THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE, November 10, 2013

There was a time when the college basketball season made a grand entrance each year, many teams engaging in the showtime called "Midnight Madness" every Oct. 15.

Then that novelty wore off - plus, a few players blew out their knees trying to entertain the fans - and now, teams don't all start practicing on the same day.

(Teams like Gonzaga, of course, figured out they didn't need to make their fans stay up 'til midnight to meet the new Zags, so they stage their own season-opening extravaganza at a more reasonable hour - in the late afternoon).

Anyway, even the start of the regular season these days kind of sneaks up on us without much warning - like a weed, or a wart.

The return of Ding Dongs likely made a bigger splash this fall.

But here we are, many teams starting their seasons a couple nights ago; some, like Gonzaga and Idaho, getting underway last night - while local high schools delve into the state playoffs, and college football trots out its weekly dose of "games of the year."

But this lukewarm tipoff will be of little concern, of course, by the time March Madness rolls around once again, and we wonder if any of our local teams will be involved. Well, we know that one will ...

Gonzaga: You might expect a dropoff from a team after losing two guys to the pros. But the Zags usually bring in suitable replacements, and the current players step up into bigger roles, and the end result is often the same - just with different names.

The only question might be, will the Zags make it past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. They couldn't do it last year, when they were the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Sure, those might be unfair expectations for lil' ol' Gonzaga, but the Zags bring those on with their remarkably, consistently, strong play over the last decade and a half.

Plus, their main competition in the West Coast Conference, Saint Mary's, looks to have taken a step back, now that The Mouthpiece has finally moved on. Perhaps BYU will challenge, and maybe a couple others will step it up when they host the Zags, but it's still Gonzaga's league.

Idaho: The interest around here, of course, is Connor Hill, a junior and 3-point marksman from Post Falls High. Stephen Madison is another experienced returnee, and ex-Eastern Washington Eagle Glen Dean is a good addition at the point.

After that, there's a lot of unknowns - and we're not only talking about Vandal players, but also the other teams in the Western Athletic Conference. Nine teams in nine states, and good luck naming them without relying on Google.

Next year, the conference foes will be more familiar, as Idaho returns to the Big Sky Conference in all sports except football, and Hill can take the court at least a couple times during the season against his former high school teammate, point guard Marcus Colbert, now a sophomore at Montana State.

Idaho was picked to finish second in the WAC, meaning the Vandals could be in position to challenge for their first NCAA appearance since 1990.

Washington State: They couldn't keep guys like Klay Thompson and Brock Motum around forever, so the Cougs were picked to finish last in the Pac-12.

Hardly encouraging news for a program which continues to play second fiddle to that national-caliber program up the road.

While Gonzaga could sell out a walk-through, and all of its games have been on TV for years, the Cougs played many home games in front of many empty chairs, and many games went untelevised.

The advent of the Pac-12 Networks cured the latter program - unless you have the audacity to prefer your programming via DirecTV, which can't reach an agreement to carry the conference's network.

Though this year, with that team, you might not be missing much.

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.