Hello all!! With a few interesting tidbits this week it was time for a new post. Today it was announced that Kian Dalyrimple will be leaving the program. This departure comes as no surprise for a couple of reasons. If you go back and read my post when Dalyrimple committed I detailed my thoughts on his possible career paths and this was one of them. The other reason is since his commitment, Vermont has received commitments from two other players who play his position. This made his window for playing time narrow even further. I wish him the best of luck on his future. It will be interesting to see what the coaching staff does with the available scholarship. It is fairly late in the game for a 2017 commitment but a transfer would make sense. The Cats already have some sizable playing time battles in the upcoming season so adding another player for this year would not make much sense. Also this week there was significant information on the non-conference schedule. The big news is the game at Kentucky during the opening weekend of the college basketball season. This is an incredible opportunity to continue to raise the profile of the Vermont program. What a great way to open the season. Games against St. Bonaventure and Richmond are great mid major battles that give the Cats a chance to get some big road wins. They will also be in a tournament in the Bahamas much like the Gulf coast showcase last year. The Bahamas tournament has a strong mid major field and as of right now it looks like Vermont will be billed as the "favorite". This is a very aggressive schedule that gives Vermont a chance to make some noise and build the resume to improve their seed in the event of a March Madness trip. There is already and will be more buzz around the Vermont program as they are attracting the attention as one of the top mid majors in the country next season. It is never too early to get excited about next season.
Also a shout out to Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) for the heads up about the tournament in the Bahamas.
