Anthony Lamb commits to Vermont

Vermont made some noise on the recruiting trail today by landing 6-5 F Anthony Lamb. Lamb will be a senior at Greece Athens High School in Rochester, NY during the upcoming season and will join the Cats in the fall of 2016. This commitment came out of nowhere as there was no online trail of Vermont offering Lamb. In researching this commitment, this is a big get for Vermont. All of the scouting experts reactions on twitter say the same thing: Lamb is a steal for the Cats. Looks like due to being a bit undersized, Lamb has flown under the radar of higher level conferences. Mid-Majors have been heavily recruiting him as he had 8 offers listed on verbal commits (among them Stony Brook, St. Joseph's, Iona, Charlotte). Scouts take is that he has a well developed post game, active on the boards, active defensively, and plays very hard. One scout compared him to Bonzie Colson whom Vermont recruited and now plays at Notre Dame. After watching his highlight video I am equally excited. My first reaction is that he reminds me a lot of Marqus Blakely, which is very high praise. He is one of those players with a long wingspan that negates a lack of height. Lamb is a very good shot blocker and rebounder and looks like a player with a knack for getting the ball at its highest point.  He has nice footwork underneath and can put the ball on the deck. Very little outside game, but makes up for it in hustle and effort. The top rebounders of the last ten years in the America East (except for Warney) have all be undersized (Blakely, Brenton, Voelkel, Reed). Lamb has the skill set to be a very good player for Vermont. He fits the system very well and I would guess that Coach Tibbs had a hand in landing this recruit as he coached for the Albany City Rocks AAU program, for which Lamb played. What a great was to jump start the 2016 squad. I know there is a season in between but the league will be up for grabs in the 2016-2017 season with many decorated AE players entering their final season this year (Warney, Puriefoy, Hooley, Singletary). Provided there are no surprise departures or injuries, the 16-17 Catamounts will be a very strong team. The recruiting momentum that Becker and his staff have built  is continuing to move in the right direction. They are swinging for a higher level of player and are continuing to get strong commitments. The season is fast approaching and the excitement just keeps building.