THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke, March 13, 2014

The last few years, the 4A Region 1 boys and girls basketball tournaments have had the potential to be drawn-out meat grinders where even the winner was worn out by the end.

The format - the No. 3 seed plays at the No. 2 seed, with that winner traveling to the No. 1 seed in the next round.

But that wasn't the end of it.

The winner of that game advanced to the title game, where they had to be beaten twice. The other two teams met in a loser-out game, with that winner advancing to the championship round.

Problem was, you couldn't find three teams much farther apart, but in the same league, as Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow.

So it was possible for, say, Lakeland, to win at Sandpoint in the first round, lose at Moscow in the second round, win at Sandpoint in a loser-out game, win at Moscow in the first title game, then travel back to Moscow the next night for the winner-take-all title game.

At that point, the Lakeland folks likely had every landmark between Rathdrum and Moscow memorized, and may have wondered if it might be cheaper for the 4A Inland Empire League just to rent a big house in Moscow, to save on travel costs.

SO THE compromise?

At the nudging of Lakeland boys basketball coach Dave Stockwell, this year the 4A IEL opted for a neutral site - North Idaho College.

And rather than a potential of five tourney games, the event was streamlined down to two, No. 3 vs. No. 2 on Monday night, winner vs. No. 1 on Wednesday night for the regional title and a berth to state.

To add to the festivities, the Intermountain League did the same thing - playing two games on Monday before the 4A game, and two more games on Wednesday, with the 3A District 1 title game played right before the 4A regional title game.

The result - a thumbs-up from coaches and players.

"We had to give up double-elimination to have a neutral-site district tournament, and that's OK," Sandpoint boys coach Tyler Haynes said. "I think we should give it two years, and really embrace it, and then think about it. Yeah, I think this (NIC's Christianson Gym) is a great facility ... I think this gives the district a real tournament atmosphere, rather than a glorified home game."

"The fact of the matter is, the double-elimination would be nice, but then again, we're not playing for a play-in game," Stockwell said. "If we had four teams like the 5A, it'd be a different story. But this one here, Moscow has the (top) seed, it can be good, it can be bad, it's kind of like the wild card in football. Sometimes those guys can get on a roll. Still, everybody's got to play well, and you have to play well if you want to move on."

As it turned out, the top seed (Sandpoint girls and Moscow boys) won each 4A Region 1 tournament.

In the 4A girls regional, No. 3 Lakeland upset No. 2 Moscow on the first night, and would have gone to state had the Hawks pulled off a similar win over No. 1 Sandpoint two nights later. Under the old format, a win in that game would have meant Lakeland still would have had to win one more game to reach state.

"It was good for the underdogs," said Lakeland coach Steve Seymour, who coached tourney games at NIC years ago when Lakeland was in 3A. "I could see where there may be a little more anxiety if you're the No. 1 (seed), you have no protection. ... I love NIC, and I love the shared fans with the IEL and the IML ... I just think it's a neat place for basketball ... I, for one, and glad they found a way to get back in here."

"It certainly felt like a tournament," Lakeland athletic director Trent Derrick said.

Derrick was Lakeland's boys coach back when the Hawks used to play in the 3A district tourney at NIC. His son, Tyrel, is a junior point guard for Lakeland.

"It's great," Derrick said of playing at NIC. "I remember when my dad coached here in the 3A tournament. It's been a dream to play in the district tournament here and it finally became a reality. It was an incredible experience."

THE 3A district tournament has been held at a neutral site for years. A decade or so ago, it was held at NIC (along with the 1A District 1 tournament), then moved to another neutral site (often Lakeland High) in recent years.

"I love it," Timberlake coach Tony Hanna said of playing the 3A district tourney at NIC. "Lakeland's a nice gym too, but for the kids to get to play at a college, and to put both the 3As and 4As together ... and it's nice for some of these high school kids to see the campus. I think it's a great idea.

"I think it's more of a tournament atmosphere, maybe gets teams ready for state a little bit more. ... I hope they stick with it."

After the 1As split into two divisions, they played their district tournament games at the home of the higher seed. Last year, they brought their district tournament(s) back to the "big city" for that tournament atmosphere, with a 1A Division II game followed by a Division I game each night.

The 1As played at Lake City High last year. This year, the girls played at Kellogg High one night (because of gym availability, as they were snowed out at Lake City the first night) and at Lake City the second night. Because of gym availability, the boys played at Timberlake this year.

Next year, with Lakeside dropping down to 1A Division II, the Division II District 1 district tournament will consist of four teams, rather than three. Still, Kootenai athletic director and boys basketball coach said they'd like to keep the neutral-site format for that tourney.

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.