The New Mexico Lobos know all about Jacob Burtschi.
The last time they met, a little more than a month ago, Air Force’s audacious junior forward almost took them down at The Pit, hitting a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to give the Falcons a 60-59 lead, only to miss a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.
Burtschi has taken a few other teams down with his bold, late-game heroics since then, but it’s the fear of the unknown center that has the Lobos a little nervous going into tonight’s Mountain West Conference rematch at Clune Arena. John Frye, a 6-10 junior, is not the same player who was all but invisible (no points, three rebounds) the last time the teams played.
But starting with the Falcons’ 62-61 victory over Wyoming 11 days ago, Frye has probably been one of the keys to a team that is on an impressive three- game winning streak and surging toward a possible NCAA Tournament bid. Air Force (21-5) is 9-4 in the league and second to San Diego State.
A backup to star Nick Welch last season, Frye has been integral to Air Force’s success.
“He has really done a nice job for them. He’s a better defender than people thought,” Lobos coach Ritchie McKay said. “He’s not a Welch, but Welch was a player of the year guy.”
Welch is out for the season with a broken foot.
Frye may be a junior, but he’s really just a freshman in terms of basketball experience.
“Now you can just see him grow in confidence,” Falcons coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “There’s great coaches in this league, so all the young players, they’re growing leaps and bounds right now.”
That’s why teams such as San Diego State, BYU and New Mexico are making strong late-season runs, and despite talk the Mountain West could be limited to one bid in the NCAA Tournament, Bzdelik and McKay believe otherwise.
“First of all, I will go on record with stating that I’m very disappointed in the announcers that are doing our games that don’t give our league enough credit,” Bzdelik said. “I think that’s absolutely wrong. This is a great league.
“In my mind, there has to be more than one team going into the NCAA Tournament from this league, and hopefully people talking like that aren’t the ones making the decisions. They’re just yapping.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
