Tucker Larson was clutch last night as he scored 14 points to lead Boise High including two big three pointers in the 4th quarter to lead them to a 47-44 win and a showdown with Mountain View on Saturday.  The three-headed scoring machine of Marson, Joe Simpson and Caleb Shurfick came up huge as they all were in double digits to propel Boise to the win.  For Centennial, they were led by Aaron Maffey and EJ Leitzinger, but Landon Kissinger and Daryl Robertson struggled as they couldn't hold on for the win.

Eagle High won the rubber match against Timberline coming out on top 42-40.  The Mustangs are currently riding a 4 game winning streak and really focused on their offense coming into this game and ironically, their defense stole the show.  Jon Satchwell and Braiden Shaw were the key contributors offensively for Eagle as they are one win away from making it to the State Tournament.

The top two teams in the conference used big 2nd halves to beat their opponents last night.  Mountain View was only beating Meridian by 2 at halftime before Tanner Percifield and Randall Robinson shot the lights out in the 2nd half as Robinson finished with 13 and Percifield scored 22 to will the Mavericks to a 69-50 victory.  It wasn't pretty for the Borah Lions, but they rode a big 3rd quarter to beat Vallivue 53-42.  Cody Spjute was the story as he led the Lions in scoring and Ben Tucakovic had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

In the 4A, the top four teams all won at home setting down two dynamite semifinal showdowns on Saturday night between Bishop Kelly vs. Skyview and Middleton vs. Kuna.

Make sure to stay tuned to 630 The Fan throughout the next three weeks for all of your high school basketball coverage.  Make sure to follow us on twitter @630thefan

With Minnesota unofficially on the clock, the huge question will be if they decide to trade the pick or not.  We saw how valuable a top 5 pick was when the Redskins fell just short of giving up Mike Shanahan's grandchildren to move up from #6 to #2, so the price will be hefty if someone wants to move up to grab Alabama's Trent Richardson or USC's Matt Kalil.  My gut tells me the Vikings only potential buyer to grab the 3rd selection would be Tampa Bay so they could get Trent Richardson.

The way I see it is that the 2012 NFL Draft will revolve around what the Cleveland Browns end up doing.  We know they have many holes, especially with their offense, which leaves so many potential options for them that teams may feel they have to jump over them to get the player they want.  In all honesty, the four players that will get selected 3rd-6th are not in question, its the order in which they will get selected which will be interesting.

As for the bottom of the top 10, Ryan Tannehill is already setting up to be this year's huge bust.  If you did not have that solid of a college career, what makes people believe he is worth a top 10 pick? The Dolphins will get pressured into taking him and will set their franchise back even further than it already has been.

With all of the drama surrounding the top 10, all BSU fans will be getting excited around pick #22 when Shea McClellan and Doug Martin start popping up on team's radars.  With McClellan, I really see the Packers being a perfect fit at #28 and what a perfect situation to come into for him with all of the pieces being in place to be on a contender right now.  With Martin, again it comes back to the Cleveland Browns.  If they don't select Trent Richardson at #4, it is a very good possibility they could grab him with their other 1st round pick at #22.  After the Browns and possibly the Denver Broncos picking Martin at #25, he will probably fall into the early 2nd round.

We have a great show lined up for you today as we will be broadcasting live from The Lift on W. State Street so come see us between 4-7 PM for our official NFL Draft Party.

Borah dominated the two regular season games between these teams and all signs point towards another rout especially considering how Vallivue played on Thursday against Meridian but as many people have told me before, "thats why they play the game."  Vallivue's late season run would not have been possible without Jacob Betancourt as he skyrocketed up to 3rd place in the SIC averaging nearly 14 points per game.  The virtual lock to win SIC Player of the Year, Ben Tucakovic of Borah, led the league with 15 points per game and will need to maintain that for the Lions to avoid the collapse of the year.  The biggest question in this game will be how the Falcons will attempt to score against Borah.  Vallivue is one-dimensional offensively as it is and it doesn't help that they are running into a team that only allows 41 points per game.

The other matchup on the top half of the bracket has Timberline playing Eagle.  It is fitting that these two will play each other because they have been the two most inconsistent teams all year long.  Despite that, each team has shown signs of brilliance and can beat anyone on a given night if they play to their potential.  For Timberline, its all about defense.  If they can play defense to the best of their ability, like they did Thursday against Centennial, Eagle is in for a long night.  If the Mustangs can split through the Wolves defense, it will favor Eagle who is currently on a three game win streak and more importantly, they ARE playing their best basketball at the right time of the year.

The bottom half of the bracket will be filled with teams that play stellar defense.  The Mountain View Mavericks have been playing with a target on their back all season being the defending State Champions and that target will only get bigger as postseason play begins.  Fortunately for the Mavericks, they get a favorable matchup against a team they have dominated so far this season.  The Meridian Warriors come into this game on a two game winning streak behind 1st year head coach, Mike Graefe.  The Warriors do not shoot the ball particularly well, but the strength of their team is a stout 1-3-1 zone defense that has stymied many teams this season.

The final matchup is a rematch of a game that happened just one week ago and went into overtime.  Centennial and Boise High both stumble into this game coming off losses in the regular season finales and both coaches are wondering which team is going to show up tonight.  Centennial has not shot the ball well at all the last few games and have struggled to get into the 40's and that does not bode well for a team going up against the #2 defense in the SIC.  Aaron Maffey is going to need some help from his friends sharing the scoring load or Centennial might be on their way to a 1st round upset.  Boise High has been experiencing the same kind of struggles that Centennial has been going through.  Shooting the basketball has not gone particularly well for the Braves, especially in the 2nd half against Eagle on Thursday night.  Much like Aaron Maffey of Centennial, Joe Simpson is going to need some help from his teammates if Boise High is going to come out on top.  

You can listen to Mountain View vs. Meridian AND Centennial vs. Boise on 630 The Fan tonight with coverage starting at 6:00 and going all the way through the conclusion of the 2nd game tonight from Eagle High School.

Tune into the show tomorrow for a full recap of the 5A AND 4A Boys District Tournament on Sports 630 The Fan.

Fast forward four months to know where he just jumped ship to return to Arkansas where he will have the chance this season to coach two Heisman Trophy candidates and possibly contend for a BCS National Championship.  At the forefront of the discusion, you can't blame him right? Well, before you fall into the trap of the national media and hear about how great of a move this is for Arkansas consider the fact that Smith will be making over 6 times what he signed on for at Weber State this year and that HE was the one that actually approached the Arkansas administration to say he was interested in the job.

After swinging and missing at high profile names to come grab the job, Arkansas was pleased that Smith was interested and made it a done deal as of today.  As I said on the show yesterday, all I hope for is that someone asks him today how he feels about the way he left his alma mater that was so excited about bringing him on and what they are going to do now.  One could argue that John L. Smith does not owe anything to Weber State, but with all of the moving around that coaches do in this day and age, you would think that if one thing was a sure bet, it would be that a coach in his 60's could return to his alma mater and stay there to end his career.  Apparently, we were all fooled.

We will be sure to see John L. Smith plenty on television this fall as his team is sure to be successful, but I'm curious as to what is going to happen to Weber State now.  Bobby Petrino anyone?

With that being said, Vallivue was waiting to see what happened between Rocky Mountain and Mountain View to determine whether their season would continue or not.  The Grizzlies raced out to a big lead in the 1st half and although the Mavericks closed the gap, Rocky had too much on the line and they broke through for the victory.  When both games were over, we had a three-way tie between Meridian, Vallivue and Rocky Mountain and none of the teams knew exactly what their fate would be.  Here is how it ended up breaking down: the three-way tiebreaker went to the head-to-head records between the three teams involved.  Meridian swept Rocky Mountain and split with Vallivue giving them a 3-1 record.  Vallivue split with both teams giving them a record of 2-2.  Rocky Mountain split with Vallivue, but was swept by Meridian giving them a record of 1-3.  In the end, Meridian grabbed the #7 seed and Vallivue snuck in as the #8 seed and Rocky Mountain was the odd team out.  

The rest of the conference threw us a couple of curveballs as well.  Boise High could not win on their Senior Night and Eagle used a big 2nd half to roll on to their 3rd consecutive victory and the #5 seed for the District Tournament.  Boise High finished in 6th.  

Timberline protected their home floor and knocked off Centennial so the Wolves will be the #4 seed in the District Tournament and that sets up a showdown with Eagle.  By virtue of the Patriots losing, Mountain View still stayed at the #2 spot and Centennial will be the #3 seed.  The only game that was not a surprise was Borah blowing out Capital and finishing their season on a 17 game winning streak.

Just to recap, here are the matchups and times for the 1st round of the District Tournament on Tuesday.

@ Rocky Mountain High

6:00 #1 Borah vs. #8 Vallivue

7:30 #4 Timberline vs. #5 Eagle

@ Eagle High

6:00 #2 Mountain View vs. #7 Meridian

7:30 #3 Centennial vs. #6 Boise

Up North, Post Falls beat Coeur D'Alene in the final game of their regular season forcing a three-way tie with Lake City for the #1 seed that was determined by a coin flip.  Coeur D'Alene won the coin flip and they will get the #1 seed for their District Tournament and will play Lewiston.  Lake City and Post Falls will battle it out in the other 1st round matchup.