After Boise State beat the University of Hawai'i to clinch at least a share of the men's basketball championship Saturday, a reporter asked Reggie Larry if the football-renown Broncos were becoming a ... basketball school?

Larry smiled and shook his head.

Truth be told, Boise State is moving toward being the WAC's powerhouse for most seasons.

Tonight the Broncos can wrap up both the men's and women's regular-season basketball titles, which would make Boise State the first school in the WAC to accomplish the feat in a decade. It would be Boise State's first men's crown and second in a row for the women. Add to that the success the Broncos have enjoyed in football, where UH ended a streak of five consecutive championships in November, and Boise State is becoming an across-the-board power in the nine-school WAC.

If the Broncos win either of the two basketball titles they'll also overtake UH in the current Commissioner's Cup standings, which represents overall strength across 19 sports in the WAC, and likely be on the way to winning the award for the second time in three years. Boise State finished second the other year.

UH, which has so far been having a banner year with football, soccer and women's volleyball WAC titles, has yet to finish higher than fourth in the cup standings.

The kind of wide-ranging Bronco success should be a wake-up for the rest of the WAC. And something to think about for the new UH athletic director. The Broncos, who have been in the WAC less than seven years, have been doing it the thrifty way. By Division I-A standards, anyway, with a $20 million budget, the third largest budget (behind Fresno State and UH). Moreover, they've done it with facilities that hardly dwarf the Bulldogs, or Warriors.

It also behooves the rest of the conference not to let Boise State separate itself too far from the rest of the WAC pack. Not when the Broncos' president, Robert Kustra, has talked up the attraction of the Mountain West Conference for Boise State. As recently as the UH-Boise State football showdown, Kustra reiterated the school has approached the MWC and noted, "we're in Boise, Idaho, we're in the intermountain region and, needless to say, the Mountain West has always been a conference that has interested our fans and has interested those of us that are concerned about how far our student-athletes have to travel."

As it had in football, Boise State has set a standard for UH and the rest if the WAC to take aim at. Only now it extends beyond the blue turf.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.