This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
St. Louis • Weber State's Texas Connection will be on a national stage Friday night, when the Wildcats play Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Scottrade Center.
Weber's leading scorers, junior guard Jeremy Senglin and senior forward Joel Bolomboy, are from Texas. So are sixth man Kyndahl Hill and three other players.
Senglin is from Bowie High School in Arlington. He averages 18.2 points per game and was named the Big Sky Conference tournament's Most Valuable Player.
How did Rahe persuade Senglin to attend school in Ogden?
"He told me Weber State is a winning program and that we can make it to the tournament because we have a chance to win our conference," Senglin said. "… He just believed in me and trusted me."
Bolomboy is from Keller High School in Fort Worth. He averages 17.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game and was the Big Sky's regular season MVP.
Rahe "never promised me anything," Bolomboy said. "He told me everything I get, I'll have to work for. … He told me about the Weber State history, the city and the program."
Earlier in his career, Rahe was on the same Utah State staff as current Aggie head coach Tim Duryea.
"What Randy did at Weber was figure out the recruiting — what they had to do be successful," Duryea said. "… They've gone to Texas and made that their home base, really. He's really done a great job."
Said Bolomboy: "He holds us accountable."
Fighting for an upset
What does No. 15 Weber State have to do to upset second-seeded Xavier?
"In games like this, you have to do a lot of things well," Rahe said. "First, you can't give one of the best teams in the country easy baskets. You can't let them get into transition and score easy points. And you have to rebound like crazy because they'll get easy points off offensive rebound.
"… You have to make them earn everything they get. If can limit those things and then play good offense — get open shots and make those open shots — that's what it comes down to."
The last time a No. 15 seed defeated a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament was in 2013, when Florida Gulf Coast scored a 78-68 victory over another Big East team, Georgetown.
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