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Lewiston Tribune, Idaho
New-look Vandals men's hoops brings championship culture into '26
- Story byLewiston Tribune, Idaho
- New-look Vandals men's hoops brings championship culture into '26
Oct. 29—The Idaho Vandals men's basketball team is coming off a season that earned it its first NCAA Tournament berth in 36 years.
Record-wise, it was Idaho's most wins in a season since the 2017 season.
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But the Vandals are working with almost a completely new team, losing players to graduation or the transfer portal. Idaho will be fielding 12 new players on the roster this upcoming season. Players that remain are three seniors — guard Miles Klapper, forward Seth Joba and guard Kristian Gonzalez — and sophomore forward Will Jenson.
So what can Idaho really take into this upcoming season from such a successful season last year?
"(We can take) our entire culture, and that's the beautiful thing about where we're at," Idaho coach Alex Pribble said. "So, 12 new players is one thing, and that's why kind of outside noise is, 'Oh, these guys, 12 new players, nobody's proven anything.' But internally, our four players are our culture carriers. Those guys have carried our culture over from a championship level last year to this year."
Pribble said the new players will follow in the footsteps of Klapper and respond when Joba checks them for not being physical enough or not working hard enough; the new players will also listen when Gonzalez speaks up.
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"The culture has absolutely carried over from one year to the next, and then I think even more important, or as important as that, is that we haven't lost any coaches, and so we've been able to return our entire coaching staff," Pribble said. "So I actually feel like we're further ahead in terms of some of our defensive principles and our execution principles, because (assistant coaches) Brandon Laird and Matt Jones and Adam Ellis and these guys have all done the exact same thing together. We work together so well."
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Pribble and the Vandals open the season against George Fox at 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN+) at ICCU Arena in Moscow.
Kase Wynott is 'unlocked'
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Lapwai High School alum and former Washington State Cougar Kase Wynott has entered the fold after transferring to Idaho this offseason. Wynott returns to the state where he became Idaho's all-time leading high school scorer during his prolific career with the Wildcats.
"Kase is unlocked — Kase is going to have a great year," Pribble said. "I love Kase Wynott. I think this worked out exactly how it was supposed to for the young man. He went to Washington State, where he was learning in all aspects of life. He was learning what it takes to be successful at this level, and right now he's just so wired to be great every day.
"He's got all A's in the classroom. He's working his tail off harder than anybody else in terms of strength and conditioning."
In four years at Lapwai, Wynott set the state record scoring record with 2,962 points and reached the state championship four years in a row, winning three times, and earned Idaho's Gatorade Player of the Year award in 2024.
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He set the state of Idaho's single-game scoring record with 68 points on Jan. 19, 2024, at Genesee and averaged 36 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game his senior season.
Wynott, a junior guard, stands at 6-foot-6 and recorded 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in 29 games with Wazzu.
"He puts up shot after shot after shot in the gym, and when you put in the work, you gain a sense of confidence from that," Pribble said. "So, look, he'll have highs and lows just like anybody else in the season. But Kase is one of these guys who, obviously, the local folks remember what Kase was in high school. But on a national stage or even a conference level, people aren't talking much about Kase Wynott, but they should be. He's a really good basketball player. I think he's going to have a big year."
Strengths of the 2026 Idaho team
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Pribble mentioned multiple times that the defense is the main strength of the team coming into this season. The defense is built into the culture more; defending with toughness and physicality every possession will help the Vandals.
Pribble also gave credit to his coaching staff for implementing a great defensive system daily and making sure that the players understand it to a deep level.
"The strengths of this team (are) its positional size and its physicality," Pribble said. "We have a tougher team than we've had any year that I've been here."
He mentioned guards Klapper, Gonzalez and junior transfers Ryan Lafferty from St. Thomas (Minn.) and Brady Kennison from North Platte Community College (Neb.) as players to watch out for.
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"All big, strong, physical guards," Pribble said. "I think our guards can defend and rebound the ball at a high level, and you combine that with their shooting ability. I think there's some nice physicality in the backcourt."
In the front court, Pribble said that versatility will help the most.
He mentioned Joba's shooting ability from the five spot as a big positive, and then the four spot of junior transfer Hudson Ward from Western Michigan and senior transfer Diego Trejo-Delgado from Saint Martin's as versatile forwards. Both Ward and Trejo-Delgado stand at 6-7.
"I think what we've proved so far is that we're tough and we're physical, and we really have a chance to kind of hang our hat on the defensive end of the court," Pribble said. "And I do think we have some guys that can fill it up and stretch the court with their shooting ability, and the versatility helps us offensively as well."
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Individuals taking a 'step forward'
According to Pribble, the roster is not younger; rather, it's lacking more in experience.
"A guy like Kase Wynott, a guy like Hudson Ward, these are players who have been at the college level for multiple seasons. Obviously, Kristian Gonzalez, Miles Klapper, Seth Joba, Diego Trejo-Delgado — these guys have a lot of college basketball time," Pribble said. "They've been in basketball environments for a number of years. They just don't have a lot of minutes logged. So, I think they've earned the opportunity to take the next step forward."
Pribble said that Klapper, a former walk-on, is a glaring example of a player that has earned a spot in the starting lineup. Klapper has put in three years of hard work and "worked harder than anybody" in the program over the past three years.
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Watching a player go from a walk-on, to a scholarship player, to an impact role player on a championship team and then a starter is something Vandal fans should be excited about. He also mentioned Joba and Gonzalez as players who represented Idaho in a major way for multiple years.
"These are guys who are earning more opportunity with the work ethic they put in every day," Pribble said. "So for us, it's really just about, like you're gonna get what you earn.
"Again, I kind of get passionate about some of this stuff because in a lot of programs right now, they're gonna play you how they pay you. You don't have to earn anything. It's about, 'Oh, you're getting this much money from our program; you're our starting point guard.' No, no, no, that's not the way it works here. You're going to get what you earn, and you're going to have to put in the work every single day. And if you lose that spot, the next guy is going to take it from you. And that competitiveness, that iron sharpening iron — I think that's one of the things that makes this program special."
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.
