Don Monson

Monson's third season opened well, as the 1981 Vandals won their first ten games (including road wins at Nebraska, Washington State, and Gonzaga). Idaho went 23–3 in the regular season and won the Big Sky regular season championship, their first conference title ever in basketball.[19]

Their 12–2 conference record earned them the host position for the conference tournament (top four teams of the eight), which they won and were seeded seventh in the West region of the 48-team NCAA tournament. Idaho lost in overtime by one point to Pittsburgh, the #10 seed, in El Paso in the first round. The Vandals finished the season with an overall record of 25–4 (.862), with most of the key players returning.[19]

The 1982 basketball team was the most successful in the school's history, and has yet to be surpassed. Building upon the success of the previous season, the Vandals won their first 16 games and were ranked sixth in both polls after completing a 24–2 regular season.[20][21] They defeated Gonzaga (for a third straight year) and all four Pac-10 teams from the Northwest. Idaho won the eight-team Far West Classic in Portland in late December 1981, winning all three games by at least 19 points (over Iowa State, Oregon State, and Oregon).[22]

The Vandals' only setbacks during the regular season were consecutive two-point road losses in late January. The first was to rival Montana on a raucous Saturday night in Missoula on a tip-in at the buzzer.[23] The second was to Notre Dame in South Bend two days later, ending a three-games-in-four-nights road trip, which included multiple weather-related travel delays and re-routes, and a 4:30 am arrival in South Bend on game day.[24] Although the Vandals hit 14 of their first 15 shots to jump to 28–10 lead over the Irish, Notre Dame regrouped at home to win by two in overtime. Idaho was awarded just four free throws in the 45 minutes of play and missed them all.[25][26] Notre Dame was led by future NBA guard John Paxson in 1982.[24] The Vandals then won eight straight games to conclude the regular season, and won the four-team conference tournament, which they hosted for the second straight year as regular season champions.[27]

Their 26–2 record after the Big Sky tournament (& ten straight victories) earned the Vandals a #8 national ranking and a #3 seed in the West region of the 48-team NCAA tournament, which included a first round bye.[22]

Idaho's first game (in the second round) was nearly a home game, played less than eight miles (13 km) west at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman on a Sunday afternoon. The opponent was 16th-ranked Iowa of the Big Ten, the region's #6 seed, then coached by Lute Olson. Iowa, a Final Four team two years earlier, won their first-round game handily, but Idaho won this close game by two points, 69–67 in overtime, and advanced to the Sweet 16 at the West regional in Provo, Utah.[28] [29] There the Vandals met fourth-ranked Oregon State, the #2 seed in the West region. Idaho had defeated the Beavers by 22 points in December at the Far West Classic in Portland, but this time the result was far different, as the Beavers won 60–42. OSU was defeated two days later by the region's #1 seed Georgetown, led by freshman center Patrick Ewing. (Georgetown advanced to the national final, where they lost by a point to North Carolina.)

The Vandals finished the 1982 season at 27–3 (.900), and were ranked as high as sixth in the nation (AP and UPI polls); they were eighth in mid-January, when they were undefeated at 15–0.[30][31] The 1982 starters Ken Owens (6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)) and Brian Kellerman (6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)) in the backcourt, with forwards Phil Hopson and Gordie Herbert and center Kelvin Smith, all at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m). Just before their two losses in January, the team was featured in a two-page article in Sports Illustrated.[32] (team photo) The alley-oop was a frequently used play against man-to-man defenses.[33]

Don Monson was named the Kodak Coach of the Year in Division I in 1982 (photo) and rumors were rampant that he would jump to a higher league, maybe to struggling Arizona in the Pac-10. That position was filled by Ben Lindsey (who was dismissed after one season, succeeded by Lute Olson of Iowa), and Monson chose to stay for another year at Idaho. With a salary of about $40,000 in 1982 and a one-year contract,[34] an "appreciation fund" was set up by local fans to entice him to stay in Moscow.[35][36] The 1982 team was inducted into the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame, as was Monson.

The 1983 Vandals returned three starters (Kellerman, Hopson, and Smith) and began the season at 12–1, repeating as Far West Classic champs in December 1982. Idaho again defeated all four Northwest Pac-10 schools during the regular season, and also won at Gonzaga, then led by legendary point guard John Stockton.[37]

Several of the Vandals players had injuries late in the year, and the team finished tied for third in the Big Sky at 9–5, and an overall record of 20–7.[38] They lost in the semifinals (first round) of the conference tourney at Reno to regular season champion Nevada, 78–73.[39] This was followed by a first round loss in the NIT against Oregon State in Corvallis on March 16, ending the Vandals' season at 20–9 (.690),[40] and Monson's five-year stint on the Palouse.[41]

Don Monson became a cult hero in the Moscow community in the early 1980s, bringing championship status to a university that had long struggled in both football and basketball.[42] He was well known for his anguished expressions and contorted body language while on the Idaho sideline,[41] which became the subject for an unofficial fan club[43] (and caricature T-shirts). Monson was the biggest thing to happen to Vandal basketball since Gus Johnson in 1963 (and his elevated nail at the Corner Club on Main Street). Five years after his departure to Eugene, he was honored with a roast in Moscow.[44][45]

The Vandal basketball team could outdraw the Division I-AA football team in the multi-purpose Kibbie Dome, and it was ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the toughest home courts in America. From January 1980 to February 1983, the Vandals won 43 consecutive games on their home floor. (After a shocking loss to Montana in front of a record 11,800 on February 12, the Vandals won their final three home games in 1983.) In Monson's final four seasons at Idaho, the Vandals were 51–2 (.962) at home.

Monson's overall record in his five seasons at Idaho was 100–41 (.709), and was 72–16 (.818) in his final three seasons. His successor was Bill Trumbo, a successful junior college head coach in northern California. Trumbo did not come close to equaling Monson's success, as the Vandals struggled and returned to last place in the Big Sky in each of his three seasons, going 8–34 (.190) in conference and 28–59 (.322) overall.[46] Trumbo lost 21 games at home in the Kibbie Dome and was relieved in March 1986,[47] succeeded by Tim Floyd.[16]

During the "Monson Era" at Idaho, the neighboring Washington State Cougars were also doing well in basketball under head coach George Raveling, advancing to the NCAA tournament in 1980 and 1983. Monson's Vandals were 3–2 against the Cougars, winning the final three (in three different cities) to the great frustration of the Cougar Nation and the Pullman community.

The highlight of this series was the final game, in early December 1982, which was the only one played in Moscow. A then-record (basketball) crowd of over 11,000 packed into the Kibbie Dome's south grandstand & expanded temporary bleachers to witness a four-point overtime victory for the Vandals, their 37th consecutive win at home.[48] Concurrently in Kentucky, the resurgent Vandals football team (under first-year head coach Dennis Erickson) was on the road battling eventual champion Eastern Kentucky in the I-AA playoffs; losing 38–30 in a game that went down to the final play.[49]

That 1983 Cougar team, led by future NBA guard Craig Ehlo, finished second in the Pac-10 with a 14–4 record, a game behind champion UCLA. The Cougars' non-conference losses were both on the road in early December to Big Sky opponents; Idaho and Montana. The Cougars advanced to the second round in the West regional of the NCAA tournament, losing to #1 seed Virginia by five points, finishing at 23–7.[50] After that loss, head coach George Raveling left Washington State to replace Lute Olson at Iowa. With Monson also leaving for Oregon, college basketball on the Palouse went into dormancy. Simultaneous success for both universities in basketball (or any other sport) has yet to recur.