The Front Row with MARK NELKE Feb. 20, 2011

Two things emerged from this week's state high school girls basketball tournaments, which ended Saturday in the Boise area.

One, the North dominated. A total of seven North Idaho (District 1 and 2) teams played for state titles, and in the six championship games, all held at the Idaho Center in Nampa, three were all-North Idaho finals - Coeur d'Alene vs. Lewiston in 5A, Grangeville vs. Prairie in 2A and Lapwai vs. Clearwater Valley in 1A Division I.

In fact, of the 12 North Idaho teams at state, 11 played for trophies on Saturday, and 10 came home with hardware.

AND TWO, the cries for seeding the state tournament cropped up again, after the two teams ranked atop the 4A media poll most of the season, Middleton (21-2) and Rigby (22-0) were matched up to meet in the first round.

Middleton defeated Rigby 37-27, and went on to win the state championship. Rigby went on to lose to Moscow in the fourth-place game.

The Idaho High School Activities Association says the tournament is already seeded - in a way. In general, district champs are paired against teams that didn't win their districts - though in some classifications, like 4A, there are five champions, so two of them have to square off in the first round.

The IHSAA has said it would listen to suggestions, but until something they think is better comes along (a blind draw?) ...

What if they went to "committees" that seeded teams in each tournament? Are there enough people statewide that could compare a team from, say, District 6 against a team from District 1? Would they take the time to analyze the teams' schedules, factoring in whether they played tough teams or easy teams, and not just seed them by records?

FOR EXAMPLE, Coeur d'Alene's girls came into the 5A tournament with five losses - more than four of the teams in the field. You think there were four teams in the 5A tournament that were better than the Vikings?

Moscow, which came into the 4A tournament with a 9-15 record (the worst record of all six tournaments), played eight games against Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston, Lake City and Post Falls. The Bears wound up bringing home a trophy.

In 2A, the teams with the two worst records, Grangeville (12-7) and Kamiah (14-9), played for the title.

In 3A, Priest River’s boys, for example, played four games against 5A schools, going 1-3. Would the Spartans be penalized for having a few more losses on their record, instead of being credited for taking on tougher competition and not padding its record against smaller schools?

If you want to open up that can of worms, how about doing what they do in the NCAA — have a certain amount of automatic qualifiers, and have the selection committee pick at-large teams to fill out the bracket.

Under this format, by accounts down south, Lake City’s girls would have been included in the eight-team 5A field, and likely would have played for a trophy on Saturday. But as the third-place finisher in a rugged Region 1 tourney, the Timberwolves had to stay home this week.

LOOK AT the 5A Region 1 boys basketball tournament. One state-caliber team will be eliminated Tuesday when fourth-ranked Lake City travels to top-ranked and defending state champ Post Falls in a loser-out game.

If this were college, Tuesday’s loser could at least sweat it out on Selection Sunday and see if it got an at-large bid. As it is, the loser puts away the basketballs and gets ready for baseball or track or golf or tennis or lacrosse ... or offseason basketball.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].