Anthony Lamb fractures his foot

Big news first reported by the Burlington Free Press.

Vermont star Anthony Lamb fractured his foot during practice on Thursday and the initial timetable is 8 weeks. This is the biggest news in the America East right now. Lamb was a contender for conference player of the year and was poised to lead Vermont to another championship. This turns the conference upside down and puts Vermont in a very difficult position. In the article Becker mentioned that the coaching staff was analyzing all of their options. After the Skyler Nash injury the staff was considering sacrificing a redshirt and now it is almost a certainty that someone is going to start playing. Bailey Patella's name was kicked around after Nash's injury and now Ra Kpedi's name is being thrown into the mix. It will be interesting to see what the staff does. The frontcourt is now dangerously thin which would make you think they might activate Kpedi, but it is going to depend on who they think is ready to contribute. Nate Rohrer becomes a very important player off the bench. Two years ago he played some strong minutes backing up a thin froncourt so he has been in this situation before.  As far as the effect on the court Vermont is going to have to morph into a different team. They are going to end up playing small and spreading the floor more often. The offense is going to be even more predicated on dribble penetration and Trae Bell-Haynes is going to shoulder even more of a load. Where this is going to really hurt is on the defensive end. Vermont is already struggling with rim protection and they are now losing their best rim protector. I could see them trying a little more zone and throwing more double teams in the post. The conference outlook becomes very different as well. Albany now has to be the favorite to build on their hot start. I say this because their frontcourt has been incredibly good to being this season and losing Lamb is going to affect that particular matchup the most. It will obviously change all of the games from this point on, but the effect will be felt the most in those Albany games. Vermont is still a very good team without Lamb and will battle every night. For any team it is very hard to lose your best player and just continue humming along. It is time for the other guys to step up. This team is mentally tough and will continue to believe and strive for a championship. The game against Harvard will a great barometer for where this team will be during conference play. A tough road game against a team who has also been without their leading scorer. The Cats have a few days to come together as a team and make the necessary adjustments to continue to win games in Lamb's absence.