Boise State not participating in 2026 men’s basketball postseason

The Boise State men’s basketball team’s season is officially over.

According to multiple reports, the Broncos (20-12) turned down an NIT invitation after falling to San Jose State in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament. Boise State was not selected to the College Basketball Crown, which revealed its eight-team field on Monday.

The Broncos and head coach Leon Rice will instead focus on retooling a roster that never gelled during the 2025-26 season.

“We’re going to go out and get some dogs. We’re hunting for ‘em,” Rice said following Boise State’s stunning 84-74 loss to San Jose State in the MWC Tournament.

“This doesn’t sit well with any of us. That’s our mission, and that’s all I care about right now. I don’t care about any postseason. We’re not into consolation prizes at Boise State, so I don’t care about that. My focus is on I want guys who want to wear the blue and orange with such pride, and we’ve always had that. And that’s what I’m going to go get this offseason, the toughest guys and the guys that will compete and guys that will lead and the guys that will just continue to fight.”

Boise State accepted an invitation to the inaugural College Basketball Crown last season after narrowly missing out on a fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos reached the Crown semifinals before falling to Nebraska, which earned a No. 4 seed for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

No mid-majors were invited to the 2026 Crown, which will be held in Las Vegas.

Five MWC teams accepted bids to the NIT: Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming. Boise State, Grand Canyon and San Diego State all passed on the NIT.

Utah State is the lone MWC team in the NCAA Tournament. The ninth-seeded Aggies will take on No. 8 Villanova at 2:10 p.m. Mountain time on Friday at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

Boise State’s up-and-down 2025-26 season began with a home loss to Division II Hawaii Pacific and also included a sweep of New Mexico and an impressive late-season home victory over San Diego State.

“It’s been unpredictable, and that makes it the hardest because the way we’ve been playing recently has been amazing,” Rice said. “Five wins in a row in tough circumstances (entering the MWC Tournament). These guys always responded, they did, but I’ve never had a team that could play at the two complete extremes … and it started the first game of the season.”