Wednesday, March 18th, 10:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Maples Pavilion (7,233) -- Stanford, California. Television: None. Home Record: BSU 13-3, Stanford 13-4. Away Record: BSU 6-8, Stanford 4-8. Neutral Record: BSU 0-1, Stanford 1-1. Conference Record: BSU 9-7, Stanford 6-12. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: The Boise State Broncos and the Stanford Cardinal will try to keep their respective seasons alive as they meet in the 2nd Annual College Basketball Invitational, with this stage taking place at Maples Pavilion. In the case of the Broncos, members of the Western Athletic Conference, they had their share of ups and downs during the 2008-09 campaign, suffering some blowout losses and close calls against which they should have beaten. But in the end, BSU lost four of the last six regular season matchups and was then treated to an 80-70 setback at the hands of New Mexico State in the conference tournament in Reno, Nevada. As for the Cardinal, they ripped off 10 consecutive wins to begin the season, but quite a few of those came against weak competition as the Cardinal finished the non-conference slate an impressive 12-1. Then again, that means the team was just 6-12 versus the rest of the Pac-10. But even more unsightly was the fact that Stanford won only one of nine road dates against the rest of the league. The winner of this first- ever meeting will face off against the survivor of the Buffalo/Wichita State battle on Monday, March 23rd in the quarterfinals.

In a league that tried to put up significant points, Boise State checked in with 72.7 ppg on the strength of 47.2 percent shooting from the field. However, the team didn't exactly make it easy on itself by giving up 71.6 ppg at the same time. Mark Sanchez stands as both the top scorer and rebounder for the group with his 13.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest, playing just under 29 minutes per game for the Broncos. Paul Noonan, the most successful perimeter shooter in terms of made shots (54 threes) and not necessarily percentage (.340), is credited with 10.4 ppg as the only other double-digit scorer on the roster after 31 games. Anthony Thomas (9.6 ppg), the only one to have started each of those games for Boise State, was the one who directed the squad at both ends of the floor by handing out 146 assists and capturing 40 steals at the same time.

Anthony Goods is listed as the top scorer for the Cardinal with his 16.3 ppg this season, converting 39.1 percent of his three-point tries and 41.3 percent from the floor overall. However, his numbers dipped when it came to confronting the rest of the Pac-10 Conference, his scoring falling to 14.2 ppg. In the case of Lawrence Hill, the one player to have started all 18 league bouts for Stanford, his scoring remained the same at 13.3 ppg. Landry Fields checks in with 13.4 ppg in conference play and 12.7 ppg overall and has done slightly better in the rebounding department as well with close to seven per game in his 31 appearances. Mitch Johnson (6.7 ppg) could be asked to step up from time to time for his point production, but his main job was to make sure the rest of the offense was running smoothly with close to four and a half assists per game.

Neither team has a player that makes one stand up and take a good long look, rather it is a series of performers who, when working in unison, bring home the wins for these squads. So with that, expect the home team to prevail on this night in front of a favorable crowd

Predicted Outcome

Stanford 68, Boise State 66