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Josh Wright

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

All Stories

Sports

Idaho football coach praises defensive line’s potential

MOSCOW, Idaho – The offense has yet to coalesce. Key players from almost every position are either on crutches or hobbled. And the Idaho football team is forced to operate outside, where bone-chilling weather hasn’t departed the Palouse. The Vandals, to be sure, are still fully in spring mode – “not a finished product,” as coach Robb Akey said Saturday, by any means.
Sports

Bass shows explosive style in Vandals’ spring scrimmage

MOSCOW, Idaho – Back at Arizona State, Ryan Bass used to listen to Dennis Erickson talk about the players he coached at the University of Idaho. That was pretty much all he knew of the Vandals – or anything related to Idaho But then he decided to transfer, and Robb Akey quickly called when he heard Bass was looking for another school.
Sports

Brian Reader the favorite for Idaho’s QB position

MOSCOW, Idaho – The four-year starter who could be drafted in a month is gone, and that means it’s finally Brian Reader’s turn at quarterback for the University of Idaho. He backed up Nate Enderle for two seasons – playing mostly fill-in minutes, even starting two games. But after the first session of spring practice Thursday, Reader could already sense a difference.
Sports

Vandals travel to San Francisco for CollegeInsider.com

MOSCOW, Idaho – Two seasons ago, when the postseason-starved Idaho men’s basketball team extended its season for the first time since 1990, Brandon Wiley remembers the feeling of elation. This time Wiley gets to go home for the Vandals’ first-round game of the CollegeInsider.com tournament. And he’s doing so as the only player on the roster who has tasted the postseason.
Sports

Idaho on road at USF for CIT game

Two seasons ago, when the postseason-starved Idaho men’s basketball team extended its season for the first time since 1990, Brandon Wiley remembers the feeling of elation. This time Wiley gets to go home for the Vandals’ first-round game of the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Sports

Vandals’ Jeff Ledbetter enjoys his role as crowd’s villain

MOSCOW, Idaho – An afternoon practice in late February is over, and now the easy part begins for Jeff Ledbetter. Idaho men’s basketball coach Don Verlin tells his players to fan out across Memorial Gym’s creaky floor and make 100 free throws before leaving. Most Vandals, stationed in pairs, see the shooting exercise as pure drudgery. For Ledbetter, it’s all about how efficiently he can end his day.
Sports

Vandals’ Ledbetter enjoys egging on fans

MOSCOW, Idaho – An afternoon practice in late February is over, and now the easy part begins for Jeff Ledbetter. Idaho men’s basketball coach Don Verlin tells his players to fan out across Memorial Gym’s creaky floor and make 100 free throws before leaving. Most Vandals, stationed in pairs, see the shooting exercise as pure drudgery. For Ledbetter, it’s all about how efficiently he can end his day.
Sports

Idaho caps regular season with comeback win over Seattle University

MOSCOW, Idaho – Midway through the second half Shawn Henderson planted a 3-pointer at the top of the key and started to backpedal with his shooting pose – right arm high above his shoulders, wrist locked and pointed down – intact as he strode down the court. Henderson is far from a pure long-distance shooter. But he and other Idaho perimeter players were locked in Saturday night from the 3-point line … at least when the Vandals needed them to be.
Sports

Vandals cap WAC season with win

MOSCOW, Idaho – Kyle Barone has been on the receiving end of plenty of lobs this basketball season that ended with easy buckets or dunks. But perhaps none was as pleasing to the eye as Landon Tatum’s perfectly timed pass and Barone’s alley-oop flush to give Idaho its first lead Thursday night. And none was more important than Barone’s two-handed breakaway slam in the final seconds – courtesy of a length-of-the-court pass from Brandon Wiley – to help push the Vandals past Fresno State 69-66 at Cowan Spectrum.
Sports

Washington women win 32nd straight game over WSU

PULLMAN – Washington State’s Jazmine Perkins was adamant that the streak doesn’t matter, and Washington players agreed. But it’s hard to ignore the Huskies’ dominance over their in-state rival – a stretch that now spans 32 consecutive wins after UW’s 65-48 romp over WSU in a Pac-10 women’s basketball contest Saturday at Beasley Coliseum.
Sports

Vandals surprise No. 21 Utah State in WAC showdown

MOSCOW, Idaho – They couldn’t be sure until the final 11 seconds. But once Brockeith Pane’s jumper sailed into the stands, ending a tumultuous shooting night for Utah State, Idaho fans unleashed a deafening roar. Then came a court-storming that Cowan Spectrum hasn’t seen in years.
Sports

Geiger has seen both side of Idaho-Utah State rivalry

MOSCOW, Idaho – This morning, the two coaches and friends with an 18-year bond will have breakfast together. A few hours later, their respective teams will square off on national television. Stew Morrill, the leader of Utah State’s successful men’s basketball program, knows it’s unusual to share a meal with the opposing coach on game day. It’s a custom, though, that he and Don Verlin – Idaho’s third-year coach and former longtime USU assistant – try to abide by when the Aggies and Vandals meet.
Sports

Geiger’s career-best 11 assists help Idaho turn back Hawaii

MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho senior guard Jeff Ledbetter plopped down in his chair in the University of Idaho media room and immediately his eyes scanned across the scoresheet to the assist column. He wasn’t concerned about his own tally in a 75-61 trouncing of Hawaii – no, just how many one teammate in particular had stockpiled.
Sports

Idaho blows 10-point lead, loses in double OT

MOSCOW, Idaho – Last time they played at home, the Idaho Vandals pleaded with officials for a video review late in a controversial loss to Boise State. It never came. Turns out, after Thursday night, they probably wish video monitors would be banished from Cowan Spectrum altogether.
Sports

Vandals blow lead, lose in 2 overtimes

An intentional foul on Brandon Wiley with 23 seconds left – called after the fact when the referees looked at the video – helped San Jose State force overtime. And the Spartans went on to stun the Vandals 92-89 in a two-overtime men’s basketball thriller in front of 1,088 fans.
Sports

Vandals’ new class has distinct family feel

MOSCOW, Idaho – A family feel inside the program and heightened expectations – those are the two themes Robb Akey heard over and over again from recruits after they took official visits to Idaho. The high school and junior college targets could sense things have changed in Moscow, and clearly the Vandals’ continuity and recent success helped Wednesday.
Sports

BSU earns controversial win over Vandals

MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho senior Shawn Henderson insisted it didn’t touch the rim. His coach – and most of the other 5,016 people at the Cowan Spectrum – agreed. Even Boise State’s La’Shard Anderson – the one who came up empty at the end of the shot clock with 1:12 left – admitted afterward he didn’t think his attempt nicked the iron.