THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: More on their minds than just basketball

For each of the past nine trips to state, St. Maries High boys basketball coach Bryan Chase has been able to look in the stands and see his father, Chuck.

This year, Chuck was watching his son’s team play from home, having had a brain tumor removed about a month ago.

“It’s been heavy on my heart for a while,” Bryan said of his dad, 76. “I love my dad; I know he’s at home, watching, my heart is always with him. My dad is one of my best friends … ”

That’s not all on the minds of Chase, and his Lumberjack team, and the St. Maries community.

“We’ve had a lot of stuff weighing on our hearts the last month; we’ve lost a couple players (in the St. Maries basketball program) in the last year,” Bryan said on Thursday, after the Lumberjacks lost to Cole Valley Christian of Meridian in the first round at Capital High in Boise. “Not to make any excuses but … that’s something we always talk about, ‘Hey, we’re down here playing for these guys.’ Sometimes that can work one or two ways, right?”

Thanks to the internet, Chuck Chase was able to watch his son’s team play from home. Though Bryan couldn’t talk to his dad in person after a state tournament game like he’s been used to doing the past nine years, he figured he’d be in touch with dad shortly after Thursday’s game.

When Bryan Chase played AAU basketball growing up, Chuck Chase was his coach. 

“He sends me messages every day — ‘Good luck, and go get ’em,’” Bryan said. “‘Play good defense; do the things that got you here.’ He’s always got words of wisdom.”

WHEN LAKE City’s boys basketball team, guided by first-year head coach James Anderson, squared off against Eagle, led by fourth-year head man Cody Pickett, in a loser-out game of the state 5A tournament on Friday, it wasn’t the first time they’d coached against each other.

But it was the first time as boys coaches.

They coached against each other twice as girls basketball coaches.

Pickett’s sixth and final season coaching the Eagle girls was 2019-20; he just completed his fourth season as the Mustangs’ boys coach.

Anderson coached the Lake City girls for six seasons, starting with the 2017-18 season; he’s in his first season at T-Wolf boys coach.

So their careers as girls coaches overlapped by three years.

“I talked to him a little bit before the game,” Anderson said, after Lake City had eliminated Eagle with a 70-65 victory at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian. “We’re two guys who were on the girls side for a while, then came over to the guys’ side. 

“Great guy; I really enjoy coaching against him,” Anderson continued. “His teams are always so well prepared, and so disciplined. I could learn a lot from a guy like that, and I enjoy coaching against him, and it was fun.”

Pickett and Eagle’s girls got the better of Anderson and Lake City in both meetings, including a 63-52 Eagle win in the first round of the 2019 state tournament. Eagle went on to win its only state title.

Anderson and Pickett are part of a rare breed — head girls basketball coaches in Idaho who later became head boys basketball coaches in Idaho. Those who have coached boys and girls usually were an assistant on one side before or after being a head coach on the other.

As for Pickett’s teams — both boys’ and girls’ …

“They play really hard for him; they play really physical, and they’re really disciplined in what they run and what they do,” Anderson said. “They’re very difficult to beat. I regard him as one of the best out there at the high school level.”

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.