Never too early to think NCAAs

The college basketball season officially ended April 3 with the national championship game featuring you-know-who.

Around here, the season wasn’t officially put to bed until a few days later, after the Zags returned home and received their share of love from the local fans a couple of times, helped children celebrate birthdays, etc.

Then, for Zags fans and college hoops fans in general, their attention perked up this week when the NCAA announced sites for its men’s basketball tournament games through 2022.

For those into that sort of thing, and who like to plan ahead, Spokane will be host site for first- and second-round games in 2020. Boise, already set to host the tourney in 2018, will get it again in 2021.

Salt Lake City and Seattle will both host first- and second-round games in 2019, and Portland will be a host site in 2020.

Having attended previous NCAA games at four of those sites, here’s a look at the pros and cons of each of them:

Spokane

Pros: It’s nearby, in case you want to make it a day trip and save on motels, eating out, etc. The Spokane Arena is a (relatively) newer arena, so the concourses are roomier, which makes wandering around the perimeter between games much easier.

Cons: It’s nearby, so if you’re looking to make your NCAA trip more like a late-winter getaway, Spokane isn’t the place.

Memories: Kevin Durant concluded his only college season with a second-round loss in Spokane ... Oregon advanced to the regionals out of Spokane in 2007 and 2016 ... The Arena has always been sold out, or nearly sold out, in part because of the novelty of NCAA games in Spokane, partly because the Arena is one of the smallest ones on the NCAA first- and second-round rotation (seating capacity is just a little less than 12,000).

Boise

Pros: Far enough away that it seems like a road trip ... Easy to get to, by car or by air ... Real thick bacon only a few miles away ... Weather in mid-March can be pretty nice, especially compared to weather up here at that time. I remember one year staying at a motel a mile or two away, and walking the Greenbelt to the games ... pretty cool.

Cons: If you go there for business, it might seem weird to go back there for pleasure ... Concourses are WAY too cramped, so good luck getting upstairs or downstairs when everyone else is trying to do the same thing ... also, last time we were there, there were lightbulbs burned out on the scoreboard.

Memories: In 1995, our group was walking into an Italian restaurant in downtown Boise at the same time the UCLA team was walking out. The next day, Tyus Edney went coast-to-coast in 4.8 seconds ... Hampton, as a 15 seed, upsetting No. 2 seed Iowa State ... more impressively, the Hampton band and cheerleaders ... Shaq, Alonzo Mourning and Bobby Knight at the same Boise subregional in 1992.

Seattle

Pros: Close enough to drive to, far enough away to make it a getaway.

Cons: If you also go there for Mariner games and other sporting events, it doesn’t have that “unique” trip feel ... but at least it’s a getaway ... KeyArena was renovated in the 1990s, but was so outdated by 2004 that the NCAA didn’t return until 2015.

Memories: Zag fans in particular will remember 1999, when this whole NCAA streak started with wins over Minnesota and Stanford ... Kinda funky watching a pep rally outside KeyArena featuring the Stanford band and the Tree ... In 2004, when the Zags were dunked off the court by Nevada ... Actually enjoyed more when the Kingdome was still there, and going to NCAA West Regionals in 1987, ’88, ’91 and ’93.

Salt Lake City

Pros: Being able to drive (at least) 80 mph through Montana and eastern Idaho, the trip doesn’t take as long as it used to ... When this year’s games were held in SLC, temperatures were in the 70s ... The Huntsman Center at the University of Utah seats 15,000, but even the nosebleed seats aren’t that far from the floor. But the concourse of the arena, built in the 1970s, is too small, so walking around between games looked more like a tight pack of sheep being herded. The games have since moved to the Utah Jazz’s arena, with a much bigger concourse. But sitting in the upstairs seats felt more like watching from a blimp.

Cons: You roll the dice with the weather in Salt Lake in March. In 2006, we traipsed through the snow on our way from the motel to the arena.

Memories: In 1987, we got a firsthand look at Fennis Dembo and Wyoming, which beat Virginia, coached by Terry Holland, and UCLA, led by Reggie Miller, to advance to the regionals ... In 1988, Wyoming’s two-year run with Fennis and the boys ended in the first round at the hands of the upstarts from Loyola Marymount. That year, Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were sophomores, and LMU prevailed in a wild one, 119-115 ... Zag fans will remember a couple of wins at the Huntsman Center in 2006, a wild second-round loss to Arizona in 2003, and of course, two wins at the Jazz arena this year to start toward their first trip to the Final Four.

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.