Coaching Change Shouldn’T Hurt Wv

Boys basketball

There are inheritances and then there’s winning the lottery.

Jamie Nilles probably falls somewhere in between. He takes over as head boys basketball coach at highly successful West Valley. Joe Feist, WV’s coach for 12 years, resigned to become athletic director at South Whidbey in Langley, Wash.

Nilles, who moves up from the junior varsity, inherits a team that returns intact.

Without hesitation, Border League coaches have tabbed WV, 216-84 under Feist, as the conference favorite. It should be a one-team race, they predict.

“I’m having a great time. That stuff (living up to Feist’s record) doesn’t bother me,” Nilles said. “I do the best job I can and don’t worry about anything else.”

WV’s shoot-early-and-often style won’t change much under Nilles.

“It’ll be the same with some variations,” Nilles said.

It’s the chase for second that should be entertaining. As many as five teams could battle.

The cross-state conference - which blends six Inland Empire League teams and four Frontier League teams - expands to an 18-game schedule with the addition of Moscow, a power in Idaho’s State A-2 ranks the past three years.

All games will count toward seeding for state-qualifying tournaments.

While West Valley should dominate among the Frontier teams, there could be much jockeying among the IEL teams.

Three of the six teams - Lewiston, Lake City and Moscow - should challenge for the region’s lone automatic state berth. Of the other three teams - defending state champ Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and Post Falls - Sandpoint stands the best chance of breaking into the top three.

As expected, the coaches are pointing fingers at each other, trying to deflect the attention normally paid to the preseason favorite. LC coach Jim Winger, who calls Lewiston and Moscow the favorites, has two fingers directed back at him from those team’s coaches, not to mention a couple of the other IEL teams.

The IEL regional runner-up also can earn a state berth by winning a cross-district playoff.

Intermountain League

Moscow’s departure should make the conference as competitive, top to bottom, as it’s been in some time. St. Maries, a Cinderella story last year, is the heavy favorite to take over the throne. Bonners Ferry and Kellogg will contend for second.

Only the IML’s district champ earns an automatic state berth. Grangeville and Orofino, league members in football, will play off to see which team will meet the IML district runner-up in a playoff for a state berth.

North Star League

Clark Fork and Falls Christian needed a Kansas Tiebreaker to decide a state playoff berth in football, and both teams will renew the spirited rivalry in basketball.

The North Star League will send two teams to state. Like football, there’s a huge separation between Clark Fork and Falls Christian and the league’s two other teams, Mullan and Kootenai.

CIL North

Lakeside, which has dominated the NSL in recent years, joins Wallace in the A-3 classification.

For the first time since Wallace left the IML seven years ago, the Miners will play in a league. To accommodate Wallace and Lakeside, the Central Idaho League has divided into two four-team divisions. Wallace and Lakeside will be in the North Division with Potlatch and perennial power Lapwai.

The North and South teams will play each other in their divisions twice and cross over to play the other division teams once. All games will be used to seed the eight teams into the district tourney. Two teams advance to state.