THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016
If you’re a fan of, say, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, what are you hoping to find under the tree today?
The program’s first Final Four berth?
A national title?
Why not?
As the Zags continue to thrash teams you’ve heard of, as well as teams you haven’t, the refrain from opposing coaches is starting to sound the same:
This could be the best team coach Mark Few has ever had at Gonzaga.
That would be saying something, as the Zags are on their way to their 19th straight trip to the NCAA tournament, and have been knocking at the Final Four’s door the past two seasons.
IF YOU’RE the other team, trying to defend the Zags, who do you try to take away?
Gonzaga has so many scoring options. The Zags’ top four scorers average between 10.9 and 14.0 points per game.
If their fifth-year center has to take a seat, the true freshman center comes in off the bench without missing a beat.
They have seven new faces, but the freshmen and the transfers seem to fit in seamlessly.
Double down on the posts, and they just kick it out to the guards for easy 3s. Single cover the posts, and they just eat that up.
The talent level keeps rising, to the point where people they brought in a few years ago are still having an even harder time getting on the floor.
And, in an era where players leave for the NBA way too early, or transfer if they don’t get to play, these Zags don’t seem to mind divvying up the minutes, the points and the glory.
Sounds like a formula for a team primed to play into early April.
• If you’re a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, you hope your immensely talented team — especially on defense — can deliver you a second Super Bowl title in four seasons.
It’s a wide-open NFL this season, with no super teams — and despite their lapses on offense, their defense is feared enough to keep the Seahawks in most games.
You also might silently hope that some of your star players put a sock in it during their media availability. No need for the players to blame the messenger for questioning their actions.
• If you’re a fan of, say, the Idaho Vandals, you had to be laughing it up on Thursday night.
Funny to watch the Colorado State players woofing it up early in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise.
Colorado State, mind you.
Even funnier to see the woofing decrease (and the slipping increase) as they got it handed to them by the Vandals.
Perhaps the Vandals were the best team to play on The Blue this season. OK, maybe not, but Idaho is now 3-for-3 in bowl games on the home skating rink — er, field — of its “rival.”
And it was only a few years ago that Idaho was deemed not good enough for the Mountain West.
• And if you’re a fan of, say, the San Francisco 49ers, well, you just hope nobody gets killed in the season finale, and the offseason brings new leadership, and the draft and free agency bring better players.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.