After dropping their opening game in the A-10 tournament to Butler, La Salle entered Selection Sunday a little nervous about their prospects of making the field of 68. Fortunately, the selection committee looked kindly on the Explorers’ overall body of work and La Salle will be playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992. However, the Explorers will have to win one more game than the rest of the field on the road to the championship, as one of eight teams in the First Round “Play-In” games. First up for the Explorers will be the Boise State Broncos out of the Mountain West Conference.
With Boise State, the first thing that comes to mind for the casual sports fan is the blue ‘smurf’ turf used by the school’s football program. While the football team gets most of the attention in Boise, the basketball program has put together an excellent season, led by a high-powered offense rated among the top 30 in the nation. The Broncos weren’t putting up good numbers solely against inferior competition either. Their schedule was among the 40 most difficult in the country, featuring out of conference games against Michigan State and Creighton, along with the four other conference opponents to make the NCAA tournament. The Boise State attack is powered by a pair of sophomore wings, Anthony Drmic and Derrick Marks, who lead the team at 17.3 ppg and 16.3 ppg, respectively. The entire team shoots exceptionally well from the outside, as the Broncos rank 13th in the country at 39.1% shooting from behind the arc.
La Salle appears to match up well with the Broncos, as both teams rely on guard play to propel their high-powered offensive attack. The Explorers’ biggest weakness is a lack of a strong interior presence, but Boise State is not positioned to take advantage of it. Ultimately, the game will come down to whether Ramon Galloway, Tyreek Duren, and the rest of the Explorers’ guards can keep up with the Broncos’ wings, both scoring themselves and preventing the Boise State three ball. Fortunately for La Salle, stopping opponents from behind the arc is something they have excelled at this season, ranking 20th in the nation in opposing 3PT% at 29.9%. If La Salle can continue that trend and bottle up the Broncos from behind the arc, I would look for the Explorers to move on to face Kansas State.
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