Leon Rice and the Boise State Broncos faded down the stretch on Thursday, ultimately falling to Colorado in the play-in game, 60-54, and sending the Buffs into a matchup against No. 7 seed Florida on Friday.
For the Broncos it extended an unfortunate college basketball record as they are now 0-10 in NCAA Tournament contests – the first and only program to play 10 games in the big dance and failing to win a single one of them.
“This is a really, really tough draw and then a tough, tough, tough loss that we’ll have trouble with for the rest of our lives,” Rice said after the game. “That’s the way it is.”
The Mountain West as a conference has struggled to find success in the tournament, outside of San Diego State’s run to the national championship last year, and Boise State has been a big part of that.
Despite going dancing three years in a row, and five of the last 14 seasons under coach Rice, they have yet to advance in the field of 68. They had plenty of opportunities on Thursday but shot just 34% from the field and 2-18 (11.1%) from three while only getting to the free throw line six times.
Colorado will take on Florida Friday at 4:30 PM ET on TBS.