THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The new way of keeping up on Idaho high school state tournaments

The best high school programs usually have gifted assistant coaches in support of the head coach. 

Creative offensive mind. Defensive guru. Good cop to the head coach's bad cop. 

Now, many of the top programs have a staff bracketologist, by default.

With MaxPreps this year playing a much bigger role in determining who gets another chance to play for a state tournament berth — and who plays who once a team gets there — schools seem to have someone who tries to keep track of where their team sits among all this new chaos. 

In the past, it was clear-cut — based on winning or losing at district, these teams qualified for state, these next teams advanced to a state play-in, and those teams after that ... well, they got ready for the next season. 

Now, you can lose early at districts, and if your MaxPreps ranking is good enough, you can still at least get a second chance. 

In the past, if you were a district champ, you usually were slotted in against a second-place finisher or worse in the first round.  

Now, the computer tells you who you play. 

THIS YEAR, in most cases, MaxPreps rankings, not district tournament finishes, determined whether a team advanced to a state play-in.  

Lake City volleyball, seeded second in the three-team 6A District 1 tournament, lost in the first round to third-seeded Coeur d'Alene.  

In past years, the Timberwolves' season was done. This year, ranked ninth by Max Preps, Lake City found out six days later it would get a second chance in a play-in match. 

So did Coeur d'Alene, seeded 10th, after losing to No. 4 Post Falls for the district title and automatic berth. The Vikings received the final at-large berth to a play-in in 6A. 

All three teams possibly going to state would have never happened under the old format. 

Lakeland volleyball wasn't sure if its season was going to continue after the Hawks, the top seed in the 5A Region 1 tournament, were upset by second-seeded Lewiston in the championship match on Tuesday. The Bengals earned the region's automatic berth to state. 

Lakeland folks got on their phones and checked the results of the other district tournaments statewide, and figured, if so-and-so beat such-and-such, the Hawks, ranked seventh in 5A, would head to a state play-in match. 

Still, Lakeland had to wait until the MaxPreps computer updated the rankings the next day, just to be certain. 

Coeur du Christ lost to Clark Fork for the 1A District 1 volleyball title. But, six days later, the Saints' 12th-place ranking by MaxPreps was good enough to get them assigned to a state play-in. 

Priest River was a district runner-up in 3A volleyball, but the Spartans' sixth-place ranking by MaxPreps got them into the play-in round comfortably. 

More local teams with a chance to go to state — a good thing, just a little different. And we're all learning about this as we go. 

THE COOL thing about the NFHS Network (and IdahoSports.com when it can, and Hudl-Fan) is, you can still see what you can't make it to in person. 

Before, you had to take people's word for it. 

Although, in the "good ol' days," state championships were actually shown on that thing called television. 

In Idaho, the state basketball championship games in the two largest classifications used to be on "regular" TV. 

Washington did the same with state basketball and football — still does with the small-school tournaments in Spokane. 

I remember watching a Coeur d'Alene-Highland state football title game way back in 1987 on KUID, broadcast from the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. 

These days, sometimes you tune in — or more accurately, log on — to watch state tournaments in other parts of the state and you don't feel so bad about not being able to make the trip. 

The poor girls from Lake City and Coeur d'Alene looked like they were freezing in the wind and the cold at state soccer in Idaho Falls. 

Even the referee was sporting a jacket with a hood on during the captains' meeting. 

The Coeur d'Alene boys looked like they were playing in a torrent in nearby Ammon. 

Fun stuff. 

Meanwhile, in North Idaho, it looked like another beautiful — albeit chilly — late-October day along the lake at War Memorial Field in Sandpoint for the state boys and girls championship soccer games. 

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.