THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: There's always a shot at winning the stuffed panda

Imagine you’re at a county fair.

Or some sort of carnival.

Anyhow, it’s someplace that has a booth where you can shoot basketballs.

Three tries at making a free throw, the barker says. It’s just a dollar. Make one and you win this cool stuffed panda.

The man doesn’t need to tell you that the basketballs are lopsided, or that the hoops are too small and not properly aligned.

You can feel that problem yourself.

Still, you get three tries.

Maybe you can get one to fall.

Are you getting the message from this corny tale?

In the real world, we’re waiting for Gonzaga to take its third crack at Purdue in just over a year.

This next try, in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, will play out today in Detroit.

Win or lose, I think the Zags would tell you that they have seen enough of Zach Edey, Purdue’s 7-foot-4, 300-pound colossus.

Edey, whom Gonzaga boss Mark Few has called “a force of nature,” is the reigning national player of the year — and there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that he won’t snag the honor again.

THE BIG fella is averaging 25 points and 12 rebounds per game, shooting 62 percent from the floor and 71 percent from the foul line.

That’s the bad news.

But wait!

There’s actually WORSE news.

Since it’s mandatory to double- or triple-team Edey to keep him from scoring a couple hundred points by halftime, the rest of the Boilermakers have all sorts of fun in wide open spaces.

And these guys actually COULD make that funky shot at the county fair. They’d all have giant pandas.

Maybe they do, in fact.

“That team can really, really shoot the ball,” Few said. “Matt (Purdue coach Matt Painter) went out and got a whole batch of shooters to surround Edey.

“They’re tough to stop.”

Sure, coaches tend to overrate opponents, and tell you that the next team they play is full of the deadliest marksmen you’ll ever see.

The scary thing about Purdue is that Few isn’t exaggerating.

The Boilers are shooting 41 percent from 3-point range as a TEAM, and five regular rotation players are rocking along over 40 percent individually.

Ironically, Purdue’s worst distance shooting game this year came against Gonzaga in the opener of the Maui Invitational.

The Zags held Purdue to 23 percent (4-for-17), and led 35-30 at halftime before getting worn down and defeated 73-63.

That was the infamous game in which the Zags missed all 18 tries behind the arc in the second half — and finished 6-for-32 for the game.

Oh, hey, remember that we were talking about shooting at that county fair, and the whole deal about three tries?

Well, besides Purdue’s rallying to beat the Zags last November, Edey and his pals handed them a very ugly 84-66 thumping the previous season.

So, the Zags now get their third and final shot at the big boy and his surrounding marksmen.

It hasn’t exactly been fun so far, either. 

HOWEVER the trek to Detroit turns out, though, most people who know hoops will tell you that this season might be Few’s best overall coaching job.

Back in December, it looked as though the magic 25th straight NCAA tournament bid was becoming a bit of a long shot.

The tradition of playing brutal non-conference schedules seemed that it might finally have bitten the Zags.

They lost to a gang of sluggers – UConn, Purdue, San Diego State – along with an upset at Washington (ugh) and WCC defeats to Santa Clara (blown lead in final minute) and Saint Mary’s (twice, although they did beat the Gaels in Moraga).

Their late-season run, winning 16 of 18, was a masterpiece of coaching by Few and his staff.

They added the strength of Ben Gregg to the starting lineup, worked with guards Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman to create a purring backcourt, and established a solid unit featuring Graham Ike in the middle.

Freshmen Dusty Stromer and Braden Huff eased into bench roles, and became better defenders along the way.

By the time the Zags dispatched McNeese State and Kansas to open this tournament, they had become a damn good team.

That’s not to say this is a Final Four group, however.

If Few gets them that far, he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame at halftime of the national semifinal.

Nah, that would be a bridge too far.

Still, the Zag Universe should feel satisfied.

These guys can hoop, and the next step is lighting candles that they all stay in Spokane.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”