Big 12 Basketball: Will Boise State join the conference?
By Doug Winkey
Another overview of a potential Big 12 basketball expansion candidate; this time we are looking at the Boise State Broncos.
In case you’ve been living under a rock for most of the summer, the Big 12 is going hard at expansion.
Related Story: Could Arkansas State join the Big 12?
Nearly 18 schools will receive an interview from Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
Big 12’s 17 school expansion list: ArkState Boise BYU Cincinnati CSU UConn ECU Houston Memphis NIU NM SDSU SMU Temple Tulane UCF USF
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 12, 2016
The one school not on that initial tweet list is Air Force, who is killing it with some sweet football helmets.
It is no secret that some combination of Houston, Cincinnati, Connecticut, and Memphis are the most likely favorites.
Meanwhile, the Broncos from Boise State are a potential dark horse from the outside. Their candidacy is naturally based on their superb football profile, but the school has other things to offer the Big 12 besides that garish blue field.
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Boise State has a listed student population of nearly 23,000 students. Boise, ID itself is a good sized city with an estimated population around 220,000. The city is outside the top 100 media markets, but it is within eight hours (driving) of both Portland and Seattle. If the conference is inclined to push westward, it also lies just 750 miles from fellow expansion contender Colorado State.
As Idaho’s largest University, BSU has made consistent improvements to it’s academic buildings over the years. Even with the improvements, Boise still rates far behind many other schools vying for attention. The school would need to continue to invest heavily to achieve rankings on par with current Big 12 institutions, but the extra money gained from the conference’s media partnerships would go a long way to improving their reputation.
The Broncos currently compete in the Mountain West for all sports save wrestling, where they are a Pac-12 member. Their basketball team has been impressively solid in a conference that usually sees San Diego State atop the leader board; Boise State won the conference two years ago and has four straight 20-win seasons to its credit.
Head coach Leon Rice is in his seventh year with a record of 122-75. The team might be in for a rough upcoming year though, with their top three scorers from 2015-16 gone.
They do still have the solid Taco Bell Arena for basketball, which seats over 14,000 fans.
18 schools in total appear to be contenders for expansion. If you include BSU’s vaunted football program, their proximity to major cities, improving academics, and general athletic profile, those positives might be enough to get them in. The school can also make the argument that it is the next TCU, which dominated the Mountain West before getting Big 12 membership.
I’d put Boise State right around the middle of the pack for expansion – ahead of Central or South Florida, but behind Cincinnati, UConn, or Memphis.
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As with Colorado State, the Broncos would be a great pick if the conference chooses to strand West Virginia and move west instead.