The Idaho Vandals men’s basketball program has been hit hard by the transfer portal.
Redshirt junior guards Jack Payne, Trevon Blassingame and freshman forward Jackson Rasmussen have all announced they have entered the portal and will continue their basketball careers somewhere else.
Redshirt sophomore Kolton Mitchell was also reported early yesterday to have entered the portal on X by The Field of 68. However, the CDA Press refuted the report, saying Mitchell has not made a decision yet.
Coming off a special 2025-2026 season where they finished with a 21-14 record, a Big Sky tournament championship and their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 1990, the Vandals looked to be building into the future.
However, the future seems to be heading elsewhere.
Rasmussen, the Meridian native came to Idaho and made an instant impact, appearing in 35 games and scoring 477 points, the most in a single season in program history. He averaged 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while being the backbone of the Vandals on both ends of the floor.
With a young team, the Vandals needed experience, and Payne and Blassingame brought that this team and made a huge impact both on and off the court.
Payne, a Boise native, came to the Vandals after two seasons at Colorado State and was a key player in an Idaho uniform. He was the spark the Vandals needed last year alongside Mitchell, playing in 33 games and averaging 10.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game during the 2025-2026 season. He scored 20 points against Portland State and 18 in the loss the following night to Montana in the Vandals’ two Big Sky tournament games.
Like Payne, Blassingame came to the Vandals and made an instant impact, but on the defensive side. The Auburn, Washington native came to Idaho in the 2023-2024 season after spending his freshman year at Fairleigh Dickinson.
He was a defensive nightmare for opponents and was key in building the foundation for the Vandals’ championship run on and off the court this season. In the 2023-2024 season, Blassingame played in 31 games and averaged 4.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Blassingame was sidelined for the entire 2024-2025 season with an injury and came back this season ready to make a difference. He appeared in all 35 games and averaged 3.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. His impact was not always shown on the stat sheet, but it was felt throughout the season.
With these losses and the potential for more, plenty of questions now surround this Vandal team. They will now look to replace these players when the portal opens on April 7 and build another roster that can compete for championships next season and beyond.