The 1962–63 Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represented the University of Idaho during the 1962–63 NCAA University Division basketball season. The independentVandals were led by third-year head coachJoe Cipriano, and played their home games on campus at the Memorial Gymnasium, in Moscow, Idaho. In his only season with the Vandals, forward/center Gus Johnson was a Northwest sensation, and led the team to a record. Under the NCAA rules of the era, junior college transfers that had previously attended a four-year college were not allowed to play in tournaments during their first season at the new At the Far West Classic in Portland in late December, Idaho lost two of three games without him. With Johnson on the floor, the team was entering the final weekend, but dropped two in Seattle. Led by leading scorer Chuck White and Johnson, the Vandals were at their best in their main rivalries from the old Pacific Coast Conference: versus Oregon, versus Palouse neighbor Washington State, and against Washington. The primary nemesis was Seattle University, led by guardEddie Miles, who swept all three games, half of UI's losses. Idaho dropped its only game with Oregon State at the Far West without Johnson, but won all three with Gonzaga, for a record against its four former PCC foes and a collective against the six Northwest rivals. In the last season before the Big Sky Conference, the Vandals were undefeated in ten games against those Attendance at the Memorial Gym was consistently over-capacity, with an estimated 3,800 for home games in the cramped of WSU on December 20 caused the region to take The teams met nine days later in Portland without Johnson, and Idaho had to rally from behind to win by Johnson and center Paul Silas of Creighton waged a season-long battle to lead the NCAA in rebounding. Silas claimed this by averaging 20.6 per game, 0.3 more than In February, a low-profile article in Sports Illustrated introduced the team to the nation. Despite their record, the Vandals were not invited to the post-season. The NCAA tournament included only 25 teams and Oregon State and Seattle U. were selected from the Northwest. The NIT invited just twelve teams, with none from the Mountain or Pacifictime zones. If Idaho had been invited, Johnson was ineligible to participate.
Aftermath
That spring, 24-year-old Johnson was the tenth overall selection in the 1963 NBA draft and went on to a hall of fame career with the Baltimore Bullets. Cipriano also moved on to coach at Nebraska for seventeen until his death. Without Johnson, the Vandals fell to in and were in the new Big Sky Conference, fifth place in the six-team league. They had a dismal record through and lost every game against their Northwest rivals, a collective vs UW, WSU, UO, OSU, Seattle U., and Gonzaga. High scorer White became a hall of fame high school head coach in Anchorage, Alaska; but both Cipriano and Johnson died before age fifty, due to Team captain Lyle Parks earned a degree in chemical engineering, and sophomore Chuck Kozak graduated from the UI's law school
