The Front Row with MARK NELKE Feb. 26, 2012
The actual Selection Sunday for the NCAA men's basketball tournament is just two weeks away.
Around these parts, the big question is, what seed will Gonzaga get, and where will the Zags be sent for their first game. ESPN's Bracketology has Gonzaga a seven seed in the Midwest Region, playing Mississippi State in St. Louis. So even if the Zags slip up and, say, lose in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament next weekend, they're in - in part because there's some extra bids the Pac-12 won't be able to use.
To a lesser extent, fans around here will also watch to see who joins the Gonzaga women for the first two rounds at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane. The Zags rode the emotion of having the first two games on their home court last year all the way to the regional finals across the river and down the street, at the Spokane Arena.
BUT IMAGINE if today was Selection Sunday for the Idaho state high school boys basketball tournaments.
Imagine if all the district/regional champions received automatic bids, and everyone else had to sweat out getting an at-large bid today?
In 5A, third-ranked Coeur d'Alene lost to second-ranked Post Falls in a thrilling regional final. Certainly the Vikings deserve an at-large bid, and may have secured it by beating Lake City in the second-place game Friday night.
And what about Lake City, which beat Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls once each during the season? Those wins should mean something to the Selection Committee?
It would be hard to justify an at-large berth coming out of 4A Region 1, which was won by Moscow, though you could make a case some years for it. But, like some of the smaller college conferences have found out, you are not guaranteed any margin for error if you lose.
In 3A, second-ranked Kellogg beat top-ranked St. Maries the other night to win the District 1 title. You would think St. Maries would deserve an at-large bid, especially after beating Timberlake in the second-place game. But what about the Tigers, coming off one of their best seasons in school history? They would be watching today’s selection show with interest.
ANYWAY, IT’S never going to happen that way. No way the state could put together a committee of people who could follow teams well enough to know the difference between a team with a good record built against lesser teams, and a team with an average record which played a lot of teams in a larger-school division, like the 4A teams do here against the 5A schools.
And even if they did have a Selection Committee, imagine the upheaval over how they bracketed the tournaments. People complain about the way the IHSAA does it now, but at least it’s set up so, in most cases, district/regional champs do not face other district-regional champs in the first round. Every now and then, because of an upset at districts/regionals, or because some classifications have five district/regional champions, you might get a matchup of two of the top teams in the state in the first round.
But, as coaches like to say, “You’ve got to play ’em sometime anyway.”
In any event, good idea or not, it does make for some food for thought before today’s big NASCAR race, and tonight’s alley oop-fest.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.