Here’s the previous teams we ranked in this series:

52. Clemson Tigers

53. New Mexico Lobos

54. Arizona State Sun Devils

55. Utah State Aggies

56. Colorado State Rams

57. Seton Hall Pirates

58. SMU Mustangs

59. South Carolina Gamecocks

60. Nevada Wolfpack

61. TCU Horned Frogs

62. Villanova Wildcats

63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

64. Saint Louis Billikens

65. Syracuse Orange

66. Nebraska Cornhuskers

67. Pittsburgh Panthers

68. Iowa Hawkeyes

69. NC State Wolfpack

70. Butler Bulldogs

71. Princeton Tigers

72. Virginia Cavaliers

73. Saint Joseph’s Hawks

74. Oklahoma Sooners

75. West Virginia Mountaineers

76. Georgia Bulldogs

77. UAB Blazers

78: Wisconsin Badgers

79. San Diego State Aztecs

80. Missouri Tigers

81. Northwestern Wildcats

82. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Happy Saturday and welcome back to our 82 in 72 countdown at The Center Hub! If you missed my preview yesterday on the Clemson Tigers and Brad Brownell, please take a read as we are onto our number #51 team in our preseason college basketball composite rankings countdown! Today we are taking a look at the best basketball team in Idaho, and a future member of the Pac12, the Boise State Broncos!

Steven	Maxwell	Kam	Cody
49	55	64	54

Boise State basketball is at an all-time high right now as a program; the Broncos will be looking to secure their fourth straight tournament berth in 2024-2025! Coach Leon Rice only has one season this decade where the Broncos failed to reach 20 wins(19 wins in 2021), but he has yet to catapult the Broncos into the Round of 32…Boise State is 0-10 all-time in NCAA tournament games…
There is hope in Boise for a tournament breakthrough, and the optimism begins with Tyson Degenhart. Per Cerebro Sports, Degenhart was one of three players in the entire country 6′ 8 or taller last season to post a CRAM of 10+ along with posting a 75+PSP, 60+3PE, 50+FGS, 70+ATR and 80+DSI(Glossary below), the other two players being DaRon Holmes and Hunter Dickinson. Tyson Degenhart is one of the most gifted offensive players in the country, and the numbers back it up…per Barttorvik, Degenhart was seventh nationally in offensive rating last season for players playing at least 80% of their team’s minutes. Entering his fourth season at Boise State and coming off of back-to-back first-team All-Mountain West seasons, Tyson Degenhart should contend for Mountain West Player of the Year and will be the catalyst for any success the Broncos intend to have in 2024-2025.
My question with Degenhart this season is where we see him play on the court…Boise State returns fellow starter and frontcourt mate O’Mar Stanley but also brings in Dylan Anderson, who redshirted at Arizona last season but was a highly coveted recruit coming out of high school two years ago. O’Mar Stanley received All-Mountain West honors last season from the coaches and media; his spot in the Broncos starting lineup seems all but certain. The addition of Dylan Anderson allows the Broncos to slide O’Mar Stanley to the four and Tyson Degenhart to the three, and this specific combination in the frontcourt would excite me most for Boise State this upcoming season(This is also assuming Lehigh transfer Dominic Parolin will redshirt this season).
The biggest question I have for Leon Rice this season is who will be starting in the backcourt for the Broncos…Enter two players; Alvaro Cardenas and Javan Buchanan. Cardenas was the team captain for San Jose State last season and was third in the Mountain West last season in assist-to-turnover ratio. Cardenas is a mature floor general and should immediately fill the Broncos’ need for a lead guard. Javan Buchanan was a first-team NAIA All-American last season at Indiana Wesleyan and was known around the NAIA for his ability to fill up the stat sheet. Buchanan should be given the first chance to fill out the Bronco’s backcourt this upcoming season, and I expect him to impact the Mountain West in his first year of Division 1 basketball. 
Boise State should also have their bench unit in great shape heading into 2024-2025. Boise legend Andrew Meadow returns for the Broncos, as do the goggles and auburn locks(we all hope). RJ Keene also returns for Boise State this season and will be looking for a more defined role and opportunity from coach Rice. Two Freshmen also come in from AZ Compass(basically my backyard), and I think very highly of both. Those players are Ethan Lathan, an athletic big forward, and Moses Hipps, a potent combo guard who will be contending for minutes early. Hipps and Lathan were strong commits to land for the Broncos, and both should be rotational contributors as Freshmen. This season, the wildcard for Boise State will be Emmanuel Ugbo, a former professional playing in the German league. Ugbo joined the Broncos last spring and has yet to play in the Boise Blue, but his film would suggest he should see the court in 2024-2025.
There are plenty of new pieces in Boise this year, and Leon Rice and Tyson Degenhart have yet to show that they cannot make the tournament together…I think Boise State will be dancing once again in 2024-2025. If some of the Broncos’ new pieces hit the pan like juicy cuts, then I would imagine the Broncos can cook up their first tournament win in school history next year…