THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke Sept. 29, 2013

When not quoting Nick Saban, North Idaho College men's basketball coach Jared Phay expressed a fondness for Jason Wheelock, a redshirt sophomore guard, the other day, at the Cardinals' annual sports showcase for NIC boosters.

"He used to come to our basketball camp," Phay said of the two-sport standout from Lake City High. "He would come to our games, and come up to me afterward and critique our games."

Wheelock played soccer one year at NIC, and redshirted in basketball. He went on a two-year mission for the LDS Church, then played basketball for the Cardinals last year.

"I actually think, somewhere down the road, when (current NIC athletic director) Al Williams is being inducted into the NIC athletic hall of fame, Jason could be our AD.

"Hopefully, he doesn't fire me."

NIC returns just three players from last year - Wheelock, sophomore forward Nathan Rathbun and redshirt freshman forward Ty Higbie.

"This year we're so focused on the process," Phay said, alluding to Saban's approach at Alabama. "I think we're going to play a little faster this year - we might press a little more."

THOUGHT: NIC is coming off a 26-5 season, and Phay, in his 10th season, has won more than 200 games at NIC. The burr in the saddle is the Cardinals, for all their success, have not been to nationals since 1997 - the longest drought of any current program. Some of it has been the reality of playing in a tough conference, some of it has been their own doing - twice losing at home in the Region 18 semifinals. But you figure with their regular-season success of recent years, and with the NJCAA tournament expanding starting this past year, NIC will get back to Hutchinson, Kansas, sooner rather than later.

POINT GUARD Georgia Stirton is the lone returning starter for the North Idaho College women's basketball team.

The reigning MVP of the Scenic West Athletic Conference is attracting interest from several schools, including Gonzaga. She is one of only two returners who played a lot of minutes last year.

"We have nine freshmen," said Chris Carlson, beginning his 10th season as NIC coach.

In the 2011-12 season, sophomore point guard Korina Baker guided a talented group of NIC freshmen back to nationals, a year after Baker and a strong sophomore class won a national title for the Cardinals. Baker is now at SMU. Carlson sees some potential similarities this year.

"It's nice to have a point guard like that leading a group of freshmen," Carlson said.

As for the SWAC, "last year CSI was very young, and put it together at the end of the season. They've got to be the favorites," Carlson said. "Snow had a lot of freshmen, and they host the (Region 18) tournament. Salt Lake is always strong. If we can stay healthy, we can be as good as anybody."

THOUGHT: After that national title group - which included several local standouts - moved on, Carlson brought in another strong class that won the SWAC in 2012 and got back to nationals last year. No reason to think this group won't be in the hunt as well.

THE ONLY thing missing from the luncheon was NIC wrestling coach Pat Whitcomb, who was unable to attend. Whitcomb usually capped the luncheons in the way Dean Martin's guests used to cap his celebrity roasts - returning all the barbs lobbed at them during the night.

"We have 42, 43 freshmen," NIC assistant coach Keri Stanley said. "I finally learned all 63 names last week."

NIC will return two All-Americans from last year, including NJCAA champion V.J. Giulio. Four others with nationals experience will be back as well, including Curtis Berger, who wrestled at heavyweight last year.

"He's dropped from 230 to 184," Stanley said. "You probably won't recognize him this year."

THOUGHT: Last year's national title was part redemption and part relief for NIC. It was 10 years between national title No. 13 (2003) and national title No. 14. The bar is set so high, the NIC people like to say, that when the Cardinals "only" finish second at nationals, which has happened quite a bit, people ask what went wrong. Region 18 produced four of the top eight teams at nationals last year. Stanley said Northwest College of Powell, Wyo., returns eight freshmen and is "probably the favorite' in the Region. But especially with nationals being in Spokane this season, expect NIC to be in contention again. Three years ago, when nationals were last held there, the Cardinals were second.

NIC's VOLLEYBALL team opened Scenic West Athletic Conference play with a pair of victories this weekend, after its typically rugged nonconference slate of tournaments in the West.

"We have five losses - all to teams ranked in the top four in the country," first-year coach Miles Kydd said. "We've beat the teams we should beat, and the teams we need to beat, we haven't beat yet."

NIC is ranked 17th this week. SWAC foes CSI (4th), Salt Lake (8th) and Snow (12th) are all ranked ahead of the Cardinals.

"I don't know if they're better than us," Kydd said. "I don't think they are - they just happen to play a different schedule."

THOUGHT: Kydd is NIC's fourth coach in five seasons, but the constant is, the Cardinals have been to nationals three straight years, and six out of the last nine since their first trip in 2004. With the top two advancing to nationals, NIC's hopes rest on that semifinal match at the Region 18 tournament - likely against one of those above-mentioned teams.

THEIR NATIONALS are in the spring, but NIC's men's and women's golf teams play a few tournaments in the fall. At a tournament earlier this month in Billings, Mont., the Cardinal men shot 17 under par the second day to win by eight shots.

Pretty good for a team that lost four of its five starters from last year. The women lost three of their five.

"One through nine on the men's side is as deep as we've ever been," said Derrick Thompson, in his fourth year with the program, second as head coach.

THOUGHT: NIC's teams have gone to nationals each year since they were eligible, with the women finishing a program-best ninth last year. This year, Thompson said, there's actually a qualifying tournament for nationals - in the past, there wasn't for NIC. Basically, if they thought they were good enough to compete (and had the money to get there), they went. Making it this spring will make it seem like even more of an accomplishment.

AFTER SCORING 21 goals all of last year, NIC's men's soccer team has scored 24 through its first 10 games this season, going 6-3-1 - led by Rodger Bucknor with five and former East Valley High standout Adam Talley with four. Both have battled injuries this fall.

"When we've had both of those guys on the field, we've only lost once," coach Ken Thompson said.

He also praised assistant coaches Garga Caserta, the former NIC standout who handles the team's fitness, Thompson's brother, Mike, who works with the goalkeepers, and Nick Funkhouser, who has experience coaching with the Spokane Shadow.

"This team is fitter, and also deeper," Ken Thompson said.

NIC's women were 2-4-2 entering the week, needing five wins in their final eight games to qualify for districts.

"We're kind of struggling on the attack," NIC women's coach Dan Hogan said.

They've also been slowed by various ailments - injuries to knees, fingers, wrists ...

"And that doesn't even include the normal bumps and bruises," Hogan said.

THOUGHT: Since they don't have a league of their own, NIC's teams have to be at .500 or better by a certain point late in the season to qualify for district play. They could schedule their way to districts, but to their credit, the Cardinals stock their schedule with many of the toughest teams in the West, so that makes qualifying for districts that much more meaningful.

SALT LAKE, the national runner-up in NJCAA softball last spring, returns five players - though the Bruins lost their entire coaching staff to Weber State.

CSI also returns five players. NIC returns three - and has 17 newcomers.

"We have a lot of athleticism, and we have a lot more speed than last year," said coach Don Don Williams, who started the program in 1998. "I expect we're going to be a stronger hitting team this year."

NIC, which is in the midst of its fall-ball season, will return pitcher Hunter Allen, and Williams is counting on three freshmen pitchers as well.

THOUGHT: No other team sport, it seems, is so highly dependent on one individual - the pitcher. When NIC had Kelcey Cavan, who was good enough to be recruited by the University of Washington, the Cardinals went to nationals twice, including a runner-up finish in 2007. But they haven't been back since, though they've had some pretty good hitting teams. It's all about the circle.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.