intensity and you're playing for more also. Going in there, there should be a lot of intensity, but it should be a lot of fun."
Boise State and Utah State tip-it up at 1-p-m Thursday and that game will be televised on E-S-P-N-U.
The Vandals take on Nevada at 7-p-m Thursday evening. Idaho lost twice to the Wolfpack this season and in their last meeting they lost on a last second lay-up.
The Women's tournament gets underway tomorrow (Wednesday). The B-S-U women got a tough draw being the 6 seed because they'll have to play the host team Nevada.
They were one of 3 teams in conference that finished with 8-wins and 8-losses and the Broncos unfortunately got the short end of the stick and are the lowest seeded 8-and-8 team.
The Bronco women did finish their season with a win over 2nd seeded La-Tech and they say when this team puts wins together, watch out!
Senior Post Rebecca Kepelino says, "We wanted this win because we wanted to go into the tournament with a lot of confidence. Once we get our confidence going we're a tough team to play." Tasha Harris thinks along the same lines, "We're a different team when we win. We get a lot of confidence and it really helps with our consistency down the stretch of games. I think we ended the conference on a good note and hopefully we'll go into the tournament with the same momentum and get a couple wins."
The Bronco women break into action at 7-p-m against the host team Nevada on Wednesday. The Pack and the Broncos split their two meetings this season with each team winning on their home-court
Mean-while the Vandal women take on New Mexico State at 2-30 Wednesday. Idaho beat the Aggies twice by a combined 4-points during the regular season.
