THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Hey, we know a lot of those guys this year

Dylan Darling introduced himself to North Idaho high school basketball when he went for more than 50 points against Post Falls at The Arena for Central Valley a few years back. 

Darling introduced himself to the nation on Sunday, with his driving layup at the buzzer to send St. John’s past Kansas and into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. 

Earlier Sunday, we watched as Blake Buchanan, formerly of Lake City, helped Iowa State beat once-mighty Kentucky to advance to the Sweet 16. 

Seems like this year, more than others, we’re watching on TV and going, “Hey, I remember watching them in person,” or otherwise noticing them when they played against the teams that we cover.

LAST WEEK it was the Idaho men, led by Kolton Mitchell, teammate of Buchanan at Lake City, and joined by three other players with Idaho ties — Jack Payne (Boise, Owyhee), Brody Rowbury (Meridian) and Jackson Rasmussen (Owyhee) leading the Vandals back into the NCAAs for the first time in 36 seasons.

Then you flip over to the women’s NCAA tourney, and see Avery Howell (Boise High) and Brynn McGaughy (Colfax, Central Valley) playing for the University of Washington in a second-round game at TCU. 

In high school, Howell went up against Coeur d’Alene at state; last year, as a freshman at USC, she played in a regional at the Facility Formerly Known As Spokane Arena. 

McGaughy, then a sophomore at Colfax, played with some North Idaho kids in an all-star game at Lewis and Clark High in Spokane in 2023, garnering MVP honors. 

WHO ELSE? 

Cobi Campbell, who played at North Idaho College in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, played for Troy in a 76-47 first-round loss to Nebraska in Oklahoma City. 

Cobi, a redshirt junior, had nine points and three rebounds in 27 minutes. 

Cobi’s brother Cooper a sophomore on the Troy squad, had six points, five assists and three rebounds in 34 minutes. 

Cobi's teammate at NIC, Vaughn Weems, is a junior at Nevada, which played at Auburn on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the NIT. Weems scored a game-high 23 points vs. Murray State in a second-round win last Wednesday.

BLAKE UPDATE: We mentioned the other day when Iowa State Men's Basketball tweeted that "Blake Buchanan is just the fifth player (6'10" or taller) in NCAA Tournament History with 8 assists or more in a game.” 

We wondered who the other four were. 

According to Iowa State sports information, they are:  

Isaiah Mobley (8 assists), USC vs. Miami, 2022 

Gary Trost (8), BYU vs. Kansas, 1993 

Derrick Coleman (9), Syracuse vs. Virginia, 1990 

Bill Walton (9), UCLA vs. Indiana, 1973 

Anytime you’re on a list with Bill Walton, that’s pretty cool. 

Walton’s nine assists, by the way, came in the national semifinal, when he nearly recorded a triple double — 14 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists. 

Two nights later, of course, Walton hit 21 of 22 from the field for 44 points as UCLA beat Memphis State for its seventh straight NCAA title. He also had 13 rebounds. 

TRANSFER PORTAL: As of Wednesday afternoon, two members of the aforementioned Idaho men’s team have reportedly planned to enter the portal — Payne and Trevon Blassingame. Each has one year of eligibility remaining.

Three Washington State Cougars have reportedly plan to enter the portal — including former Lapwai High star Kase Wynott, who has two years remaining. 

GONZAGA’S EARLY exit from the NCAA Tournament brought to an end the college career of Noah Haaland, a preferred walk-on big man for the Zags. 

Haaland’s dad, Dale also played for the Zags. His mom, Robyn Benson, played volleyball at GU after starring at Coeur d’Alene High. 

Noah Haaland was a high-flying wing player who attended Classical Christian Academy in Coeur d’Alene, and who helped the Lakeland Hawks qualify for the state basketball tournament in 2022.  

He then played two years at Allan Hancock College, a community college in Santa Maria, Calif., for two seasons before joining the Zags, where his playing time went up a bit this season with injuries to Zag bigs Graham Ike and Braden Huff. 

Haaland’s Zag moment came Jan. 21 in an 84-60 victory over Pepperdine in West Coast Conference play at The Kennel, when he had 10 points and four rebounds in just over 11 minutes of playing time, hitting 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from the line as Ike and Huff both sat out. 

“To be honest, he’s been doing that the last two years,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of Haaland after the Pepperdine game. “He’s very worthy of getting this time, he was just playing behind two All-Americans. Very, very worthy, and this isn’t an out-of-body experience. It’s kind of what we’ve been seeing every day in practice. We have confidence in him; I think the players have confidence in him.” 

“Obviously the main thing is to be ready defensively,” Haaland said after the game. “We’ve got a ton of weapons offensively; even though we’re down two of our main weapons, we’ve still got people who can score. Just being able to sub in and not be a liability at one end of the floor, and to be able to do my job on the offensive end is the main thing that I was focusing on. 

“Going against Graham each day has definitely helped me with my physicality. 

“Noah’s amazing, man,” senior guard Adam Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who don’t always get the shine on nights ... but this team doesn’t run without those guys. So kudos to him on being ready for the moment.” 

Haaland mentioned a brief conversation he had with David Stockton, another Zag walk-on from years ago, prior to last season.  

“Taking all the reps, even the scout team reps, in practice seriously,” Haaland said of the advice from Stockton. “Playing hard, treating it like it’s a game, obviously knowing when to back off so nobody gets hurt. That has been the most important thing; not just sitting back into the role of scout team player, but really being able to take advantage of the time. Being able to play with these really high-level guys has helped me improve so much.” 

Haaland played in 13 games as a Zag, 10 this season. All 20 of his points scored, and 11 of his 14 rebounds, came this season. 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.