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MOSCOW, Idaho – College Basketball is just over a month away, and the preseason awards are beginning to roll in for Idaho.

On Monday, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook announced its preseason accolades for the Big Sky Conference, and sophomore Kolton Mitchell was named to the preseason All-Big Sky team alongside other top talent in the league.

The Yearbook, written and managed by publisher and editor Chris Dortch, has been printing annually since 1981, and has been considered to be the “Bible” of college hoops for nearly three decades. Dortch himself has been covering college basketball for as long as his Blue Ribbon Yearbook has been in print. Each edition covers all 360+ teams in DI basketball and contains the perspective of one of the most experienced media members in the sport.

Mitchell, entering his third season in college and second in Moscow, emerged as one of the top point guards in the league as a redshirt freshman. He started all 33 games for the Vandals in the 24-25 campaign, finishing second on the team with 11.1 PPG, shooting an even 40% from the floor, and dishing out 3.5 APG. 

Kolton put his name in multiple parts of the school record books last year. He became the first Idaho freshman to make five or more threes in a game since 2018, and did so twice. At the end of the year, he was the most accurate free-throw shooter in the conference, making 89.5% of his attempts, second-best in school history. 

Alongside the preseason team, The Blue Ribbon Yearbook released its annual predictions for the Big Sky, picking the Vandals to finish fourth of the ten teams in the league. This is the highest prediction for Idaho Men’s Basketball in the preseason by either the yearbook or the conference since 2017, when the Vandals were picked to finish atop the Big Sky in both the media and coaches’ polls. The full preseason all-conference team and standings can be found below.

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

F-Caleb Van De Griend, SR, Idaho State 

F-Terri Miller, Jr., SR, Portland State

G-Jaylin Henderson, SR, Portland State

G-Money Williams, JR, Montana

G-Kolton Mitchell, R-SO, Idaho

Player of the Year: Money Williams, JR, Montana

Newcomer of the Year:  Caleb Van De Griend, GR, Idaho State

PRESEASON POLL

1.   Montana

2.   Portland State

3.   Idaho State

4.   Idaho

5.   Weber State

6.   Eastern Washington

7.   Northern Colorado

8.   Sacramento State

9.   Montana State

10. Northern Arizona

UP NEXT

Idaho will open the season with a non-conference exhibition vs. Boise State on Oct. 17, in Idaho Central Arena in Boise. Tip-off time will be announced at a later date.

FOLLOW THE VANDALS

To stay up to date with Vandal Hoops, follow the team on Instagram (vandalhoops), X (VandalHoops) and visit govandals.com 

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