It never fails to amaze me just how bizarre college sports can get.

Especially this time of the year, as the three-week frenzy of the NCAA tournament tipped off late Tuesday night with a couple of play-in games.

IN SOME of those conference tournaments, the best team won.

Other times, it was almost like they knew they'd secured a spot and didn't bother showing up after the second day.

Meanwhile in the Region 18 tournament, both the men's and women's basketball teams at North Idaho College had to earn a spot into their respective NJCAA tournaments.

Before the NIC men fell by six points to Southern Idaho in the championship game on Saturday, the women were upset in the semifinals on Friday night by tournament host Salt Lake Community College.

And with only a 16-team bracket in both the men's and women's tournaments, there's no postseason for either school this season.

Imagine if Kentucky (No. 1 overall seed), Syracuse and North Carolina, all top seeds in their regions this week, had to sit out the NCAAs because they didn't win their conference tournament.

That will never happen.

Not as long as the tournament continues to grow to the point where it takes four networks to show the first week of the tourney.

Chances are that the NJCAA tournament will never be like the one that captures the attention of every fan.

In the NJCAA women's tournament, one bad game cost NIC the chance to defend its national title next week in Salina, Kan.

Maybe someday, there will be a change in the NJCAA bracketing and a few of those teams that just have bad days will get a do-over like their big brothers do.

BUT FOR those teams that failed to make the men's tournament field of 68, there's always another one for you somewhere.

Whether the NIT, CBI or CIT, if you get snubbed, someone will always be there to make sure you’ve got somewhere to go.

Idaho (18-13), Washington (21-10) and Washington State (15-16) all earned the right to continue the season past the conference tournament.

The Huskies, who might have played in the NCAAs had they not fallen flat in the Pac-12 tournament, earned a No. 1 seed into the NIT starting on Tuesday.

Idaho, which could be the best team in the CIT bunch, found itself with a home game also, hosting UC Santa Barbara tonight in Moscow.

Washington State traveled to San Francisco on Tuesday night in a CBI tournament that is on a network only available on satellite television.

A POSTSEASON bid is all teams look at and work for during the season.

However, when a team can’t win more games than they lose — it might just be time to end the season.

Two NIC teams just won a combined 47 games and will have to watch as others continue next week.

Not that they’d automatically play for a championship — but asking a few more to the dance wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.