At first glance, Idaho seems like one of the last states in the country to be considered a basketball hotbed. But that doesn’t mean the Idaho Vandals should be ignored as a college basketball program. While most fans might assume that it’s easy to find cheap Idaho basketball tickets, that’s not always the case. The Vandals have a proud history on the hardwood and have been led by several notable coaches who went on to bigger and better things. Since the turn of the century, the Vandals have taken steps forward and are now a team in the Big Sky that’s worth taking seriously. As a result, the Vandals are among the most underrated programs in the country, with last-minute Idaho basketball tickets being a hot commodity.

One Marvelous Decade

While the Vandals have played basketball since 1905, the heyday of the program was between 1980 and 1990. Head coach Don Monson helped to get the program off the ground, leading Idaho to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1981. The following year, the Vandals once again won both the Big Sky regular-season and tournament championships. They also took another step forward by beating Iowa in the Big Dance to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, finishing the 1981-82 season with a 27-3 record. In 1989 and 1990, head coach Kermit Davis also led Idaho to regular-season and conference tournament titles in back-to-back years, leading the Vandals back to the NCAA Tournament and going 50-12 over his two seasons.

Back Again

By the turn of the century, Idaho basketball had fallen on some hard times. However, head coach Don Verlin was able to get the program back on track. During his first season at the helm, Verlin took the Vandals to the CIT quarterfinals, giving Idaho its first winning season in nearly a decade. While he never took Idaho to the NCAA Tournament, Verlin’s 11-year tenure at Idaho included six winning seasons and five trips to a postseason tournament. He also oversaw Idaho’s move to the Big Sky Conference in 2014, setting up the Vandals for a promising future on the basketball court.