THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: The road will be traveled this week for NIC

The road through the Scenic West Athletic Conference is always tough, especially when your nearest rival is nine hours away. 

And sure, North Idaho College will send its men’s and women’s basketball teams south to see rival College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls later today. 

But it’s the road that the Cardinals will navigate the next week that’s going to be a challenge. 

DUE TO a scheduling change, NIC — which flew to Boise on Friday, then will drive two hours to Twin Falls for today’s games with CSI — will remain on the road for the next week after a scheduled game against Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, Utah, was moved up a day, to next Wednesday. 

The NIC teams will then bus to Rangely, Colo., to play Colorado Northwestern next Saturday. The Cardinals will travel back to Salt Lake next Sunday for the flight home.

Between the two programs, the teams rented five minivans in Boise on Friday for the trek to Twin Falls, then will travel via minivans from Twin to Salt Lake City on Sunday morning. 

“We did all the numbers, and it’s not going to be fun staying away from home for 10 days,” NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons said. “Financially, it was easier because you’re only buying one round-trip ticket for 30 people. To come back (to Coeur d'Alene) and then leave again two days later, we’d be home less than 48 hours, so why would we spend more money to come back?” 

Symons added that most of his players are well-versed with online classes. 

“With COVID, it wasn’t nice for the country, but in our business, it kind of forced us to be remote," he said. "Now, with Zoom and kids taking more online classes than before, you can really be anywhere. Most of our kids take online classes during the heat of our season so they don’t miss anything.” 

“Our kids are pretty proactive with their studies,” NIC women’s basketball coach Nathan Covill said. “(NIC assistant coach) Louie (Vargas) and I are pretty dialed in with their academics. If we need to reschedule tests or projects, the professors will work with our kids. And the players are really good at letting their professors know what is going on. Everyone is pretty internet savvy now as well.” 

Often times, the teams will plan ahead with where they stay to accommodate the needs of both programs. 

“When we travel, we usually call the hotels and tell them we need a conference room between noon and 2 p.m.,” Symons said. “So, we can all go into a big room, and they can get on their computers and bust out their homework. We have their days planned when they’re on the road so that they’re not just sitting around the hotel doing nothing. They’ll be in study halls and doing their homework, or watching film, or practicing and getting ready for the game.” 

“Monday and Tuesday, we’ll be able to get some schoolwork done,” Covill said. “We’ll also maybe do some movies or bowling, but we’ve got to keep it business as usual.” 

Had this been the case in 2019, however ...

“We would have flown back and spent the money to have them back in class by Monday or Tuesday,” Symons said. “But 99% of our players are in online classes, so we’ll just have some study halls in some conference rooms and doing homework in the hotel rooms.” 

The Cardinal women will practice at the University of Utah for a few days while in Salt Lake City. 

“(Utah assistant coach) Jordan (MacIntyre, who Covill worked with previously at Montana as an assistant) has been at Utah for a number of years) got me connected with the people we needed to and we were able to use their facility,” Covill said. “We wanted to make sure we had a place to practice and get some shots up.” 

BUT THIS trip will also have some fun moments as well. 

“One thing we’re trying to do is figure out where to watch the Super Bowl, because we’ve got to support the Hawks,” Symons said. “One of coach Brown’s (NIC assistant coach Fred Brown, Jr.) good friends is on the staff for the Utah Jazz, and they play while we’re in Salt Lake. So, we’ll try to take the team on one of our down days and do some team bonding there as well.” 

Next Friday, the team will ditch the rental cars in Salt Lake, then take a bus to Rangely, Colo., for next Saturday’s games against Colorado Northwestern. 

“We don’t really want to be driving over that pass (Douglas Pass),” Symons said of the stretch of highway in Colorado between Salt Lake and Rangely. “We haven’t had a bad winter yet this year, but you just never know. We want to make sure we don’t put ourselves in a liability situation with us coaches driving on that pass.” 

The NIC men (13-11, 3-6 SWAC) enter today tied with Salt Lake (9-13, 3-6) for the fourth and final playoff spot to the Region 18 Tournament. 

“The really nice thing is that we’re going to be in charge of them for the next 10 days,” Symons said of the players. “It’s going to be team meetings, and film, and not like back home and they’re running around after practice. We’re going to have them locked in and focused on that day. We’re excited and hoping that 10 days will help us get over that hump.”

The Cardinal women are 9-13, 4-5 and hold a two-game lead on Snow for fourth in the conference. 

“It’s huge and you want to be playing your best right now,” Covill said. “We’re on the road for three and we’ll finish at home with three games. We feel good about how we ended last week but want to make sure we go out and compete against CSI.” 

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1206 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on ‘X’, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.