The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 195 is Idaho basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Idaho basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 5
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 11.7
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 15
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 1
- NBA players drafted & played: 3
- Conference Players of the Year: 7
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 7
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Idaho basketball
For starters, for Idaho basketball, we have to tip our hat to Gus Johnson! No, not the famous play-by-play broadcaster, but the former Vandals star, who in 1962-63, in his lone season with the team, averaged 19.0 points and 20.3 rebounds per game. Johnson led them to a 20-6 record and would embark on a pro career, averaging 17.1 PPG and 12.7 RPG in 10 NBA seasons, later playing one final year in the ABA. Johnson passed away early at the age of 48.
While Johnson wasn’t an All-American at Idaho, Al Fox was! In 1922-23, Fox led them to a 15-3 record and a regular season conference championship.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Idaho had some more good teams. Legendary coach Don Monson took them to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 1981 and 1982, as a 7-seed and 3-seed, respectively. In 1982, the Vandals were ranked as high as sixth in the country and knocked off 6-seed Iowa before losing to 2-seed Oregon State in the Sweet 16. They were a well-balanced scoring team, with five players averaging between 10.3 and 15.6 PPG. However, Monson’s defensive mindset had them allowing fewer than 60 PPG, leading the Vandals to a 27-3 final record.
Monson would leave for Oregon, but soon followed Kermit Davis, who only stayed two seasons, going 25-6 in both and leading the Vandals to the NCAA Tournament in 1989 and 1990. Of course, Davis would have a March moment himself, later coaching Middle Tennessee State to a huge upset of Michigan State in 2016. He would also return to Idaho in 1996-97, bouncing around at other jobs in between, and finishing with a 63-29 record while with the Vandals.
After Davis left in 1990, it was Larry Eustachy who followed, who also coached our previous team in these rankings, Southern Miss. He stayed three seasons with the program, going 61-33. It was also his first job.
However, Idaho went into a lengthy period of not much success before finding some under Don Verlin, who went 177-176 in his time from 2008-19. And just last season, in year three, Alex Pribble led them back to the big dance, part of a 21-15 season. It was their first winning season since 2017-18.
So for Idaho, legendary players and success all over the place have followed the program. While they haven’t had just one era to look at, they’ve surprisingly always been able to bounce back and match their standard. We’ll see where Pribble can take them next!