Thinking of Boise, and the NCAAs ...

- Someone on ESPN recommended Goldy’s in downtown Boise as a breakfast stop for those visiting this week for the first- and second-round games in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Not a bad call.

I prefer my bacon to be closer to the thickness of ham, as offered by JB’s in Meridian, but to each his own.

I’ve sampled both eateries over the years, and I would agree that Goldy’s is probably more Gonzaga fans’ speed. It’s popular but small, and the waiting area is outside, but last time we waited, they had a coffee maker outside the door.

One thing the Boise area does have as a variety of “Roman” breakfast eateries — i.e., non-chain restaurants.

Nothing against chain restaurants, but we can eat at those up here.

(I’m not going to Boise this week, but all this talk about breakfast is starting to make me a little hungry ... ROAD TRIP!)

- For those used to a late-night meal, you might want to pony up a few extra bucks and fill up at the arena. Not much, other than a few chain drive-throughs and perhaps the occasional WinCo, are open late. Buffalo Wild Wings would suffice, but NOT. EVERY. NIGHT.

- It’s not supposed to be balmy in Idaho’s capital city by any means this week, but it should be nice enough to walk the Greenbelt, or the other paths along the Boise River. If you’re motel is within walking distance of the arena, it’s a nice way to save on parking. Tough on tailgating, however.

- The Boise State campus is walking distance from downtown, which boasts a big ol’ used record store. And it’s not far from Goldy’s to boot.

- As you may know, Boise was the site of one of the greatest finishes in NCAA tourney history — Tyus Edney’s length-of-the-court dash in the final 4.8 seconds to beat Missouri in a second-round game in 1995.

It is possible Edney’s late-game energy was fueled by UCLA’s team meal the previous night at an Italian restaurant in downtown Boise. But we’ll never know.

It is also possible, that had top-seeded UCLA been upset by an eighth seed in the second round, Bruins coach Jim Harrick might have been fired before he even reached the locker room.

But we’ll never know that either.

Six years later, Hampton, a 15 seed, stunned No. 2 seed Iowa State in Boise. The clip of the Hampton coach running around on the court afterward, finally getting lifted up by one of his players, continues to be shown to this day.

- Usually sites like Boise, which don’t really have an area powerhouse nearby that would naturally be assigned to their city, end up with a lot of “leftovers” from elsewhere in the country when the NCAA field is put together.

But sometimes those “leftovers” are pretty tasty.

Boise was blessed to be assigned a team from fairly nearby (Gonzaga) that most fans down there would have loved to see, in addition to two (other) national brands in Kentucky and Arizona. A Kentucky-Arizona second-round game on Saturday might be the best game of the day, at any site.

In 1992, Boise was blessed with Indiana and Bob Knight, LSU with Shaq and Georgetown with Alonzo Mourning. Also there was Florida State with Sam Cassell and Bobby Sura.

- Someone else mentioned the Zags being sent to Boise would be good for ticket sales there. Maybe. But most of the tickets at Taco Bell Arena (listed capacity for the NCAA Tournament: 11,677; capacity for BSU games: 12,480) should have already been sold by now, before anybody knew what teams were coming. Most of the tickets to these first- and second-round sites are sold months in advance, the moment they go on sale.

If there were any tickets left, Zag fans would have have competing with Big Blue Nation fans for them, on the ticket exchange site or from scalpers.

Come to think of it, that might be as much fun to watch as the four games on Thursday and the two on Saturday.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.