THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, April 23, 2016

It might be a few years before fans get another season like the one that came across the floor at Rolly Williams Court in 2015-16.

An unbeaten regular season by the men’s basketball team.

Instant classics in its two home games against eventual NJCAA champion Salt Lake when they met in Scenic West Athletic Conference play.

This year was definitely one to remember.

KEEP IN mind that it’s rare that a team plays a team from its own conference more than three times in a season, really at any level.

NIC won three of four games — that’s right, four — with Salt Lake this season, winning the first game 87-77 on Jan. 9 in Coeur d’Alene.

The next two matchups in the regular season were anything but runaways.

NIC had to rally — twice — first at Salt Lake in a 98-94 win on Jan. 28, then had to get a late basket in a 91-90 win on Feb. 18 in Coeur d’Alene.

That was the final time that Salt Lake lost the rest of the season, beating NIC in the Region 18 tournament championship game in Twin Falls 86-73.

The rest is well, history, as you might know by now. NIC came up short in its first game at nationals since 1997 and Salt Lake ran past everyone in their way in Hutchinson, including the home team in the title game, for its second title in six years.

DEPENDING ON how much you follow college basketball at the Division I level, it might surprise you to find out that some of those athletes that will be playing some big time basketball next year, actually played locally this past season.

Southern Idaho’s Pape Diatta signed with Georgia of the Southeastern Conference on Wednesday after averaging 13 points per game and 8.3 rebounds, earning all-conference honors.

Salt Lake’s Tyler Rawson, the Most Outstanding Player at this year’s Region 18 tournament, will continue his playing career at Utah next year.

Braian Angola-Rodas, who NIC fans had the luxury of seeing play at Rolly Williams Court 17 times this season, signed with Florida State.

Also on the trail for Angola-Rodas were Washington, Utah, Oregon and Houston, who were so interested that coach Kelvin Sampson — a former Washington State coach — came to Coeur d’Alene to see him play in the final conference games of the season.

Granted, my time watching and covering these teams has been short — just a little over six years — but I can’t recall another time when these types of Division I players came through this area, let alone the level of talent that NIC had.

NIC, thus far, has five players — Angola-Rodas (Florida State), BJ Blake (Idaho), Trey Burch-Manning (South Dakota), Kyle Guice (Illinois-Chicago) and Lucas Antunez (Toldeo) — sign with Division I programs.

And the Cardinals aren’t done yet.

A few players have visits scheduled in the coming days, thought both could opt to come back for their sophomore seasons next year.

WHILE SOME might not reach the level of former Salt Lake standout Gary Payton II, who finished his collegiate career by getting Oregon State to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1990, does it really matter?

If this season was any indication, these guys will make an impact, no matter where they end up.

With a little luck, the rest of the nation might get a good idea of what we know next March.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.