Aussie sojourn exceeding expectations for Rice

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Having come across plenty of Aussies during his Boise State college career, Max Rice always wanted to try playing down under and when his coach recruited him in person it was an easy decision to join East Perth Eagles of NBL1 West for 2025.

Like any young player, Rice dreamed of playing in the NBA and he still does understandably, but Boise State has a strong history of Australian players headlined by current Tasmania JackJumpers NBL championship star Anthony Drmic who led the Broncos to two NCAA Tournaments.

So playing in Australia was always something Rice wanted to explore once he completed a sixth year at Boise State in 2024, but what he didn’t expect was for a prospective coach and his wife who doubles as the club president to come recruit him in person.

Carl and Mia Filpo came to visit Rice in person on Boise, Idaho, late last year where they secured his signature. Fast forward to nine games into the 2025 season at the Eagles, Rice is holding up his end of the bargain scoring and shooting in the NBL1 West.

"I definitely expected it to be a competitive league with a lot of good players, and a lot of good scorers," Rice said.

"I actually played in Denmark for two months right before I came here so there were a lot of ballers there too.

"I've heard good things from people like Anthony Drmic who played at Boise where he's one of the GOATs and he said nothing but great things about the NBL1.

"So I knew it would be a great opportunity to get down here and play a little bit of hoops, and see the world. I've really enjoyed it so far."

After graduating in 2024, Rice did have a brief stint playing for Naestved in Denmark, but this season at the Eagles in the NBL1 is his first season-long stay somewhere. He is glad that he's doing that in a country he always wanted to tick off playing in.

"Obviously growing up everyone's trying to make the NBA, that's every kid's dream, but also playing in Australia was something I've always been interested in just because I've heard great things about it for so long," he said.

"Then hearing all the great things about how nice the weather is, how nice the beaches are and even the people here are awesome as well so it's definitely been on my radar for a long time once I finished college."

There would have been no shortage of suitors for Rice from clubs all over the NBL1 competition in Australia had they known of his interest, but the connection for East Perth with Boise State goes all the way back to Brian King who came out to play in the SBL in 1991.

That then continued with Lukas Milner having played at the Eagles the past two seasons, and now has led to Rice joining them.

While he would have happily listened to any offers from Australian clubs, having Carl and Mia Filpo come recruit him in person made it a no-brainer to be on board.

"I thought it was really cool for them to come all the way out to Boise and to meet them in person, and to see what I was going to get into going over there," Rice said.

"It kinda gave me a taste of it and I thought it was also really cool that they were able to come to some Boise State practices and see the life I had been living the past six years, and what I went through day to day.

"Now I'm over here seeing their life and just to kind of see the different things that people do in different countries is so cool.

"I thought it was awesome that I got to come all the way to America to see me because that's super rare that the coach you're playing for gets to come see your life and what you're doing before you come and play for them."

That bond that Rice created with the Filpos back in Boise has translated to his move to Perth as well where he is living with them in the family home. Everything about the experience so far has even surpassed his expectations.

"I could just tell that coach was a great dude and one of the most generous guys I've ever met honestly," Rice said.

"We're living in his house and they're just so good to us. They feed us all the time, they let us use their cars and I knew it was going to be a great situation coming down here.

"Then also at Boise State we had a lot of Australians come through our program so I kinda always had liked being around Aussies, and they'd always talked great about the country and the basketball down here.

"So knew I'd be getting into something good and it's everything that I expected and more, I love it here so much and I'm enjoying the basketball even though we'd obviously like to get some more wins."

Rice hasn’t come down to Australia on his own either with his fiancé Taylor with him for the journey. That's probably a good thing too because they have a lot of planning in quick time to be doing for their upcoming wedding at the end of August.

"Carl and Mia were nice enough to let her come down here too, which is very generous, and to be able to see this country for the first time with my soon-to-be wife is awesome, I couldn’t ask for anything more," he said.

"We have set the date and it's August 30 so if we end up doing well in the playoffs it's going to be a quick flip home and then straight into the wedding. It's exciting times for sure."

There's even more connections for Rice too because it turns out that he played college basketball against new teammate Jonah Antonio.

Antonio was at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas and playing with eh Runnin' Rebels when he played against Rice's Broncos back in the 2019/20 season, and now it turns out they are NBL1 teammates with East Perth.

They have complementary games too as standout shooters who are good athletes and capable of putting the ball on the floor.

"It's actually really cool. I was just going through some old pictures that I had of playing in college and I randomly found that one where it looked like it was Jonah," Rice said.

"It turned out that we had played against each other in college so it's a small world. He's a really good teammate to have now and he kinda takes some of that offensive pressure off me which is nice, and I can sort of sit in the corner and shoot threes, and get back on defence.

"It's nice to have a three and D kind of athlete on the other side of the court like him and we complement each other's game really well."

So far this season and Rice is averaging 17.1 points a game with the Eagles while shooting the three ball at 39 per cent including a best of knocking down seven of them in the stirring road win against the Geraldton Buccaneers.

That's always been a strength for him and he finds if his shot is falling, it makes the rest of his game better too.

"I've always kinda had a decent jumper and as those shots go in, that opens up different levels of my game where the defenders might have to step up a little bit and then I can get to the hoop," he said.

"I've kinda based my whole game around making threes and it definitely works better when they're going in I'll tell you that much."

Given everything Rice had heard about the basketball and lifestyle in Australia, it's more than lived up to what he thought and he's not surprised to see former imports Lee Roberts, Sharif Watson and Taylor Young now teammates who have set up life down under.

He has no idea what his future holds and right now finishing this season and then the wedding are occupying all his focus, but he could think of worse places to settle than Australia.

"Obviously that shows how awesome this place to live that those guys came over here and ended up wanting to stay, and I could maybe see that in the future for sure," Rice said.

"It could be a really cool place to retire even kinda like what Lee is doing where he's just hooping and hanging out.

"It's definitely an option to come back, my mum actually came down to visit a month and she already wants to get a place here she loved it so much. The family loves it as well so you never know what might happen in the future."