THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Zags are not a mid-major — or are they?

Are you ready for our weekly notes and quotes chat?

Of course you are.

But before we dive into all that jazz, here’s a mini-news flash…

Apparently, we have readers in New York.

Or at least, one reader in New York.

Surely you’ll remember my reference, in the Sunday “Memories” piece, to an ill-fated gig with the late Kansas City Scouts — a dumpster fire NHL franchise that lost buckets of games from 1974 through 1976.

That job turned me from an excited kid journalist into an old man sitting at the bus station.

Anyhow…

No sooner had the mighty Press shot our story into the universe that I heard from a gentleman in the Big Apple.

Rustin Dodd, a big-city reporter for The Athletic, wanted to do a national piece on the Scouts — no doubt focusing on some of the hilariously awful front office and on-ice blunders.

And yeah, some of it WAS funny.

But I don’t think I’ll help anyone else make sport of how it all went down.

I can do that myself.

Now then, let’s move onward…

ITEM: Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas on ESPN are the very best doing college basketball these days.

Shulman is super sharp and nobody — truly, nobody — can explain hoops both to experts and casual fans as well as Bilas (even if he went to Duke).

There was a terrific moment Monday night as Dan and Jay were calling the Kansas-Baylor game from Waco.

Both were offering huge praise for the all-action, all-court game of Baylor’s 6-8, 245-pound bundle of excitement, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua.

Although both guys managed to pronounce the name correctly, it was immediately pointed out that around the Baylor program, Tchamwa Tchatchoua is known as “Everyday Jon” — a compliment for his day-in, day-out work on his game.

It fell to Shulman for an explanation that the player was a transfer from UNLV who sat out a year, improving his game dramatically because of it.

“Everyday Jon,” Shulman said, “not…

“Once in A While Jay.”

Bilas cracked up.

By the way, this round of applause is a few weeks late (sorry), but Shulman, who hails from north of the border, was named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2020 Jack Graney Award, given annually to a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada.

Shulman began doing Toronto Blue Jays games in the 1990s, and has handled the team’s TV work since 2016.

Well done, sir.

And for needling Bilas, too.

ITEM: We’re going to have trouble getting off the college basketball scene this week, I can tell.

But that’s OK.

Our next news item concerns this week’s Associated Press men’s poll, and no, I won’t bother saying that Gonzaga and Baylor are still Nos. 1 and 2.

Yawn!

Rather, the news is more about who is NOT among the top 25.

You’d think it was pretty amazing stuff that neither North Carolina nor Duke made it into the poll, the first time the two neighbors have been snubbed since the week of Dec. 27, 1982 (702 straight polls).

But wait…

It gets even more shocking.

Add Kentucky to the list of outsiders, and now you really have to go back a bit.

The last time that Carolina, Duke and Kentucky all missed the top 25 was Dec. 18, 1961 – or 1,043 polls ago.

Blue bloods, indeed.

ITEM: It was supposed to be a compliment, but Zag Nation apparently is having none of it.

There is a website and podcast called Mid-Major Madness, directed at the many deserving teams who aren’t in the Power Five (or Power Six), or however many power conferences are recognized in hoops.

On this week’s podcast, the panel was discussing which unbeaten mid-majors might run the table in the regular season.

The conversation eventually turned to Drake (Missouri Valley Conference), Siena (Metro Atlantic) and so on.

Before any of that, however, there was the usual serious discussion of the Zags, and whether or not they’ll manage to stay unblemished in the WCC.

(The vote was 2-1 for Gonzaga to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated.)

Now, this bit of kindness shouldn’t bother anyone, really.

However…

Social media has nearly exploded with unhappiness from Zags fans.

We’ll boil down all the comments to the common theme: “Gonzaga is not a mid-major.”

I get it, obviously.

The men’s (and now women’s) hoops programs are competing at a power conference level — and sure, maybe it’s a little odd to call the No. 1 team in the nation a mid-major.

Look, the WCC is still very much a mid-major conference, and that’s the group that Gonzaga hammers every year.

This might not make me any friends, but I think it’s fair to call the Zags a mid-major.

A great one, certainly.

Unless AD Mike Roth wants to take a stab at playing in (and winning) the Pac-12, though, the Zags remain in a mid-major conference.

Step down.

Next witness.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published each Tuesday.