The 1979–80 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

during the

1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 17, 1979, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1980 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on Marc ...

. The

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

were led by second-year head coach

Don Monson Donald Lloyd Monson (born April 11, 1933) is a former college basketball head coach and the father of head coach Dan Monson. He was a high school head coach for 18 seasons and college head coach for 14 seasons: five at Idaho and nine at Oregon. ...

and played their home games on campus at the

Kibbie Dome The William H. Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center (commonly known as the Kibbie Dome) is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. It is the home of the Idaho V ...

in After five consecutive seasons in last place in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

, the Vandals were expected by most to stay but climbed up to second in the final standings and qualified for the four-team conference tournament for the first In non-conference games, the Vandals fell to

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and neighbor

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, but had wins over

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. The Cornhuskers traveled to the Kibbie Dome in early led by former Vandal head coach

Joe Cipriano Joe Cipriano is an American voice over actor, radio and TV on-air personality, and author. Early life and education Cipriano was born September 8, 1954, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He attended Watertown High School. Career Cipriano began his ca ...

, stricken with cancer. The attendance was 5,500, the second-largest attendance for basketball on campus at Idaho lost their first three conference games in early January, then won nine of eleven to end the regular season at and overall. An NIT invitation was likely if they won their first game of the Big Sky tourney at

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

(and an NCAA tourney berth with two wins). The Vandals met

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

in the semifinals, whom they had swept in the regular season, but lost the third meeting on the neutral court. Sensing that Montana was a less formidable opponent in the finals for host Weber State, the Ogden fans sided with Montana and the Grizzlies outscored the Vandals 16–2 in the final five minutes and won by The loss in the semifinals cost them an NIT bid; Idaho missed the postseason and finished at It was their best season in seventeen years since Gus Johnson packed Northwest gyms and led the Vandals to a record in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

, Cipriano's final season as The overtime loss to

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

on January 12 was the last home defeat for the Vandals for over three years, until

Notes

Senior Don Newman was a unanimous selection to the all-conference and the

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

. He played professional football in Canada for several seasons and later was a basketball coach in the college and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

ranks. Forward Reed Jaussi went to

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

, served as a

flight surgeon A flight surgeon is a military medical officer practicing in the clinical field of aviation medicine. Although the term "flight surgery" is considered improper by purists, it may occasionally be encountered. Flight surgeons are physicians ( MD ...

in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

, and is an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

in Monson and the freshmen (

Brian Kellerman Brian Kellerman is an American former basketball player, known for his college career for the Idaho Vandals, where he was the Big Sky Conference player of the year in 1981 as a sophomore. He later played professionally in England and Turkey. Hig ...

, Phil Hopson, and reserve Ben Ross) led Idaho to the best four-year stretch in program history. Kellerman was the player of the year (and state champion) in Washington as a high school senior in 1979, and was a four-year starter at Idaho. He was first-team all-conference for three years (honorable mention as a freshman), and was the Big Sky

as a sophomore.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Big Sky tournament

References

External links

Sports Reference
– Idaho Vandals: 1979–80 basketball season
''Gem of the Mountains:'' 1980 University of Idaho yearbook
– 1979–80 basketball season

– student newspaper – 1980 editions {{DEFAULTSORT:1979-80 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team Idaho Vandals men's basketball seasons

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...