1981-82 Vandals to be Inducted into Spokane Hoopfest Hall of Fame

MOSCOW, Idaho – The Spokane Hoopfest tournament is nearly here, and tens of thousands of competitors will take the court in the largest 3-on-3 competition in the world.

Before this, however, some of the best in basketball’s history will be immortalized at the fourth-annual Hooptown Hall of Fame ceremony on Wednesday. Among the nominees for this prestigious society will be the 1981-82 Idaho Basketball team, alongside their head coach, Don Monson.

Widely considered one of the greatest seasons in school history, the 81-82 Vandals took the Big Sky Conference, and all of DI Basketball, by storm as they marched out to a 27-3 record, still the best all-time. The black and gold would be denied by very few as they went 13-1 in Big Sky play and achieved noteworthy non-conference wins over Oregon, Oregon State, Gonzaga, Washington, and Washington State to start the season 12-0. 

Sporting one of the most tenacious defenses in college basketball, Idaho allowed just 57.5 PPG as a team across 30 games, a top-20 mark in the country by the end of the year. This culminated in the #1 seed in the Big Sky Tournament, which the Vandals had earned the right to host due to securing the top spot. Inside the Kibbie Dome-turned-Cowan Spectrum, the top-seeded black and gold knocked off Weber State in the Semifinals and took down Nevada in the championship to earn the berth to the NCAA Tournament. 

As the #3 seed in the west, the Vandals matched up with the #16 Iowa Hawkeyes in what was effectively a home game in Washington State’s Beasley Coliseum. UI(daho) forward Phil Hopson led the scoring with a game-high 21 points, and four of five Vandal starters finished in double figures to win an overtime thriller, 69-67. The win was cemented by Brian Kellerman’s 18-foot buzzer-beater to end the extra period and send Idaho to the Sweet 16. 

The 81-82 squad was led by one of the most well-known faces in the history of Vandal Hoops. Don Monson was entering his fourth year at the helm of the program and had led his team to what was, at the time, the best season in school history. The Vandals finished with a program best 25-4 record in the 80-81 season and had reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. They topped both of those notables with the 27-win season and Sweet 16 appearance the following year as Monson established himself as one of the best coaches in Idaho history. To date, he is one of only two coaches to lead the Vandals to the Tournament and the only coach in school history with a win under his belt.

In five years coaching in Moscow, Monson would finish with a 100-41 career record, the third most wins for an Idaho head coach to date. In those five years, his teams finished with ten losses or less in four of them and captured two Big Sky regular season titles and two conference tournament titles.  

The induction ceremony will take place on Wednesday, June 25th, at the Hooptown Courts.