THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Zags were tested; now, local prep teams will be

Undefeated … and mostly untested.

Presumably, that will change this week.

Lake City’s girls are 10-0, and the Timberwolves have won their games by an average of 28.7 points.

Lake City’s closest game was a 73-62 win over 5A Southern Idaho Conference favorite Boise in the season opener. The other nine wins have been by 18 points or more.

Coeur d’Alene’s girls are 8-0, and the Vikings have won their games by an average of 35.2 points.

Coeur d’Alene’s closest game was a 70-52 win over University.

THIS WEEK, both teams head to tournaments which attract teams from all over the West.

Lake City heads to the Nike Tournament of Champions at Bell Bank Park in Mesa, Ariz., where the Timberwolves open Monday at 10:30 a.m. against Lynwood (Calif). Lake City is in something called the Joe Smith Bracket (16 teams), one of eight girls brackets.

(The other seven brackets are named Claire Droesch, Dan Wiley, Derril Kipp, John Anderson, Marcia Pinder, Mike Desper and Vincent Cannizzaro.)

Coeur d’Alene is off to the Jerry Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas, where the Vikings will open Monday at 3:40 p.m. vs. Fountain-Fort Carson of Fountain, Colo. Coeur d’Alene is in the 16-team Diamond Bracket, the top bracket of the six high school girls brackets.

Coeur d’Alene’s boys are also headed to the Tark Classic. The Vikings (4-1) begin Monday at 8 p.m. vs. Weston Ranch of Stockton, Calif. Coeur d’Alene is in the 16-team Spalding Bracket, the third-best bracket after the Platinum and Nike brackets (there’s also a 66-team national prep school division).

Lake City’s boys have gotten most of the attention so far, but Coeur d’Alene has quietly put together a nice start to its season as well.

BOTH VIKING teams are at the Tark Classic for the first time.

Lake City’s and Post Falls’ girls played their last year, and Post Falls’ boys have played in tourneys in Vegas and Reno in the past.

Post Falls’ girls (8-0) are off to the Gesa Winter Shootout in East Wenatchee, Wash., starting Monday. The Trojans have won their eight games by an average of 19.5 points, but have been tested in wins over Rocky Mountain (51-46) and Mt. Spokane (52-48), as well as by Eagle (60-50) and Sandpoint (65-55).

And then in January, it will be fun to watch the Lake City, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls girls teams battle it out, knowing that only one of them is assured of a berth to state. A second team can make it to state through the play-in game route, and at least one team will stay home — though it is probably one of the eight best teams in the state.

Not that it will make that team feel any better.

ELSEWHERE, what a jam-packed Saturday it was for local sports fans.

It started late in the morning. Gonzaga fans who were losing their minds a week or so when the Lovables “plummeted” to No. 18 in the AP poll can now relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season, after watching the Zags’ impressive win over No. 4 Alabama in Birmingham on Saturday.

And once conference play starts, the Zags will shimmy up the polls with each blowout, while the other good teams above them drop after losing to other good teams.

What November and December have shown is that there are at least a dozen teams — maybe more — that could win the NCAA title, and no one should be surprised who that winner turns out to be.

Even if it’s the Zags. It’s about time for a parade.

This won’t be like two years ago, when Baylor and the Zags were clearly the top two teams.

Then Oregon State, which once went 28 years between winning seasons, had a chance to score a signature win of sorts over an SEC team, though a depleted one at that in Florida, and came through with a 30-3 thumping of what was left of the Gators.

Then the Lovable Cougs, in their eighth bowl game in 10 years, but with only two wins to show for the previous seven, got worked by a Mountain West team.

Then Boise State, which saw its starting quarterback leave the team early in the season and fired its offensive coordinator early in the year as well, played a bowl game against a North Texas team which fired its coach because the team didn’t win enough games this year.

And there were three NFL games on Saturday … and the final day of the prestigious Tri-State wrestling tournament at NIC … and …

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.