For the third consecutive year, Idaho women’s basketball is in a new era with a new leader at the helm. After some poor mishandling of a contract from the athletic department and former head coach Carrie Eighmey, Eighmey was able to leave for the University of South Dakota for free, leaving the Vandals without a coach.
After the athletic department’s colossal mistake, they finally got something right. On June 24, 2024, the Vandals named associate head coach Arthur Moreira the 11th head women’s basketball coach in the program’s history.
Moreira is excited about the challenge of being the next head coach for the Vandals.
“It’s been a great opportunity. I’m super excited for the season to start. This place is awesome, and we have a great group of student-athletes,” Moreira said. “They’re the ones that make us go every day. So I feel very blessed to work with the student-athletes and my staff.”
Moreira, a native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is the first Brazilian division one head coach, a milestone he wasn’t even aware of.
“I didn’t pay much attention to it when the (Brazilian) federation told me about it, it went completely over my head. It’s a cool thing, and I hope I’m not the last,” he said.
Moreira has used his international background to land five international players over his two years with the Vandals. Along with the five international players, the Vandals landed six more transfers and kept the three remaining from last year’s roster to join him on the Palouse
Even with all the transfers, Moreira thinks his biggest recruit of the offseason was keeping assistant coach Drew Muscatell in Moscow.
“I think Drew is one of the best coaches in the country,” Moreira said. “He’s an amazing teacher of the game and he bleeds for the University of Idaho.”
Muscatell has been part of the Vandals program since 2017 and has been a key part of their success in recent years, both on the court and on the recruiting trail.
Moreira, Muscatell, and the rest of his staff helped land one of the best classes in recent program history, including a top 100 player in the nation in sophomore guard Kelbie Washington, who comes to the Palouse from the University of Oklahoma.
Along with Washington, the Vandals added some other talented guards to fill out their backcourt. Graduate point guard Olivia Nelson, a transfer from the University of Central Missouri, is an electric and experienced point guard who has won over 100 games in her career before joining the Vandals.
Nelson averaged 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds a game last season and will bring some much-needed experience and a winning mentality to the Vandals’ backcourt.
Along with Nelson, the Vandals landed California State Fullerton transfer sophomore guard Hope Hassmann to add another talented guard.
Hassmann had a stellar freshman season at Fullerton. She appeared in 32 games, averaged nine points and three assists, and shot 89% from the free-throw line. Hassmann’s smooth stroke, relentless effort, and stellar defense will make her one of the key players for the Vandals this season.
The lone returning guard is Ashlyn Wallace, an explosive three-point shooter who will see her numbers go up with the abilities of Washington, Hassmann and Nelson.
The Vandals also added some key size at the forward depth and center positions. With the Vandals only returning junior forward Sara Brans, who has been outstanding in her first two years on the Palouse, they knew they needed depth, and they found some.
Graduate forward Jennifer Aadland will be a great forward alongside Brans. Aadland is poised to be a breakout star for the Vandals, a transfer from Augustana University who averaged 10 points and eight rebounds as a senior and will bring some physicality and speed to run the floor that will be a massive help in the Big Sky conference.
Alongside Aadland, the Vandals added a pair of dominant centers in graduate Rosie Schweizer and senior Vitória Carvalho.
Schweizer, a transfer from Pacific University, is a center who can stretch the floor, shoot the three-point shot, and be a dominant offensive presence down in the paint.
Carvalho, who may not jump out on the stat sheet after the transfer from Tarleton State and is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a threat on the defensive glass.
In 16 games played at Tarleton, Carvalho had 25 rebounds and 10 blocks and will give the Vandals a much-needed rim protector they have been missing.
With the Vandals as deep as they have been in a while, this basketball team will look much different than in years past.
“We’re going to push the pace,” Moreira said. “We’re going to be all over the floor. Fast-paced both ends, high intensity on offense and defense, (which will) hopefully (lead) to a lot of wins.”
The Vandals tip off the 2024-2025 season with a trip to Provo, Utah, to take on the BYU Cougars. Four days later, they will head up the road to take on the Washington State Cougars. In both games, everyone is counting the Vandals out, and Hassmann and the Vandals have steady confidence about the team’s changes.
“I feel like coming in as underdogs. They might think they have us beat, but I feel like we’ve been preparing for this moment since July when we got here, and we think we’re capable of winning both games,” Hassmann said. “We know it’s going to be challenging, but we want to rise to that occasion and show the Moscow community what we’re made of.”
Hassmann is ready for her first season as a Vandal to start and to show the Vandal fans what this new women’s basketball team is all about.
“There are so many things to be excited for,” Hassmann said. “We’re new and have that energy, and we just want to come out powerful and excited to win games. And one thing about us is that we’re all huge competitors. So, we will do whatever we can to win.”
“Ultimately, our goal is to win the Big Sky Conference, and as a team, we do not think that’s hard to achieve at all. So, we’re excited to have the community cheer us on, and we’d love to have as many people [as possible] at our games to watch our process and what we want to do.”
The Big Sky voters doubted the Vandals and were overlooked by the “experts,” but this Vandals team has some real promise. With Moreira, the Vandals are poised to turn some heads and possibly lift a trophy in March.
The Vandals and BYU Cougars will tip off from the Marriot Center in Provo Utah on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected]