Planning a trip to watch Gonzaga or Idaho at March Madness? Here are some tips
Inland Northwest college hoops fans have four local teams to follow through March Madness.
For those serious fans who plan to tag along, here’s your consolidated travel guide.
Gonzaga men
Since 1999, Gonzaga men’s basketball has not missed a single big dance. The third-seeded Bulldogs (30-3) are set to face the 14th-seeded Kennesaw State Owls (21-13) at the Moda Center in Portland on Thursday.
This will be the third time the Zags have played in the home of the Portland Trailblazers for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. They last went to the Rose City in 2022, where the team beat Georgia State and Memphis before losing to Arkansas in the West Regional round.
Road trip: The drive is about 350 miles and takes about 5½ hours. So if you’re driving, let’s say the typical Spokane Subaru Forester at 33 miles per gallon, that’s about 50 bucks in gas one way, given current elevated prices.
By plane: For those who don’t want to take a road trip, plane tickets round-trip cost around $540. Thursday will be the first time the two programs have played .
Hotels: Prices don’t look bad for a Thursday night stay. At the Staypineapple Hotel Rose, a single night is only $121, including tax. And McMenamins White Eagle, with cool saloon and old-fashioned charm is only $101, though you’d have to share a bathroom. There’s a lot available in the $150-200 range, and you can get as pricey as the Ritz-Carlton at $469.
The sights: Whether you want to check out the Japanese gardens, one of several notable parks in the region or visit the four-story Powell’s City of Books, Portland has plenty of fun things for visitors to check out. Running since 1974, Portland’s Saturday Market off Naito Parkway has tons of vendors and plenty of unique souvenirs to pick from. The Portland Art Museum is home to Oregon’s most renown collection, with works of art from contemporary American artists, a Japanese screen print section, a sculpture garden, a Native American gallery with objects from more than 200 tribes .
The future: If the Bulldogs win, they will play either sixth-seeded BYU or the winners of a play-in game between Texas and NC State. That game is slated for Saturday at the Moda Center.
Gonzaga women
The Gonzaga Women’s team is set to return to March Madness for the first time since 2024. The 12th-seeded Zags (24-9) will be playing fifth-seeded Ole Miss (23-11) on Friday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Tip-off time and the TV channel have yet to be announced.
The Bulldogs will need solid production from redshirt freshman center Lauren Whittaker and sophomore Allie Turner if they want to make a run as a double-digit seed. In her first collegiate season, Whittaker took home West Coast Conference Player of the Year after averaging 19.4 points per game and pulling down 10.2 rebounds.
This year in the WCC, the Zags were second in scoring and led in team field goal and 3-point percentage. The Bulldogs have made the tournament every year since 2009, except for in 2016 and 2025.
Road trip: Clocks in at close to 20 hours for the 1,378-mile journey.
By plane: Plane tickets from Spokane are going for around $950.
Hotels: Prices in Minneapolis on Friday were generally a bit pricier when surfing through them on Sunday night, but there remained a few under $150, like the Moxy Uptown at $130 and the Rand Tower, an art deco skyscraper built in 1929, for only $143. And if you want to stay close to the Mall of America, you can stay at a Hyatt there for about $200.
The sights: For people planning on visiting Minneapolis, the Mall of America at 5.6 million square feet and over 500 stores might be the place to start. Or if retail shopping is not your cup of tea, the Haunted Trolley Tour of Minneapolis takes visitors to the most haunted sites across the city for only $50. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Walker Art Center is home to more than 60 sculptures across 11 acres, including a giant blue rooster that stands about 14 feet tall. Minnehaha Falls, which cascades down about 53 feet, is considered one of Minneapolis’s top attractions and one of the best urban waterfalls in the nation. And if you like downtown Spokane with all it’s indoor walkways, Minneapolis’ downtown skyways connect 9½ miles.
The future: If the Bulldogs win on Friday, they will face either fourth-seeded Minnesota or 13th-seeded Green Bay in the second round on March 22.
Idaho menAfter 36 years, the Idaho Vandals are finally returning to the NCAA Tournament. The 15th-seeded Vandals (21-14) are set to face off against second-seeded Houston (28-6) on Thursday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Tip-off is set for 7:10 p.m. on truTV.
The Vandals and the Cougars have met only once before during the 1963-64 All-College tournament. Coincidentally, they faced off in Oklahoma City that year.
The Vandals have four players this year who average more than 12 points per game across at least 32 games. The team will need solid production from their starters if they hope to defeat a talented, but young, Houston team that were the national championship runner-ups last year. This year will be the Vandals fifth appearance in the tournament, with their first coming in 1981.
Road trip: It’s a 25-hour, 1,760 mile drive.
By plane: Plane tickets from the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport to Oklahoma City cost around $800, according to Expedia.com.
Hotels: Oklahoma’s capital city still has a Howard Johnson and it’s only $76 to stay there on Thursday. There’s a lot of other affordable options too. But you can also stay at the Ambassador Hotel for nearly $1,000.
The sights: For fans of the Old West, Oklahoma City is home to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum with 220,000 square feet of sculptures, paintings, photographs and artifacts. The Bricktown water taxis is also a popular attraction that takes visitors on a tour down the Bricktown Canal at a languid speed. With plenty of parks, botanical gardens, museums, and a zoo, Oklahoma City is full of unique attractions.
The future: If the Vandals win on Thursday, then they will face off against the winner of a game between seventh-seeded St. Mary’s and 10th-seeded Texas A&M on March 21.
Idaho women
The Vandals are back in the big dance for the first time in a decade. After breaking a record for most wins in a season with 29, the 13th-seeded Vandals (29-5) are set to play against a fourth-seeded Oklahoma (24-7) team on Friday in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Vandals haven’t lost in the last two months and are currently 25th in points per game and third in rebounds per game across all tournament teams. After an 18-game winning streak, the Vandals were gifted their best seeding since their first tournament appearance in 1985. This is just their fifth NCAA tournament berth in program history.
Junior guard Hope Hassman lead the team in points per game and assists per game this year with 14.4 and 4.1, respectively.
Road trip: Norman is just a tad south of Oklahoma City, so Google Maps doesn’t differentiate the extra time to travel there, also listing it as 25 hours from Spokane. But for fun, let’s say 25 hours and 16 minutes to travel 1,776 miles.
By plane: You’ll want to fly to Oklahoma City, so same as Vandals men.
Hotels: Motel 6 is listed at $91 for Friday night. Embassy Suites is $220. But the Thunderbird Lodge is listed as $92 (and has a better ranking on Travelocity, if you trust such reviews).
The sights: As the third most populous city in Oklahoma, there are numerous museums, historical attractions and great places to eat in the city of Norman. One such museum is the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, which boasts a huge collection of fossils and creatures from the age of the dinosaurs. The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and National Weather Museum and Science Center are also highly touted educational centers. Norman is acclaimed for it’s many beautiful parks, plethora of outdoor adventures and it’s title as home of the Oklahoma Sooners.
The future: If the Vandals win on Friday, they will play the winner of a game between fifth-seeded Michigan State (22-8) and 12th-seeded Colorado State (27-7).