THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Vandals need to keep the love flowing

Much like MTV, the Idaho Vandals loved the ‘80s. 

Until this season, all four of Idaho’s NCAA tournament appearances took place in the 1980s — in a pair of back-to-back trips. 

You likely already know about the first pair, under legendary coach Don Monson. 

In 1981, Idaho lost a one-point game to Pittsburgh in the Round of 48. 

The next year, with largely the same group, the Vandals were ranked as high as sixth nationally, and received a bye in the Round of 48. 

In the next round, on the first weekend, Idaho beat Iowa 69-67 in that memorable overtime game in Pullman to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where they eventually lost to Oregon State. 

(Monson also guided the Vandals to an NIT appearance in 1983, back when that tournament was still a big deal). 

Idaho returned to the NCAAs in 1989 and ‘90 under Kermit Davis.  

In 1989, the Vandals lost in the first round to UNLV, which went on to win the national title the following season. In 1990, Idaho fell to Louisville in the first round. 

That was it until this year, when third-year coach Alex Pribble led the Vandals back to March Madness, and Thursday’s first-round loss to No. 2 seed Houston. 

AND A glance at this year’s Idaho’s roster indicates many of those players could return next season. 

“I think our foundation and our culture has been built,” said Kolton Mitchell, a redshirt sophomore point guard from Lake City High, in the press conference following Thursday’s game.  

Mitchell is in his second season at Idaho, after starting out at Idaho State, then transferring after one season, and receiving a medical redshirt when that season was cut short due to a finger injury. 

“We have a championship culture now at Idaho, and the expectation is the expectation. You know, we expect to win championships now,” Mitchell said. “So going in, the guys who we'll recruit and get here are going to be expected to work their butts off, and if it's not a championship, then that's down to our standards going forward.”

Of course, 2026 is not 1981. 

With the current landscape in college athletics, rosters can change from year to year, so ... 

Regardless, this year’s squad was appealing not only because they played well, especially at the right time. But also, with five players with Idaho ties on the roster, fans had more of a connection. 

AN HONORARY Vandal of sorts, Blake Buchanan, nearly recorded a triple double for Iowa State in its first-round NCAA win over Tennessee State on Friday in St. Louis. 

The 6-10 Buchanan, a junior from Lake City High who played his first two seasons at Virginia, totaled 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. 

Iowa State Men’s Basketball tweeted that Buchanan was just the fifth player 6-10 or taller to have at least eight assists in an NCAA tournament game. 

“He’s so vital to so many things that they do,” analyst Jim Spanarkel, who helped Duke reach the 1978 Final Four, said on the CBS telecast. “Especially keeping the ball alive on the offensive glass.” 

Buchanan grew up in Moscow, where his mom, Debbie, was Idaho volleyball coach for 27 seasons and his dad, Buck, played football for the Vandals. Blake played at Moscow High as a freshman before transferring to Lake City.

KELVIN SAMPSON, whose Houston Cougars defeated Idaho on Thursday, reflected on his time in the Palouse in the day-before presser on Wednesday. 

Sampson was head coach at Washington State from 1987-94. 

He spoke of Don Monson, "one of the greatest Vandals of all time,” and his son Dan, "one of my best friends." 

“Don was a great role model for my generation. I used to look up to Coach Mons and Jud Heathcote." 

Sampson recalled being head coach of a USA Basketball team that won a gold medal at a tournament in, he thought, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  

“I remember that, because I had Chris Paul as my point guard. That helped,” Sampson said.  

Also, Dan Monson was one of his assistant coaches on that staff. 

Sampson also mentioned former Vandal Don Newman, who was on his staff at WSU for five seasons. 

"Donny deserves a lot of credit for helping us turn that program around at Washington State. He did an awesome job.” 

“I remember going over to the Kibbie Dome when we first got to Washington State,” Sampson continued. “I think our third year we went 7-22. I never forgot that. We weren't very good, but you know, they hired me when I was 31. I mean, it wasn't a great job. It was a good job, they would have never hired me. They would have hired somebody else.” 

He said that lack of success early kept him humble, and helped shape him as a coach.  

"Jim Livengood was my AD (at WSU),” Sampson said. “Today I would have been fired. I would have never had another chance. My career probably would have ended after that year, but I had Jim Livengood as my AD. He never called me Kelvin. He would call me K-man. He would say, ‘K-man, I saw some signs tonight. K-man, getting a little better.’ K-man — how about that as your AD?  

“We couldn't beat anybody. We tried, but the Pac-10 that year (1989-90) was full of pros. Gary Payton was at Oregon State and Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr were at Arizona. Todd Lichti and Adam Keefe were at Stanford. We couldn't beat any of them. We could play with them, but we just didn't have enough horses. 

“After that year, we recruited a little better and a little better, and eventually we got to the NCAA Tournament (in 1994) ... I wouldn't have made it (at WSU) with any other AD except for Jim Livengood.” 

WSU went 16-12 the following year, then went 22-11 in 1991-92, when Sampson guided the Cougars to the NIT, and was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. 

"I told my wife the reason they voted for me as the Pac-10 coach of the year is they didn't want me to get fired,” Sampson said with a laugh. “As long as we keep him over there, we'll have a chance. That was just to tell them to keep that dude around so we can keep beating him.” 

HOUSTON’S LEVEL of physicality and toughness was way too much for Idaho on Thursday night — welcome to the club, Vandals. 

But Pribble said he, like many young coaches, has studied Houston’s program and, in his case, picked the Cougars’ assistant coaches’ brains for insight on how they do it. 

“Anybody that wants to make their program tougher, they look at Houston,” Pribble said. “To hear that Coach Sampson had some respect for us playing with a level of physicality and toughness, that's special, because I think our guys have worked really hard to improve that part of our identity, right? 

“We went from being the 300th best defensive rebounding team in the country last year to before this game being the fifth ranked defensive rebounding team in the country. That doesn't happen without a level of physical toughness. 

"If I run into him in the offseason sometime, maybe I'll pick his brain a little bit more about this,” Pribble said. “There's a lot you can learn from that program.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.