Northwest Notes: Oct. 15, 2026

Eastern third, Idaho men picked sixth in

Big Sky preseason polls

Fresh off a Big Sky Tournament title in March, Idaho men's basketball was picked sixth in the 2026-27 Big Sky Conference Preseason Coaches and Media Poll, receiving a first-place vote in the coaches poll.

The conference has grown to 11 members, with Southern Utah and Utah Tech joining the conference and Sacramento State departing for the Big West.

Eastern received three first-place votes and 79 points in the coaches' poll, trailing only preseason favorite Montana State and Northern Colorado. The Eagles also collected five first-place votes and 279 points in the media poll, again ranking behind Montana State and Northern Colorado.

Andrew Cook and Alton Hamilton IV give Eastern two representatives on the seven-player Preseason All-Conference Team. Northern Colorado's Langston Reynolds was selected as the Preseason Most Valuable Player.
Alex Pribble’s Vandals return four players from their championship-winning campaign. Idaho's returning core is led by Kristian Gonzalez, who started 29 of 32 games in 2024-25, leading the Vandals with 11.4 points per game on 44.7 percent shooting from the field. Gonzalez appeared in only one game during the 2025-26 season, posting a team-high 18 points in 18 minutes off the bench in the Vandals' season-opening win over Washington State, before missing the remainder of the season due to injury. The senior returned to the floor for Idaho in its exhibition against Boise State on Oct. 10, scoring a game-high 24 points, while going 11-12 from the free-throw line.

Senior forward Seth Joba appeared in all 36 games off the bench for Idaho last season, averaging 5.2 points and three and a half rebounds, while leading the Vandals in total blocks with 24. Joba posted a double-double against Whitman, scoring 10 points and a season-high 13 boards. Miles Klapper played in 30 games for the Black and Gold, averaging 3.7 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 42.9 percent from three-point range. He started Idaho's final three regular-season games and set his season high with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting against Eastern Oregon on Nov. 22. Sophomore forward Will Jenson, a 6-foot-9 product of Caldera High in Bend, Ore., also returns after redshirting last season. 

Kase Wynott headlines the Vandal newcomers, arriving in Moscow after two seasons at Washington State. The product of Lapwai High broke the Idaho state scoring record during his four seasons for the Wildcats, helping Lapwai to three state titles. Wynott played in 24 games as a true freshman for the Cougars in 2024-25, before playing five of Washington State's first six games last season, shooting 50% from the field. 

Idaho Athletics announces showing of documentary 

featuring 2025-26 basketball season

MOSCOW — In anticipation of the upcoming 2026-27 basketball season, Idaho athletics will be showing Champions: The Story of the 2025-26 Idaho Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in downtown Moscow on Sunday at 7 p.m. 

The film, directed by Idaho’s Director of Video Production Richard Pathomsiri and former Vandal Creative intern Alex Bloom, uses sit-down interviews with head coaches Alex Pribble and Arthur Moreira and behind-the-scenes footage to detail the key moments that led to Idaho’s sweep of the men’s and women’s titles at the Big Sky Basketball Tournament in Boise.

Beginning with the department’s historic season-opening sweep of Washington State in November, the men’s and women’s programs went on a journey that saw the men claim their first 20-win campaign in nearly a decade and the women’s team put together the best season in program history, winning a program-record 29 wins and the Big Sky regular season title. Both teams earned berths to the NCAA Tournament in the same season for the first time in school history with their titles at Starch Madness in Boise, before both being sent to Oklahoma for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Following the showing of the 90-minute documentary, Pribble will be available for a public Q&A. 

Tickets for the event will be $7 and are available on the Kenworthy website, kenworthy.org, or available day-of at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For those who cannot make it to Moscow, the film will be available on YouTube later this year.