THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: We’ve got questions — answers to come this week

Can Lake City High’s boys basketball team finish off a dominant season for the ages with its first state championship in program history?

Can Bonners Ferry, having a heck of a season in its own right, cap a run of three straight trips to state with the Badgers’ first state championship?

Can St. Maries, regulars at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa on recent championship Saturdays, make a return visit this year, during a slightly under-the-radar season?

Or can Kellogg, which shared the Central Idaho League title with the Lumberjacks, make a run for the title in the final season of the Luna twins?

Can Lakeside, a state championship team just three seasons ago in 1A Division II, do it again this year in 1A Division I, in a division where mighty Lapwai sports a Division I player and a 60-game winning streak?

Can Lakeland (or even Clark Fork) do what Centennial did last year, and stun a top seed in the first round and ride that wave into the state title game?

(Can you stop asking so darn many questions?)

OK, but one more …

Coming off a state girls basketball tournament last weekend where North Idaho teams played in the title games in each of the top three classifications, will we see a similar showing from North Idaho boys teams on Saturday?

THOSE ARE all questions we are looking forward to being answered this coming weekend, when the state high school boys basketball tournaments unfold in the Boise area.

As part of its mantra of having blinders on — like a racehorse, focusing only on what’s straight ahead of you — Lake City is focused only on its first-round opponent on Thursday, which wasn’t determined until Saturday afternoon.

But it’s OK for us to look ahead.

For Lake City, it’s almost like someone scripted the brackets to create even more intrigue.

It would have appeared even more scripted had Centennial defeated Highland in a state play-in game Saturday. That would have created a matchup for Lake City against the team that last year, as the No. 8 seed, stunned the top-seeded Timberwolves in the first round.

Then, a potential matchup in the semifinals against fourth-seeded Madison, which whipped the Timberwolves in the consolation championship game last year. The Bobcats may be some 300 miles from the Boise area, but the entire town of Rexburg empties out, it seems, and treks to the Boise area for state.

Then, a possible rematch with defending state champion Owyhee of Meridian in the finals. The teams met in December in a quickly arranged marriage at North Idaho College, in a “neutral site” game where all but a handful of folks were rooting for the T-Wolves.

If they meet again on Saturday night, it will be much more of an Owyhee crowd, so it will be up to Lake City supporters to show out as well.

Now, none of this might matter this week, as Lake City has been on a seek-and-destroy mission this season, winning each game by an average of 30.6 points — including an impressive 12-point win at Curtis of University Place, Wash., the defending Washington state 4A champions, with the 5-star junior point guard whose final six schools include Gonzaga and Arizona.

But it’s also sports — in particular, high school sports, and crazy things can happen at state, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

LAKESIDE IS also coming in a bit under the radar.

The Knights are quietly rolling into state, with 11 wins in their last 12 games.

Of their three losses in a 15-3 season, two were to bigger schools — at the aforementioned Bonners Ferry (3A) and St. Maries (2A).

And on a Wednesday night in early January, Lakeside went toe-to-toe with mighty Lapwai in the Wildcats’ gym, before eventually falling 89-76. It was the third-closest game Lapwai has played this season — including a one-point win over Baker (Ore.) at a tournament in Ontario, Ore., and a seven-point win over 5A Lewiston in a tournament at Lewis-Clark State College.

If Lakeside and Lapwai meet again this week, it will be in the finals. Who knows how that might turn out, but one thing’s for sure:

Lakeside says it won’t lack for confidence against Lapwai.

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.