Vermont athletics officially on pause

The Vermont athletic department is dealing with an outbreak of COVID cases and has paused all athletics until February 4th. Hopefully this time will allow everyone to stay safe and get healthy. This means the Cats' series against Stony Brook next weekend is postponed as well. The timeline to make up games is getting tight but it looks like there is still some time to make up the games in early February. Vermont has played 10 games so far and has 8 remaining games on the schedule. They need to play at least 3 of those games to be eligible for the NCAA tournament. Meeting that threshold still seems likely as long as they can get the cases under control. Apparently there is some force in the universe that really doesn't want Vermont and Hartford to play each other. Sending positive thoughts to everyone. Stay safe. 

Vermont vs Hartford postponed

Vermont’s upcoming series versus Hartford was postponed this evening. It was only a matter of time before the Cats experienced a COVID disruption. With several other Vermont teams already on pause the possibility of a disruption increased. Then after it was announced that the Maine men’s basketball team had a positive test result and was on pause this morning, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. This pause is not due to a positive test within the Vermont program but possible exposure to a COVID positive individual. Seems like this could be related to the Maine positive. Both Hartford and Vermont have the first two weeks of February open so I would expect that to be a place for this series to be moved to. Tough timing for Vermont as they were really coming together and firing on all cylinders. Hopefully they will have no positive tests and will be back in action against Stony Brook on January 30th and 31st.

Vermont vs Maine 1/17/21

 Vermont 88 Maine 60

Vermont scorched the nets in another dominating performance for their fifth straight victory. The Cats have officially shook off the rust and are coming together as a team. With strong offensive and defensive performances during the win streak, Vermont is showing the versatility on both sides of the ball that made them the preseason favorites. Now that they have got their footing the coaching staff has been adding little wrinkles to their game plans with the zone last weekend and the full court press in today's game. The ability to experiment with different looks over the past few weekends is going to allow the Cats to keep opposing teams off balance. Justin Mazzulla scored a career high 23 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and a 7-7 performance from the line. He scored in a variety of ways and is settling in to his role on the team. With Stef Smith out Mazzulla took on a larger role in the offense and excelled. Ryan Davis continued to be the steady heartbeat of the Vermont offense with another 17 points. Isaiah Powell added 15 points and Ben Shungu stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Robin Duncan continued his strong weekend and even knocked down a three, finishing with 3 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals in a team high 33 minutes. After a rough stretch of games it was crucial for Robin to get some confidence for the stretch run. Vermont is firing on all cylinders heading into the big showdown with Hartford. Both teams are going to be hyped after their championship match up from last season was cancelled. Hartford will be playing to remain in contention and Vermont will be out to prove that they are all the way back. It should be an exciting series with big implications for the regular season crown. 

Vermont vs Maine 1/16/21

 Vermont 65 Maine 30

Vermont used a smothering defense to dominate Maine en route to their 4th straight victory. Following up a 40 point win with a 35 point win is an impressive feat regardless of the level of competition. Maine couldn't get anything going and only made one three pointer for the game. The beast has been awoken for the Cats on the defensive side of the ball. The energy is there and guys are flying all over the court and winning just about every 50/50 ball. What has also been impressive is that the Cats have stayed engaged for two straight games despite the fact that they have had the games well in hand from the start of the second half. It is really hard to maintain focus and continue to execute when the game is so far out of reach. Ryan Davis once again led the way with 15 points and is coming up big when Vermont needs a bucket. Stef Smith chipped in with 14 before leaving with a shoulder injury. It is the same shoulder that has been taped up all season so I hope that it is nothing serious but he looked to be in a fair amount of pain and immediately iced it on the bench. It was another balanced effort on offense as Maine did a decent job taking the Cats out of their halfcourt sets and Vermont's offense was choppy for most of the game. The real all stars in such a choppy game were Bailey Patella and Robin Duncan. Bailey Patella finished with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Two of the steals resulted in patented Patella fast break dunks. He is lightning in a bottle and totally changes game momentum with his energy. Robin played a team high 26 minutes and finished with the unusual 1 point, 9 assist, 9 rebound stat line. He was EVERYWHERE in this game. Altering shots at the rim, tipping passes, grabbing rebounds, and setting up his teammates perfectly to score. He brings such a strong basketball IQ off the bench and gives Vermont a versatile piece to play with different lineups. Now Vermont needs to remain focused and take care of business tomorrow with a bigtime showdown on the horizon. Hartford has been very good this season and are going to be really hyped for the chance to take down Vermont after last years title game cancellation. It is going to be tough not to look ahead to such an important series. Vermont wants to take care of business this weekend and ride that wave into the big series against the Hawks. 

Vermont at Binghamton 1/10/21

 Vermont 84 Binghamton 44

Vermont regained their swagger and destroyed Binghamton to complete their first weekend sweep of the season. Total domination on both sides of the ball. The Cats are getting healthy and gaining confidence. Every player who stepped on the floor scored, every player who stepped on the floor hustled, and the team chemistry and cohesiveness that is a trademark of the Vermont program is taking shape. Tomas Murphy played a season high 14 minutes and led the balanced attack with 13 points. He looked healthier this weekend and gives them another big time offensive threat in the post. Isaiah Powell finished off a strong weekend with 12 points knocking down two more threes. His shooting has done a 180 from his first two seasons and up until now was the missing piece to his game. He is playing more under control and has eliminated the wacky disjointed positions that plagued him the past two seasons. Justin Mazzulla was the tone setter throughout the weekend, playing tenacious perimeter defense, crashing the boards, and cutting hard to the rim. He and Bailey Patella bring so much energy and tenacity to the court. It was a small sample but is was so important for Aaron Deloney to get some positive minutes and see a few shots go down. He has really struggled shooting the ball and his minutes were becoming more and more problematic in the rotation. Today Eric Beckett played ahead of him in the rotation and he needed some positive minutes to boost his confidence. Getting the last 12 minutes of the game to give the bench a chance to get their footing was incredibly important. With the shortened season, the coaching staff has had a major challenge in getting the bench guys time on the court to grow a develop. The minutes in todays game will go a long way to improving Vermont's depth. Making strides on the defensive side of the ball was huge this weekend but the most telling stat was Vermont's assist/turnover numbers from the weekend. In the two games combined the Cats had 37 assists compared to only 15 turnovers. That demonstrates the trust and chemistry that this team is developing. Vermont needed this weekend so they can take a breath and remember that despite facing challenges and dealing with some tough losses, they are still a great team who can make a run to the title. 

Vermont at Binghamton 1/9/21

Vermont 76 Binghamton 60

Now that's more like it! 

Vermont put together a full forty minutes and dominated Binghamton in the first game of the weekend series. The first half featured a surgical offensive performance where the Cats committed zero turnovers. Vermont avoided the mid second half letdown that has plagued them thus far this season en route to their most complete game of the season. Ryan Davis led the way once again, dominating inside with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He has established himself as the go to guy in the offense and has put himself firmly in the player of the year conversation. Quite an impressive ascension given the difficult offseason. Isaiah Powell continued his strong play chipping in 14 points and 5 rebounds. He is shooting the ball with confidence and doing the little things right. Stef Smith bounced back from a tough series against Albany with 16 points. With Davis's emergence, Smith can settle back into the role he is been in during his career as an explosive second scorer. Ben Shungu continues to provide the "winning plays" that every team needs, finishing with only 4 points but adding 6 rebounds and a career high 9 assists. He is so often in the right place at the right time and exudes calm leadership on the court. Becker made some nice adjustments in this game switching to a 1-3-1 zone when the second unit was in for the middle part of both halves. He knows the defense needs some tweaking with the makeup of guys that he has this season and it worked very well this afternoon. The Cats came in with a game plan to take away the three and they did a nice job of extending their defense. In the second half Justin Mazzulla was often guarding Binghamton sharpshooter Tyler Bertram 30 feet from the hoop. The Bearcats have consistently played much better in the second games of their weekend series so it will be important for Vermont to make adjustments and keep the energy up. I would expect the game to be much closer tomorrow but Vermont is going to be very motivated to get out there and complete their first sweep. 

Vermont vs Albany 1/3/21

Vermont 74 Albany 66 

Vermont executed down the stretch and got big shots from Ryan Davis and Justin Mazzulla to earn the weekend split with Albany. Vermont took control in the second half with defense and rebounding, taking the Great Danes out of rhythm on offense. Ben Shungu was the star, pouring in a career high 21 points to go along with his trademark physical defense. He showed his full arsenal in this one, knocking down two threes and using incredible body control to finish around the rim. Ryan Davis continued his impressive start to the season stuffing the stat sheet with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. With Albany doubling him he was able to showcase his passing ability and forced Albany to single cover him in the second half. He took full advantage and hit big shot after big shot down the stretch. He made several tough catches underneath, displaying incredible hands and court awareness. The big hero down the stretch was Justin Mazzulla. Breaking out of his offensive slump in a big way, Mazulla pumped in 11 points including a 3-3 effort from the three point line. Each one of his threes was big as the guards finally provided the perimeter shooting the Cats have been looking for. Isaiah Powell continued his strong start to the season on the boards as he led the Cats dominant rebounding effort with 9. Bailey Patella chipped in 7 points after sitting out the second half of yesterday's game with a injury and provided a nice spark as he always does. Duncan Demuth played 17 effective minutes, scoring 7 points and finally looked comfortable out on the court. Hopefully he can build on this effort and become a solid part of the rotation. Stef Smith didn't make a shot tonight as he continues to struggle with the adjustment to his role this season. He has some work to do in practice this week to rebuild his confidence and get back to the level he is accustomed to. Credit to Vermont for putting together a solid 40 minute team effort with positive contributions from several players. The Cats continue to tread water while they try to get healthy and build chemistry. They have to a week to get ready for Binghamton in the first weekend series where it feels like they need to get a sweep. Getting two wins over a plucky and surprisingly competitive Binghamton squad is crucial for Vermont's title aspirations. This is a good one to build on for Vermont. 

P.S. 
I have been asked about email notifications when I make a post and what I have found for now is following the blog by email using feedburner. It is not the greatest but it will get the job done. Above the list of posts on the right side of the blog is a box underneath "follow by email". If you enter your email there you will get the text of the post emailed to you the next morning. It is pretty simple and nothing fancy but it will make sure you don't miss anything. The email to confirm went to my junk mail so I would check there if you don't see an email aftering entering yours on the blog. Once you confirm an email will show up from 14th state of mind the day after I make a post. Let me know if it doesn't work and I will do my best to fix it. Enjoy!

Vermont vs Albany 1/2/21

Albany 63 Vermont 62

Albany roared back in the second half and took down Vermont for their first win on the season.  The Great Danes were led by CJ Kelly who poured in 27 points to lead all scorers. The game was eerily similar to last week's one point loss to NJIT as the Cats offense screeched to a halt in the second half when their perimeter shots stopped falling. Albany made some great defensive adjustments and Vermont never recovered. This is the first loss so far that I would term as "bad". The Cats get a mulligan for game one after the long layoff. I think NJIT will prove to be a good team this season and it was a one in a million buzzer beater for loss number two. This is a game Vermont should have won. Albany was missing two starters and the Cats were up by 18 early in the second half. They took their foot off the gas. Again credit Albany for fighting hard and playing tough defense, but the Cats let this one slip away. This team is living and dying by the three so far this season. Not only in terms of offensive production but in energy as well. It seems like the wind is taken out of their sails when the misses start piling up and the offense becomes timid. Ryan Davis led the Cats with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Seventeen of those were in an electric first half. It is really too bad that the Cats are now 1-2 when Davis plays because has made the big leap everyone was looking for and is becoming one of the best players in the league. His touch around the rim is incredible and at this point he is the Cats biggest threat from three. Another thing that is getting lost in the shuffle is that Isaiah Powell is quietly putting it all together. It is too bad he missed the final shot because he was having a great game and finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds. He is finally knocking down shots and looking more and more like the player the coaching staff envisioned him being. The guard play is where Vermont needs more if they are going to start to string wins together. The starting trio of Stef Smith, Ben Shungu, and Justin Mazzulla shot a combined 6- 24 (25%) from the field. It is going to be tough to win games with that type of performance. Shungu gutted out 10 points and 7 rebounds but it wasn't pretty. Stef Smith is not playing with confidence. You can see the indecision when he has the ball as he tries to probe the defense. He hasn't found his place in the offense and teams are keying on him and not giving him any daylight. The bench didn't help as Aaron Deloney and Robin Duncan didn't make a shot in a combined 31 minutes. During the prep for this season I was interested in how the inconsistent preseason and cancelled non-conference was going to affect Vermont. In my mind a large part of how Vermont has built a consistent winning program is an incredibly regimented offseason program followed by a very difficult non-conference schedule where they workout the kinks. This allows the Cats to be humming along and executing at a higher level than any other team in the America East when conference play opens. Without that this season they have been brought back to the pack and they have lost that advantage. Over the years they have been the most disciplined and efficient team in the conference and those intangibles are has won games. It is nobody's fault for obvious reasons and it is a big enough accomplishment to just be playing basketball at this point, but it bears mentioning that this is the experience of many other programs around the country every year. Teams don't always play their best basketball night in and night out. This should highlight how special Vermont has been during Becker's tenure and how lucky we as the Vermont fan base have been. Over the last four years in particular, Vermont has played so few truly "bad" games it is odd to see them execute poorly or not hit the big shot. This is a season where there are going to be a lot of ups and downs as Vermont tries to work out the kinks in "real time" with the hope that they can be where they need to be come playoff time. The game today shows that they have all the pieces to be at the level they are accustomed to being but they are not there yet. I know I have said it each weekend but with the new schedule this season, but the response in game two is the true measure of a team. Back at it tomorrow.