THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Ah, we miss the good ’ol days of exhibition games

Back in the olden days, exhibition games for men's college basketball teams seemed more popular than they are today.

Everybody, it seemed, played at least one as a tuneup before the regular season began.

And it always seemed to be against Athletes in Action.

Or Marathon Oil.

Those couldn't have been the only exhibition teams back then; if so, Athletes in Action (or Marathon Oil) would have played every night and twice on Sundays during the college preseason. Either that, or there was more than one Athletes in Action squad, just like there used to be more than one Globetrotters team touring.

Either way, these exhibition foes usually consisted of former college players, usually a few years removed from school, nowadays tearing it up to the tune of 20 and 10 in the local men's league.

These days, so-called "secret scrimmages" are all the rage. You know, the ones where, say, Gonzaga and Other Highly Regarded Team meet in a gym in Halfway Point, USA. Media are not allowed to cover said games, but somehow, miraculously, stats from these "secret scrimmages" somehow leak out to selected national college basketball media.

Teams often choose to play these "secret scrimmages" in place of their two alloted exhibition games.

I GOT to thinking about college basketball exhibition games recently, with our local Lovable Zags playing two exhibition games this season for the first time since 2005.

Until this year, Gonzaga had not played an exhibition game since 2018, and had only played seven total since that two-fer in 2005.

This year, with Athletes in Action and Marathon Oil apparently long gone, the Zags beat up on two other actual college teams, NAIA foes Eastern Oregon University and Lewis-Clark State College.

Before that, there were the usual suspects over the past nearly two decades — Central Washington, Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, British Columbia), Carroll, Southern Oregon, Wayne State, Emporia State (three times!), Warner Pacific, L-C State a couple more times, UC San Diego.

BEFORE THAT came a few Athletes in Action or Marathon Oil-type opponents for the Zags.

In the second of two exhibitions in 2003, the Zags got 20 points each from Erroll Knight and Tony Skinner in a 123-72 win over Northwest Sports. Ryan Floyd, a former Zag, led Northwest Sports with 18 points, and Donald Watts, son of former Sonics great "Slick" Watts, added 16. Craig Ehlo, the former Washington State star then seven years removed from the NBA, chipped in nine points. Chris Harrison, formerly of North Idaho College, had two points and three rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.

In 2002, the Zags beat the Australian Institute of Sport 104-64, as Ronny Turiaf tallied 27 points and Cory Violette added 20.

Andrew Bogut, now 36 and recently retired after a 15-year pro career (most of it in the NBA), played in that 2002 game for the Aussies, scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds. He then played at the University of Utah in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons before turning pro.

Who could forget Gonzaga's 101-81 triumph over Brewster Packing in 2001? Violette led the Zags with 21 points, and Anthony Reason had a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.

Ehlo, only five years removed from the NBA by then, led Brewster Packing with 25 points. Shann Ferch, who played two years at Montana State and two more at Pepperdine before eventually becoming a member of the faculty at Gonzaga, added 11 points.

In 2000, the Zags beat the Yakima Sun Kings of the Continental Basketball Association 103-86 as Casey Calvary and U-Dub transfer Dan Dickau each scored 26 points, and freshman Blake Stepp added 19.

Seven days later, the Zags beat the Old Dogs, a collection of former Zags, 121-80. Jason Rubright, who as a senior played on Gonzaga's first NCAA Tournament team in 1995, led the Old Dogs with 19 points. Felix McGowan, who played at NIC, added 18.

Sadly, they don't play 'em like that anymore.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.