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Mar. 28—It was a pair of historic seasons for Idaho basketball.
For the Vandal men (21-15), it was the first time making March Madness since 1990 after going on a Cinderella run to win the Big Sky Tournament as a No. 7 seed, the most wins in a season for UI in the conference (10) and the most road/neutral wins (12) since 1981-82.
For the Idaho women (29-6), it was the most wins in a single season with 29 and broke the record for most consecutive wins in a single season with 18, both records from 1984-85. The Vandals won the regular-season Big Sky championship and won the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship to earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015-16.
Now enters the offseason, a time of the year when the waves are high and your boat rocks. Lots of changes are about to hit the programs, whether positive or negative.
Transfer portal already doing damage to the men's team
The Vandal men have four players who have signaled their intent to enter the transfer portal thus far.
It was reported on Wednesday from SWX that the Vandals' leading scorer — Kolton Mitchell — intends to enter the transfer portal when it opens on April 7. The sophomore also reposted a report of the news of his transfer on his personal X account, although Coeur d'Alene Press sports editor Mark Nelke posted on X that Mitchell had told him, "I haven't decided what I'm doing yet."
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Mitchell, a sophomore guard from Lake City High in Coeur d'Alene, played 30.4 minutes per game and scored 13.7 points per game, was the leader in 3-point shots made with 73 and was the Vandals' assist leader with 3.8 per game.
On Thursday, reports surfaced that Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year Jackson Rasmussen is set to enter the transfer portal as well, after one season with the Vandals.
Rasmussen started 35 games this season and was the Vandals' second-leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game. He also grabbed 4.7 rebounds per game and dished out 1.3 assists per game, while shooting 48.6% from the field and 32.1% from 3-point range.
Rasmussen, an in-state product from Meridian, scored in double figures in 24 games this season.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that rising seniors Jack Payne and Trevon Blassingame have the intention to enter the portal. Payne's announcement was per On3, a prominent sports media company focused on college sports, high school recruiting and the transfer portal.
Payne averaged 6.6 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. He shot 31.6% from 3-point range.
Blassingame posted on his personal X account his intention to transfer.
Blassingame was important off the bench for the Vandals, especially later in the season. He averaged 2.6 points per game, shot 46.5% from the field and 37.9% from long range.
The Idaho women retool after losing key players to graduation
The Idaho women's basketball team does not have any players who have put in their intention to enter the transfer portal as of Friday, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Based on the historic season that the team just completed, many players may want to run it back.
But the Vandals will have multiple players leaving via graduation.
That includes Lorena Barbosa, Debora dos Santos, Kyra Gardner, Anja Bukvic, Catelyn Deaver, Mary McMorris and Sarah Brans.
Idaho headman Arthur Moreira said during the Big Sky Conference Tournament that they have found their formula on how to build the team by securing certain older transfers not just on statistics but who they are as people, recruiting high schoolers and using the transfers and the leaders of the team to help mentor the young players.
Expect Idaho to work the transfer portal for some bigger post players, as that is a large part of what is leaving the team.
Foreign-born players have also been an archetype that has found success under Moreira with players like dos Santos, Barbosa and Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva — all Brazilian, like the coach himself — finding major success.
Based on the season that they just had, and the improvement seen in Moreira's second year, don't expect massive changes, just some undervalued transfers from slightly larger programs that will look to contribute immediately.
Dos Santos and Barbosa were two of the most impactful players for the Vandals as transfers from the University of San Francisco of the West Coast Conference. They did have some previous experience with Moreira before, which did help secure them, but similar players who can contribute and want to win now would make sense to land in Moscow.
I also believe that as long as Idaho has Moreira at the helm, it will find success. He is too good of a coach to fail miserably.
Next year will be a continuation of the 2025-26 season: not a rebuild, but not quite the same team — more of a retool.
How do the Vandal men recover?
Realistically, it was an underdog run that put the Vandal men in the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Sky was wide open, but going from the No. 7 seed in Starch Madness to beating three of the top four seeds to seal their spot in the NCAA Tournament is rare.
Without many of their key pieces, the likelihood of it happening again is not high.
Now, the Vandals have seen improvement in each year of the Alex Pribble era, going from 11-21 in 2023-24, to 14-19 in 2024-25, to 21-15 this season.
And making the Big Dance for first time in 36 years is nothing to dismiss; it's a huge step in the right direction and a task that is very hard to accomplish.
But to expect the Vandals to do this year in and year out?
That's an impossible task that simply won't happen.
March is a crapshoot; there are so many teams that you expect to make a run that fail, and there are so many teams that aren't expected to do anything that find some success.
I expect the Vandals to stay competitive, and maybe continue to win a game or two in Starch Madness, but a run similar to what just happened seems unlikely unless the program retains talent — unlike this offseason — or is able to grab good players off the transfer portal.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, [email protected] or on X @TrevorJunt.
Continue reading...
For the Vandal men (21-15), it was the first time making March Madness since 1990 after going on a Cinderella run to win the Big Sky Tournament as a No. 7 seed, the most wins in a season for UI in the conference (10) and the most road/neutral wins (12) since 1981-82.
For the Idaho women (29-6), it was the most wins in a single season with 29 and broke the record for most consecutive wins in a single season with 18, both records from 1984-85. The Vandals won the regular-season Big Sky championship and won the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship to earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015-16.
Now enters the offseason, a time of the year when the waves are high and your boat rocks. Lots of changes are about to hit the programs, whether positive or negative.
Transfer portal already doing damage to the men's team
The Vandal men have four players who have signaled their intent to enter the transfer portal thus far.
It was reported on Wednesday from SWX that the Vandals' leading scorer — Kolton Mitchell — intends to enter the transfer portal when it opens on April 7. The sophomore also reposted a report of the news of his transfer on his personal X account, although Coeur d'Alene Press sports editor Mark Nelke posted on X that Mitchell had told him, "I haven't decided what I'm doing yet."
Advertisement
Mitchell, a sophomore guard from Lake City High in Coeur d'Alene, played 30.4 minutes per game and scored 13.7 points per game, was the leader in 3-point shots made with 73 and was the Vandals' assist leader with 3.8 per game.
On Thursday, reports surfaced that Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year Jackson Rasmussen is set to enter the transfer portal as well, after one season with the Vandals.
Rasmussen started 35 games this season and was the Vandals' second-leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game. He also grabbed 4.7 rebounds per game and dished out 1.3 assists per game, while shooting 48.6% from the field and 32.1% from 3-point range.
Rasmussen, an in-state product from Meridian, scored in double figures in 24 games this season.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that rising seniors Jack Payne and Trevon Blassingame have the intention to enter the portal. Payne's announcement was per On3, a prominent sports media company focused on college sports, high school recruiting and the transfer portal.
Payne averaged 6.6 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game. He shot 31.6% from 3-point range.
Blassingame posted on his personal X account his intention to transfer.
Blassingame was important off the bench for the Vandals, especially later in the season. He averaged 2.6 points per game, shot 46.5% from the field and 37.9% from long range.
The Idaho women retool after losing key players to graduation
The Idaho women's basketball team does not have any players who have put in their intention to enter the transfer portal as of Friday, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Based on the historic season that the team just completed, many players may want to run it back.
But the Vandals will have multiple players leaving via graduation.
That includes Lorena Barbosa, Debora dos Santos, Kyra Gardner, Anja Bukvic, Catelyn Deaver, Mary McMorris and Sarah Brans.
Idaho headman Arthur Moreira said during the Big Sky Conference Tournament that they have found their formula on how to build the team by securing certain older transfers not just on statistics but who they are as people, recruiting high schoolers and using the transfers and the leaders of the team to help mentor the young players.
Expect Idaho to work the transfer portal for some bigger post players, as that is a large part of what is leaving the team.
Foreign-born players have also been an archetype that has found success under Moreira with players like dos Santos, Barbosa and Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva — all Brazilian, like the coach himself — finding major success.
Based on the season that they just had, and the improvement seen in Moreira's second year, don't expect massive changes, just some undervalued transfers from slightly larger programs that will look to contribute immediately.
Dos Santos and Barbosa were two of the most impactful players for the Vandals as transfers from the University of San Francisco of the West Coast Conference. They did have some previous experience with Moreira before, which did help secure them, but similar players who can contribute and want to win now would make sense to land in Moscow.
I also believe that as long as Idaho has Moreira at the helm, it will find success. He is too good of a coach to fail miserably.
Next year will be a continuation of the 2025-26 season: not a rebuild, but not quite the same team — more of a retool.
How do the Vandal men recover?
Realistically, it was an underdog run that put the Vandal men in the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Sky was wide open, but going from the No. 7 seed in Starch Madness to beating three of the top four seeds to seal their spot in the NCAA Tournament is rare.
Without many of their key pieces, the likelihood of it happening again is not high.
Now, the Vandals have seen improvement in each year of the Alex Pribble era, going from 11-21 in 2023-24, to 14-19 in 2024-25, to 21-15 this season.
And making the Big Dance for first time in 36 years is nothing to dismiss; it's a huge step in the right direction and a task that is very hard to accomplish.
But to expect the Vandals to do this year in and year out?
That's an impossible task that simply won't happen.
March is a crapshoot; there are so many teams that you expect to make a run that fail, and there are so many teams that aren't expected to do anything that find some success.
I expect the Vandals to stay competitive, and maybe continue to win a game or two in Starch Madness, but a run similar to what just happened seems unlikely unless the program retains talent — unlike this offseason — or is able to grab good players off the transfer portal.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, [email protected] or on X @TrevorJunt.
Continue reading...
