Boise State Plays In The Puerto Rico Tip-Off This Weekend
The Broncos look to notch a few quality wins in the three-game event
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The tournament was moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after hurricane damage made the Puerto Rico location not possible
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The Boise State Broncos headline the three-game Puerto Rico Tip-Off At Myrtle Beach this weekend at the HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina.
The tournament field features two teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last year in South Carolina and Iowa State. The Gamecocks of South Carolina made a stunning run to the Final Four as a #7 seed before falling to Gonzaga and 5th-seeded Iowa State dropped out in the round of 32 with a loss to Purdue.
Both teams are expected to significantly regress this season with a great deal of last year’s impact players moving on, which allows Boise State to take the center stage of the event. BSU is one of two teams in the eight-team field that made the NIT last year, the other being Illinois State. The near-NCAA Tournament team was gutted in the spring as well, as each of its top three players from the 28-win squad left campus either due to graduation or transfer.
Boise State will play Conference USA member UTEP on Thursday before taking on either Illinois State or South Carolina. If BSU beats UTEP, it will play the winner of Illinois State/South Carolina. If BSU loses to UTEP, it will play the loser of Illinois State/South Carolina.
In terms of quality win potential, the best-case scenario for Boise State is to down UTEP on Thursday, then match with South Carolina on Friday in the winner’s bracket, take that game, and then move on to battle Iowa State in the championship.
Overall, the event has lost a bit of its glimmer due to the roster depletion to most of the teams in this field. It does, however, allow Boise State to take an easier route to the final and win the tournament, which would be an excellent experience and boost to a BSU squad that could be dangerous in the Mountain West this season.
Blogging The Bracket’s Chris Dobbertean picked Boise State to take home the Puerto Rico Tip-Off trophy with a victory over Iowa State. Please check out his excellent work on this event here:
https://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2017/11/10/16215648/2017-tire-pros-puerto-rico-tip-off-primer-iowa-state-south-carolina-boise-state-illinois-state
Predictions
Quarterfinals (Thursday)
South Carolina over Illinois State
Boise State over UTEP
Iowa State over Appalachian State
Western Michigan over Tulsa
Semifinals (Friday)
Boise State over South Carolina
Iowa State over Western Michigan
UTEP over Illinois State
Tulsa over Appalachian State
Finals (Sunday)
7th Place: Illinois State over Appalachian State
5th Place: UTEP over Tulsa
3rd Place: South Carolina over Western Michigan
Championship: Boise State over Iowa State