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Losses to UNM bookend a nine-game streak where Boise State (20-8, 8-6 MWC) lost six of its eight games and had either suspensions or injuries to starters to deal with in most of those games.

Now, back to full strength and powered by a 38-point performance Saturday by sophomore guard Derrick Marks in a win over Colorado State, the Broncos hope they’ve got the look of an NCAA Tournament team.

“A lot of coaches probably (would say) ‘Oh we’re just trying to win the next game’ or focus on that, but no,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “I want our guys to see the forest for the trees. We trudge along. We do all this work in the offseason. We’re 115 practices into this. I don’t want them to look back in June and say, ‘Gosh dang it, if we would have just put a little more into in this game, or on that effort or on that preparation, we would have had a chance to do it.’ I want them to know exactly where they stand.”

Boise State has its work cut out for it this week with a road game at UNLV tonight and a home finale Saturday against San Diego State.

Another Rice in the league, UNLV coach Dave Rice, no relation, is already a believer that the Broncos have punched their ticket, something he saw coming a year ago.

“There was no doubt in playing against Boise State last year that with as many young guys as they were playing and with how well they were playing particularly toward the end of the year that this was going to be a break out year for them,” Dave Rice said.

“Without question we have a conference that already deserves to have five teams in the NCAAs and if a sixth team wins the conference tournament, we should have six.”

AP POLL: New Mexico remains the only Mountain West team in this week’s AP Top 25 or USA Today’s Coaches poll.

UNLV appeared on 11 ballots in the AP poll with a high rank of No. 17. The Rebels received 43 points in the “others receiving votes” category and are unofficially ranked No. 29. Colorado State appeared on one ballot in the AP poll at No. 25, giving them one point.

UNLV: Like Boise State, UNLV is peaking at the right time according to Dave Rice.

That looked true Saturday when junior forward Mike Moser, a preseason first team All-MW selection, got the start in place of freshman phenom Anthony Bennett and scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots in 29 minutes.

Rice said he is confident the two can coexist on the court together heading toward the Mountain West tournament, a scary thought for the rest of the league.

COLORADO STATE: The Rams’ woes defending opposing teams’ guards continues.

In 14 Mountain West games, CSU has allowed nine guards to score 20-plus points, four to break the 30-point plateau and two to surpass 45 points, including UNM’s Kendall Williams’ 46 point effort on Feb. 23.

Saturday, CSU allowed Boise State’s Marks to score 38.

Including Air Force’s Michael Lyons scoring 45 on Feb. 16, Williams’ 46 on Feb. 23 and Marks’ 38 on Saturday, an opposing guard has averaged 43 points on the last three Saturday games for the Rams.

WYOMING: The Cowboys have gone 0-4 since Leonard Washington turned his ankle Feb. 16. When the senior star hurt his back in Saturday’s loss to UNM, the concern grew.

“Washington is getting an MRI this morning,” Shyatt said. “There hasn’t been much improvement and there’s genuine concern to keep him out of harm’s way. … We’ll proceed with caution.”

Wyoming’s regular season finale is Wednesday night at home against Front Range rival Colorado State.

UNLV, PART 2: Should UNLV play in the NCAA Tournament, and there is little reason to suspect they won’t, seniors Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins will be the first two Runnin’ Rebels since Stacy Augman and Chris Jeter (1988-91) to play in the Big Dance for four-consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

LOBOS LINKS: Roster | Schedule/Results | Geoff Grammer’s blog

— This article appeared on page D2 of the Albuquerque Journal