THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Zags, Cougs, toughness, and other things

In the midst of the tears following the Lovable Zags’ loss in the Sweet 16 the other night, two quotes caught my eye.

The first, from Arkansas coach Eric Musselman:

“We just wanted to be physical, plain and simple,” Musselman said. “We wanted them to feel bodies. Obviously they played a really tough schedule early in the season, but it's been a long time in conference play since they faced a team like us.”

True.

Zags fans like to beat their chests after big wins, gloating, “And they say we don’t play anybody.”

They do — just not much recently.

Their schedule is the exact opposite of those teams in power conferences — their toughest games are however many ones they schedule in the preseason.

Many of their conference games are walkovers. The Zags know they’re going to win. The other team knows the Zags are going to win. And the Zags know the other team knows they’re going to win.

When some of the other team’s players might not have even been born the last time their school beat the Zags …

They just don’t see that athleticism much in their conference.

How often does someone chase down a Zags guard on the drive and swat his layup try off the glass?

Or challenge the Zags’ bigs?

Not very often.

A couple of teams, San Francisco and Saint Mary’s, were able to “get into them” defensively. Those were two of the Zags’ toughest WCC games and in one case, their one loss.

In the NCAAs, fortune tends to favor the more aggressive teams.

Stanford’s women, for example, play some of the most beautiful basketball ever seen in college.

But often, in the rough-and-tumble NCAA tourney, that style of play doesn’t get rewarded.

I even notice that a little bit covering Idaho state high school basketball tournaments.

It might not be “pretty” basketball to watch, but as long as teams are going to be allowed to play that way …

Other teams try to “play hard” defensively against the Zags in the NCAAs — but if they aren’t good enough to make shots, that just means they lose by less.

Georgia State ran out of bodies.

Memphis couldn’t make quite enough shots to finish the job.

Arkansas could.

THE SECOND, from Gonzaga coach Mark Few:

“It’s always so tough when it finally ends, especially short of the goal we all had,” said Few, who also credited Arkansas’ defense as the difference in the game. “First time we lost in this round in quite a while.”

That statement didn’t hit me as something said by someone bragging.

That came across as an innocent, yet truthful, statement.

The Zags played in the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight time.

Twice, they played in the national championship.

Twice, they lost in the regional final.

Thursday’s loss was their third in the regional semifinal — but the first since 2018.

They lost in the regional title game in 2019, the 2020 tourney was canceled due to COVID-19, and they played in the natty last year.

Some thought (hoped?) the Zags would be more like a Butler — which played in the national title game two straight years a decade ago, but has quietly returned to the mid-major pack.

Maybe because they’ve kept the same head coach and most of the same staff over the years, the Zags have been able to remain consistently one of the top teams in the country — they did not quietly return to the mid-major pack.

So, for all of that said about who the Zags play and don’t play, who is athletic and physical and who is not, the point remains …

Under current management, Gonzaga should always be in the national title hunt.

The Zags are able to recruit talent and depth, and enough guys that actually want to stick around in college for a little while.

And then there’s the “family” atmosphere that everyone raves about.

They’ll always be the Lovable Zags.

So sometimes you need a little luck, too, and/or the right draw in the NCAAs, to win a national title.

Saint Peter’s “doesn’t play anybody” either.

And the Peacocks are one game away from the Final Four.

THEN THERE’S WSU.

The Cougars are off to New York for the semifinals of the NIT.

Or, as some call it, the Not Invited Tournament.

Or the Not In Tournament.

Or, No Important Teams.

Jokes aside, for some schools the NIT is a consolation prize for disappointing teams not good enough to make the NCAA.

For others, like WSU, it’s a positive step in the building process of a program which has had more lousy years than encouraging years over the course of time.

The Cougs have been impressive in their NIT run, and are obviously on the uptick under third-year coach Kyle Smith.

The key will be, can WSU continue that progress next year. Especially these days, players come and go more often, and teams can change drastically from year to year.

On social media, Coug fans rag on the Zags for several reasons, the most printable being that Gonzaga won’t play WSU.

True, during some stretches that game wouldn’t help the Zags, and would probably have been more demoralizing to the Cougs.

But I remember WSU dismantling a Zags team by 22 points in Pullman one year (2010). The Zags reached the second round of the NCAAs that season. The teams have met just five times since then, all Gonzaga wins — the last in 2015.

Some people celebrate the Zags’ annual ouster from the NCAA tournament like it’s a national holiday.

In any event, a Zags-WSU matchup would be a pretty good one next year.

And honestly, a feisty game against a regional rival might be more beneficial for the Zags in the long run than one of their “scrimmages” they schedule in November and December.

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.