Idaho Vandals

The Vandals finished 2025-26 with five wins and five covers in five March games, four of them in the Big Sky tournament. Before that, nothing about an Idaho spread stood out.

Five for five

Idaho arrived in March at 16-14 straight up and 11-16 against the spread. Then it won at Eastern Washington 85-81 as a +136 underdog and swept the Big Sky tournament: Sacramento State 68-45, Montana State 78-74, Eastern Washington 81-68 and Montana 77-66 in the final. Five covers in five games, and 3.84 units on the moneyline.

That run pulled the season to 21-14 and 16-16 against the spread. In the NCAA tournament Houston won 78-47.

Home was the weaker floor

Straight up Idaho was 9-4 at home and 7-9 away, yet the spread ran the other way. The Vandals covered 4 of 10 lined home games and lost 2.1 units on the home moneyline, against 7 covers in 16 away and 0.43 units lost there. All four home defeats came as favorites, three of them at -135 or shorter: Weber State 83-72 at -250, Montana 79-73 at -218 and Northern Colorado 76-67 at -135.

As favorite and underdog

Favored in 22 games, Idaho won 15 and covered 13. Getting points, the Vandals went 3-7 with three covers, and every one of those wins came on the road, the two longest prices being 83-81 at Washington State at +260 in the opener, and 84-81 at South Dakota State at +205.

January and February

January and February were the soft spot: three covers in nine January games, then 4.06 units lost in a 3-5 February.

Big Sky opponents

Eastern Washington and Sacramento State were each beaten three times. Montana won the first two meetings; Idaho won the one that mattered, the final.

The total

Eighteen unders to 14 overs over the 32 games with a total.

Questions and answers