THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, March 27, 2016

The Zags probably still should have been playing as late as Easter Sunday this year.

But this was also the same Zags team that, had they not stepped up with two really strong efforts in the West Coast Conference tournament, might not have made the NCAAs.

Looking back, that seems a crazy notion, given the assembled talent of this squad, but it was out there.

So it is with that backdrop that the eulogy of this season is written. In the end, Gonzaga did better than many expected, but when it was over, felt it had a little bit more to give.

The Zags did about all it could to beat Syracuse on Friday night, but couldn’t keep the lead under pressure and faltered in the final minutes.

THAT’S THE nature of the NCAAs. For every Casey Calvary tipin (accompanied by Gus Johnson going crazy on TV) to beat Florida, or every Dan Dickau coast-to-coast dash to beat Virginia, there’s last year’s regional final loss to Duke in a very winnable game, there’s the five straight second-round losses before that, there’s … dare we bring up the 2006 collapse against UCLA in the regional semis?

Is that a trend, or just something that happens when you play better teams? Floaters that go unchallenged against WCC teams get blocked by more athletic players from bigger conferences. Passes that find their way through against, say, Portland, get intercepted by bigger, longer, quicker defenders.

Remember, this is the same team that handled Seton Hall and absolutely destroyed Utah the previous weekend.

And, in the big picture, it’s hard to find much fault in a program that just made its 18th straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.

And figures to at least be in the position to keep that streak going for a long, long time. There is another collection of transfers and talented freshmen coming in to replace whoever all ends up leaving after this season.

For all the talk about their young guards, the Zags had two future pros playing at forward this season. One (Kyle Wiltjer) is gone; the other (Domantas Sabonis) has a decision to make, with two years of college eligibility still remaining. The third big (Pzremek Karnowski), who was injured, has to decide whether to come back for one more year, or turn pro.

In a way, Shem’s injury eliminated the pros and cons of having all three on the floor together (a tough problem to have, to be sure!), but also put quite a load on the two remaining bigs.

And back to those “young” guards — two of the three starters were actually fifth-year seniors. All told, Gonzaga had three fifth-year seniors in the starting lineup, which is almost unheard of these days in major college basketball.

SO AFTER the “not finishing” theory has faded away, the Zags will go back to work, and likely be tugging at our emotions again next spring, no matter who is back. In the conference, it’s up to BYU and Saint Mary’s to keep up. After a couple of down-ish years, Saint Mary’s appears back. And BYU, until a better offer comes along, should always be in contention.

It was refreshing to hear someone say the rest of the WCC needs to get its (stuff) together. Usually the party line is that the conference is better than outsiders think. Uh huh.

Under the current climate in college basketball, Gonzaga should always be in the NCAA conversation for years to come. You could maybe count on one finger the negative news the program has been saddled with over the past two decades. Other than that, players seem to enjoy playing at Gonzaga, and the Inland Northwest fans show almost unconditional love to them.

If there’s any negative talk about the Zags around here, it has to be considered minimal compared to the blistering received by an underachieving big-time program.

Very seldom do players leave Gonzaga before their time, so you hardly ever hear talk of “if only so-and-so had stayed” like you hear at other schools.

The only complaint is that they ONLY get four years in a Zag photos. Some of the guys you wish could play there forever, like Wiltjer, Olynyk, Pangos, Morrison, Turiaf, etc., because they were so darn fun to watch play.

So consider this another chapter in a long-running story. One of these years, you figure, the Zags close out a game like the other night, or they don’t fall victim to a team playing out of its mind against them, and maybe they finally reach the Final Four.

No guarantees, but that’s why we keep tuning in.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of the Press. He can be reached by phone at (208) 664-8176, ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.