University of Idaho wide receiver Ken McRoyal was shot and killed at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning at a Los Angeles party, according to a Los Angeles TV station. UI confirmed McRoyal's death, but provided no details.

McRoyal, a senior-to-be and former walk-on from the Los Angeles area, posted on his Facebook page that he was in LA to visit his 2-year-old daughter. “It’s a devastating loss,” coach Robb Akey said. “We’ve lost a brother, a teammate, a family member. But, more importantly, a momma lost her son today.”

More details to follow.
  

With Utah State and San Jose State's move to the Mountain West official — and other WAC schools off to Conference USA and the Sun Belt — Idaho athletic director Rob Spear spoke with reporters for 25 minutes this afternoon. He laid out four options for the Vandals, with an emphasis on retaining FBS status.

Read on for more.

It's been a wild past few days for conference realignment. All signs point to the WAC losing Utah State, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech and soon-to-be members Texas State and Texas-San Antonio. That would leave just Idaho and New Mexico State as football-playing members.

In response, UI released a statement this evening in which it said it was “disappointed in the recent changes that are driven not by tradition, academic quality, competitiveness, or the student experience, but by money.” 

Read on for the full statement.

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — The Battle of the Palouse will continue in 2013. The official Twitter account of University of Idaho athletics confirmed what athletic director Rob Spear told Scout.com — Idaho and Washington State will face each other at Martin Stadium in 2013, the first meeting between the schools since 2007.

So it appears WSU's 2013 non-conference schedule is set. Bill Moos has said previously that the Cougars will travel to Auburn in 2013, and Brigham Young will play a return game at Martin Stadium as part of their home-and-home deal (though official schedules have not been released yet.)

Texas-San Antonio was set to join the WAC this summer. But the Roadrunners now appear headed to the Conference USA in 2013 — along with current WAC member Louisiana Tech. And the WAC's losses might not end there. CBSsports.com reported Saturday morning that Utah State and San Jose State are expected to move to the Mountain West Conference in 2013 as well.

Read on for more on what this means for Idaho and the WAC.

Korey Toomer, one the most athletically gifted players at Idaho in recent years, was selected in the fifth round of the NFL draft today by Seattle. The Seahawks, who previously took Utah State linebacker Bobby Wagner and USU tailback Robert Turbin, wanted to get faster on defense. Toomer ran a 4.53 in the 40-yard dash and was the Vandals' most consistent defensive playmaker last year.

The outside linebacker had 10.5 tackles for loss last year and also rushed for three touchdowns as the Vandals' short-yardage back.

We still saw plenty of place-kicker Trey Farquhar Friday night. But the Vandals' offense showed glimpses of coming together, much to the delight of Robb Akey.

Read on for more.

The Vandals' spring camp finale is tomorrow (6 p.m., Kibbie Dome), and Robb Akey ran down the highlights of spring with the media earlier today. Akey spoke about Idaho's starting quarterback battle, players who have impressed him, new offensive coaches and former players who have a chance to be drafted next week. 

We summarize his comments below.

UPDATE: Our spring game preview is now online.

Idaho's second scrimmage of spring was this morning in the Kibbie Dome, and there were several interesting nuggets that came out of it. We have a full report below.

Idaho men's basketball coach Don Verlin fortified the Vandals' backcourt by bringing in 6-foot-1 junior college transfer Antwan Scott, the Vandals' third signee for 2012-13. The junior-to-be averaged 15.9 points per game last year for Ranger College in Texas.

Verlin signed two players in the fall signing period — big men Ty Egbert and Marcus Bell. We've got more below.

The Vandals didn't scrimmage today as scheduled for one simple reason. Coach Robb Akey thought they needed more practice time, not the limited snaps that come during a scrimmage.

Still, we've got lots of notes from today's practice and an early look at a feature on linebacker Robert Siavii, who sat out last year with a knee injury.

For at least two months, Mike Levenseller — the former longtime Washington State assistant — has served as a consultant to Robb Akey at Idaho. With his contract at WSU officially expired, Levenseller was announced this afternoon as Idaho's receivers coach and passing game coordinator. 

Read on for more.

Idaho's first scrimmage of spring football took place this morning, and there wasn't much offense. But there was news. You can read our full report from practice below.

Idaho football coach Robb Akey addressed the media this morning, a day before the Vandals take the field for the first of 15 spring practices. We have our spring preview after the jump, with the key story lines to follow.

One vacancy filled, two to go. Idaho football coach Robb Akey announced the hiring of run game coordinator/offensive line coach Gordy Shaw, a veteran coach who was UI's defensive coordinator in 1989 and spent the last year three years as Hawaii's offensive line coach.

Akey still has two open spots on his staff. He's expected to hire Mike Levenseller as receivers coach and add a running backs coach.

More details below.

The Idaho men's basketball team's best season in the last 19 years ended Saturday night — in completely forgettable fashion.

The Vandals were blasted 76-56 by Utah State at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com tournament. “This game needs to be flushed down the toilet,” coach Don Verlin said. “I don’t think we need to focus on this game as far as our season.” Read on for the details.

In the chaotic moments after Idaho dispatched UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, UI athletic director Rob Spear tweeted that it looked the Vandals would play Loyala Marymount in the next round of the CIT. Then Don Verlin said roughly the same thing to reporters.

But it didn't happen. Read how the Vandals are instead in Logan, Utah, to play Utah State tonight below in our preview. We have more below on the teams' third matchup of the season.

The Vandals were humming along for much of Wednesday night in their CollegeInsider.com tournament opener. But with the punch UC Santa Barbara has on offense, “it was just a matter of time” before the Gauchos closed the gap, Idaho coach Don Verlin said.

Sure enough, UCSB rallied. But this time the Vandals responded to collect their 19th win of the year.

Read on.

The Idaho Vandals bowed out early in the WAC tournament, but their season is still alive. They accepted an invitation to the CollegeInsider.com tournament on Sunday. UI will host UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cowan Spectrum. The Vandals (18-13) still have a chance at a 20-win season for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Update: We filed a story after talking to Don Verlin. You can read it below. The Vandals played $31,000 to host the opening round game.

Don Verlin and the Idaho Vandals are still hunting for an elusive WAC tournament win. The third-seeded Vandals blew a seven-point lead in the final 61/2 minutes and dropped a 72-70 heartbreaker to No. 6 Hawaii in the quarterfinal round this afternoon in Las Vegas.

Idaho is now 0-4 under Verlin at the WAC tournament and the Vandals have yet to win more than a play-in game at the event. Read on.