In the spotlight

BOISE — Mentally, physically, the growth is apparent in Boise State redshirt junior forward James Webb III.

The 6-foot-9, 202-pound Webb has come a long way from the guy that could drive the lane and dunk at North Idaho College as a freshman during the 2012-13 season.

Webb attended Curtis Baptist High in Augusta, Ga., finished his prep career at The Oaks Virtual School in Hilton Head, S.C., before averaging 9.2 points and 5.2 rebounds a game in his lone season at NIC, helping the Cardinals to a 26-5 finish.

“I think this journey has helped me grow both mentally and physically,” Webb said. “It takes a lot to go from here to here and here, bouncing to a bunch of different places. Being away from home — especially this far away from home — you’re out here by yourself basically. And you’ve got to grow up.”

Boise State had interest in Webb in high school, but he did not qualify academically, falling short by a half-credit of being able to go to a Division I school.

“It was long before he went to NIC,” fifth-year Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “We recruited him out of high school, but he was a half-credit short. He’s got a very high upside and he’s athletic. And he’s got a very good work ethic. He was just a guy we wanted in our program.”

Since arriving on campus, Webb has developed his game in ways that have made him an NBA prospect — with one more season of college eligibility remaining.

“He’s improved everything about his game,” said Rice, the former Gonzaga assistant. “He’s matured both on and off the court. He’s a bigger, stronger and faster athlete. He’s just consistently improved on his shooting and scoring in a lot of different ways for us this season.”

In his first season at BSU, Webb averaged 11.2 points and 8.03 rebounds per game for the Broncos, who advanced to the NCAA tournament round of 68, losing at Dayton in an opening round game in 2015.

“It was an OK experience,” Webb said of playing in the NCAA tournament. “We didn’t come out with the win, and that would have made it better. But it was great to see all of our fans that traveled back for the game and getting a chance to be under the big lights.”

Webb finished with eight points and 13 rebounds, a school record for rebounds in an NCAA tournament game.

It was the first time since 1987 that a school had played a tournament game on its home court. Dayton went 16-0 at home last season.

“I don’t think it was a big advantage for them,” Webb said. “By the end of the game, their crowd started getting into it. When they started making a comeback, they started to get into it. Anywhere you play, when their crowd gets into it, it really helps you. That’s their biggest advantage.”

Last summer, Webb was selected to play in camps sponsored by Nike and Adidas.

“It was such a great experience to get to play with some of the great, top college athletes from around the world,” Webb said. “Just to see how I compare with them was a great experience.”

Among those in attendance were Ben Simmons of Louisiana State and Buddy Hield of Oklahoma.

“They’ve got a lot of publicity around them and the media followed them all around, everywhere they went,” Webb said. “Buddy’s a good player and made a big jump from the Nike to Adidas camps, and that was in just a three-week span.”

“He’s grown so much as player since NIC,” said Corey Symons, in his second season as North Idaho College men’s basketball coach after spending the previous 10 seasons as an NIC assistant. “His redshirt year in Boise was really good for him. He got into the weight room and put on some weight. Talent wise, he’s always been a good player. It’s always good to see him get a little more experience.”

Webb shot 47 for 115 (.409 percent) on 3-point attempts in his first full season in the Bronco rotation, starting 27 of 32 games.

“Man, I can shoot it better,” Webb said. “Just my overall basketball IQ has gotten better. I’ve just learned more about the game and my confidence has grown. I think everything has changed really.”

This year, Webb has played in 28 games — starting each of them — and is averaging 16 points per game and 9.39 rebounds a game. His 3-point average is down a little (26 of 102 for a .255 percentage) however.

“They’re not falling for me as much this year as they were last year,” Webb said. “But I’ve been working on it.”

Webb has kept up on his former school — especially Symons and former NIC head coach Jared Phay — when possible, even attending a North Idaho-Southern Idaho game last season in Twin Falls.

“I had a chance to talk to them both a little bit then,” Webb said. “I’ve kept up with Corey and he contacts my parents through Facebook and keeps up on how things are going. I see updates here and there on how the team is doing.”

Webb credits both Phay and Symons for helping him land at a Division I school.

“They just really got me out there,” Webb said. “Boise had seen me play and North Carolina did when I was back home. But they probably weren’t going to be out to NIC to see me there. Going to a JUCO really helped get me out there again. They’re both really close to me and did a great job of getting my name out there.”

He’s a great kid,” Symons said. “He’s a good player, comes from a military kind of family and is very respectful. We’ve kept in contact quite a bit. I’m excited for his success and chance to play professionally.”

“It’s been a great experience,” Webb said of playing for Rice at Boise State. “He’s really helped me with my overall game. He just lets me know what things I can do best and keep doing that instead of something that I can’t do, or something that’s out of my game.”

On Feb. 10, during a game in Fort Collins, Colo., against Colorado State, Webb appeared to hit a game-winning 3-pointer to give the Broncos a win. But due to a timing error, the shot was disallowed and BSU lost 97-93 in double overtime. Two days after the ruling, Mountain West officials said the shot should have counted, but would not change the ruling.

“It’s a big motivation,” Webb said. “Especially since they said a few days later that is should have counted. I think using that as motivation is adding fuel to the fire. I think we’ll be all right from this.”

“The whole team did a great job of bouncing back from that,” Rice said. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks with losses on buzzer beaters and close games. You just take a big exhale and move on. We’ve been playing good the last couple of games, and now, who knows what will happen with this team.”

Webb added that there’s still much to play for this season.

“We’ve got more games to play in this conference,” Webb said. “Every team is good, so we’ve got to give everyone our best shot.”

Webb was named a first-team all-Mountain West Conference selection earlier this week. Boise State opens the conference tournament as the third seed, and will begin play today, facing No. 6 Colorado State at 8 p.m.

“It’s been an up and down season, but we’re getting better,” Webb said. “Starting the season by losing at Montana and coming back to beat Oregon at home, it’s just been a crazy year, but it’s been fun. We’re just sticking with it and know we can do something special.”