THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Leftover thoughts from the NCAAs in Spokane

At just over 11,000 seats for this event, the Spokane Arena is one of the smaller buildings the NCAA uses for the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

But it’s usually packed, and the fans are into it, which makes for great TV optics.

(And CBS always makes sure to put its main overhead camera right at the mid-court line, like it does in most other buildings. It just looks weird when the main camera is down by one foul line or the other, and that’s how games at the Arena look when other networks televise from there. 

Find a way to put the darn overhead camera at midcourt!)

That rant aside, the good folks of Spokane … and North Idaho — and perhaps elsewhere in the country — showed out once again when the NCAAs came to town last weekend.

The place was perhaps three-quarters full for Friday’s first game despite the 10:45 a.m. tip. You watch on TV from some of those other sites, and many times that first game is played among friends and family.

But not at the Arena.

THE IDAHO band got a lot of run for posing as the Yale band on Friday and Sunday, and deservedly so.

Obviously, it’s far from the first time that’s happened.

Several times over the years at the NCAAs, a smaller school gets assigned to a site far, far away, and for whatever reason can’t or chooses not to send the band. Often they “rent” a band from a local school — usually one closer than 80 miles away.

Still, cool for the Vandal kids, who probably didn’t expect to be making an encore on Sunday, but got to perform a second time after 13th-seeded Yale upset fourth seed Auburn on Friday. Plus, they got some Yale swag — what college kid couldn’t use another T-shirt — and a close-up look at some high-level college basketball.

SPEAKING OF a close-up look …

TV does not do the size of these players justice. You have to see them up close to experience it.

Everybody is beefed up because of weight training — those kids have to lift, because if they didn’t, whenever they drove to the basket, they would get spit out into the corner … no call.

Games are extremely physical up-close, and some of the quicker players are particularly adept at basically running into the defender — usually at an angle — and drawing fouls.

I marveled at the restraint the refs used in calling these battles, pretty much letting them play unless the contact created a clear advantage, one way or another.

And most of the teams came equipped with shot-blockers — there was rarely such thing as an “easy” layup. Everything near the basket was contested — and often swatted.

“THERE’S A timeout on the floor … “

That’s another difference between watching on TV and being there live — TV timeouts of up to 4 minutes during the NCAAs.

Watching at home, you can flip to another game, hop on social media, visit the restroom, mow the lawn …

At the Arena, what I noticed is that 4 minutes is a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time.

There was one game (I don’t remember which one) where one team went on a run, had all the momentum, had the crowd roaring, and the other coach called timeout to settle his team down.

By the time the lonnnnnnnnnng timeout was over, you almost forgot who called the timeout, who had the momentum when it was called, and who was even ahead. 

And perhaps who was playing.

BACK AGAIN? 

Future NCAA first- and second-round sites through 2026 have been announced, and there was some talk of Spokane trying to land the first weekend of games again in 2027. Last weekend’s games (once again, the folks at the University of Idaho did a terrific job of hosting) were the first in the Arena since 2016. Spokane was supposed to host in 2020, but COVID-19 canceled the NCAA tournament.

Saint Mary’s stay was shorter than the Gaels expected, thanks to a first-round loss to Grand Canyon. But longtime Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett gave the Arena a thumbs-up as an NCAA site.

“What a great venue to play in,” Bennett said after the loss to GCU. “Perfect size … not too big … packed. Ideal setup.”

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.