THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Basketball can be an amazing game sometimes.

If you’re good at it, then it can take you to some places you might not get a chance to see at any other time.

WHILE ON its trip to the NJCAA men’s basketball tournament, the North Idaho College basketball team got a chance to visit a couple of arenas en route to Hutchinson, Kan., in preparation for the tournament.

After flying from Spokane to Dallas, the team bused to Stillwater, Okla., and ended up having a practice at Gallagher-Iba Arena, where Oklahoma State plays its home games.

“I just knew when we would be doing our flying, that the cheapest way to go was to fly into Dallas,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “It’s about a 5 1/2- to 6-hour drive (to Stillwater) from there. So once I knew we were going to do that, I called up (Oklahoma State assistant coach) Bill Grier. They’d been talking to (NIC point guard) Lucas Antunez and we knew him from his days at Gonzaga and San Diego when he was recruiting (former NIC guard) Chris Sarbaugh. I just told him that we’d be through town and asked him what the chances were of us getting into the gym. He came in, let us into the gym and gave us a tour of the place. It’s an unbelievable place, and it was a pretty good experience for the guys to get into a facility like that to get to check it out and practice in.”

The arena’s capacity is 13,611.

As the business of basketball goes, a few days after NIC spent time on the campus, then-Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford was fired, and Grier was not retained on new coach Brad Underwood’s staff. Underwood was previously the coach of Stephen F. Austin, which was just a tip-in away from advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

THE NEXT day, as NIC moved a little closer to Hutchinson. The Cardinals bused two hours to Wichita, Kan., where they practiced at Charles Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State. The arena seats 10,506.

“Wichita is recruiting both Braian (Angola-Rodas) and Lucas, and I’ve known those (coaches) for a little bit as well,” Symons said. “We just gave them a call. We practiced twice at their facility — once in their arena, and the other in the auxiliary gym.”

The Cardinals were all set to practice in the arena again, but the Shockers had to bump them out to prepare for their NCAA First Four game against Vanderbilt the following night in Dayton, Ohio.

“Our guys got a chance to sit there and watch a Division I practice and a big-time program,” Symons said. “With guys like (Fred) VanVleet and Ron Baker, and those other guys they have, they’re just intense during practice. They got after it hard and got on a flight right after practice to go to their game. It was kind of a fun experience for our guys to get out and practice and see facilities like that.”

FOR THOSE dedicated fans of the girls basketball game, especially those with a good memory, forgetting the name Jamie Weisner might be tough to do.

Weisner, as a sophomore at Walla Walla High, scored 30 points in a 49-43 win over Lake City High in the then-Coeur d’Alene Holiday Inn Express Invitational at North Idaho College in 2009.

Later, after moving to Clarkston, Weisner continued to shine in games in the area, scoring 18 points as a member of the Region team in the Jack Blair girls basketball all-star classic at University High in Spokane Valley. She was on the Region team, which also included players from Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls High. She also had 28 points in the 2011 game at Lake City.

On Sunday, Weisner and her Oregon State teammates’ next challenge will be unbeaten UConn in the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. Oregon State upset Baylor in Dallas on Monday night in a regional final, the first trip to the Final Four for the Beavers.

Win or lose, you can’t help but be a little excited to see what happens next.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.