The Front Row with MARK NELKE March 21, 2013
A moment of silence, please, for the Jon M. Huntsman Center, which may be through hosting NCAA men's basketball tournament games after some 40 years of wonderful, memorable service to the tournament.
While there's not a bad seat - even from the top row - in the 15,000-seat arena, which is dug mostly into the ground, apparently the NCAA's needs (more locker rooms, bigger area for the working media, etc.) have outgrown the facility.
Which is understandable - who knew college basketball, and the NCAA tournament, would have ever gotten this big?
And if you've ever attended games there, and wanted to walk around the concourse, you hoped no one else had the same idea, since there isn't that much room out there.
That is why Gonzaga, sent to Salt Lake City for the NCAAs for the fourth time, are playing at EnergySolutions Arena, home of the Utah Jazz, where the phrase "Stockton to Malone" was made famous.
The only suspense in Gonzaga's second-round game today vs. Southern is how fast TBS will show John Stockton sitting in the crowd, watching his son, Zags junior David.
One of Gonzaga's most memorable tournament games took place at the Huntsman Center - that 96-95 double-overtime loss by the No. 9 seed Zags to No. 1 seed Arizona in 2003. They showed the end of that game on the big screen at the Spokane Arena when the NCAA games in Spokane were done for the day - and the cheers and groans from the crowd that stuck around to watch drowned out the interviews taking place in the bowels of the Arena.
Among the most memorable game's I've seen in the six supregionals I've attended at the Huntsman Center over the years ... in 1987, the emergence of Fennis Dembo and Wyoming, which as a No. 12 seed upset No. 5 Virginia 64-60 and No. 4 UCLA and Reggie Miller 78-68.
The following year, when Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers were sophomores, Loyola Marymount out-gunned Wyoming 119-115. But two days later, North Carolina turned LMU's overplaying defense into a steady stream of backdoor layups and dunks, and routed the Lions 123-97.
And even as far back as 1971, when UCLA was in the middle of its run of seven straight NCAA titles, and 10 in 12 years, the Bruins had to go through the Huntsman Center (then called the Special Events Center), to reach the Final Four, beating Jerry Tarkanian and Long Beach State in the West Regional final.
IT'S FUNNY to hear the outrage from the locals when the national folks diss the Zags (“They can’t talk that way about our pledges! Only we can talk that way about our pledges!”).
Truth is, there is usually a speck of truth in what they say, and they’ll continue to say it until the Zags get to a Final Four, and perhaps win it.
Until then, calm the (heck) down and enjoy the ride, whether it ends in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight or Final Four — or, who knows? Maybe they’re the ones left standing on the floor of the Georgia Dome when CBS plays “One Shining Moment.”
SOME PEOPLE are picking Montana to upset Syracuse on Thursday in San Jose. If so, the Griz are going to have to play much better than they did last year in Albuquerque, when I thought they rolled over in getting blown out by Wisconsin. Part of pulling an upset like that is believing that you can, and watching them that day, I didn’t think they thought they could.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.