THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, June 1, 2014

Games between the No. 1 seed and the No. 16 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament aren't supposed to be close anyway, but this one was ridiculous.

In 2013 in San Jose, Montana was matched up against Syracuse. In quite a few of these 16 vs. 1 games, the first half is often pretty even, then the better team pulls away in the second half.

This was not one of those games.

Syracuse pulled away from Montana almost from the opening tip. And, as much as Orange coach Jim Boeheim tried to be sportsmanlike, the 'Cuse couldn't help but trounce the Griz 81-34.

I was in the arena in San Jose for that game, and I felt bad for the Montana fans, so loyal to their Griz, that had to sit through that drubbing.

SO, WHEN people wonder, why would someone leave a winning program like Montana for one at Oregon State, which is nearing a quarter-century run of mediocrity (at best!), there's a simple answer:

For as good as he's had it at Montana, the best that the Griz were ever going to be was a low seed in the NCAAs, and likely cannon fodder for whatever big-time school they drew in their opener. Not always as bad as their 2013 trip turned out, but you get the drift.

Oh, sure, the Griz has had there moments in the Big Dance, in the 10 trips they've made since 1975.

There was 2006, when Montana, which included a certain Lake City High grad named Matt Dlouhy, as a No. 12 seed sprung the upset of No. 5 Nevada in the first round, 87-79. The Griz lost 69-56 to No. 4 Boston College in the second round.

And there was the 1975 NCAA tournament, where Montana pushed eventual champion UCLA to the wire in a 67-64 loss in the West Regional semifinals.

That's two wins in Montana's NCAA tourney history. At that rate, the next Griz win in the NCAAs would come in 2037.

SURE, TINKLE could have stayed at Montana, where notables such as Jud Heathcote and Mike Montgomery had success before moving up the ladder. In eight seasons in Missoula, Tinkle coached the Griz into the NCAAs three times - all in the last five seasons.

Meanwhile, Oregon State has not been to the NCAA tournament since 1990, when Gary Payton was a senior. That was so long ago that Payton has since had a son, Gary II, who played in NIC's Christianson Gym a few times the past two seasons as a member of the Salt Lake Community College team. Lil' Glove will be a junior at OSU this coming season.

Oregon State went to the NCAAs eight times between 1980 and '90, but its last NCAA win came in 1982, when the Beavers made it to the West Regional final before getting routed by Georgetown and a freshman center named Patrick Ewing.

Corvallis is a nice little town, and the Beavers' baseball and football teams have proven that you can win there. But Gill Coliseum is an old building, and has been an old building for years, especially compared to the shiny new arena Oregon built just up the road a few years ago.

STILL, IT'S the Pac-12, where every other school (except Utah) has played in the NCAA tournament since 2008. Utah last made the NCAAs in 2009, when it was still in the Mountain West. The Runnin' Utes joined the Pac-12 in 2011.

Tinkle becomes the sixth coach to try to lead OSU back to the NCAAs since longtime assistant Jim Anderson did it in 1990, his first season as head coach. After Anderson left in 1995 with a 79-90 record, the others - Eddie Payne (52-88 in five seasons), Ritchie McKay (22-37 in two seasons), Jay John (72-97 in nearly five seasons), Kevin Mouton (0-13 as interim coach) and Craig Robinson (93-104 in seven seasons), known mostly for being President Obama's brother-in-law - have tried and mostly failed.

Even Washington State, which has made the NCAAs just six times in its history, has been there three times since the Beavers last made it.

I see Tinkle's move sort of like Kelly Graves leaving Gonzaga's women's basketball team after 14 seasons to give it a shot at Oregon. Sure, he could have stayed in Spokane, where he was beloved for elevating the program to where the Zag women are now regulars in the NCAA tournament.

There's obviously more competition in the Pac-12 than in the West Coast Conference, so Graves does run the risk that he could still improve the Ducks program, but only elevate it to the middle of the Pac-12. However, if he can create the same kind of magic in Eugene that he did in Spokane, and become the team to beat in the conference ...

In any event, kudos to both coaches for at least taking the chance.

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