Long Beach State 78 Vermont 58
Did I say yesterday was rock bottom for offensive flow? I stand corrected.
Vermont was dominated yet again as their marathon road trip finally comes to a close with a loss to Long Beach State. The Cats were never in this game scoring one basket in the first 7 minutes and never recovering. There are not many positives to take away from the road trip. The schedule was not constructed well, the team is struggling mightily to connect, and now Nick Fiorillo's injury hangs in the air as another roadblock to success. Things are tough for Vermont right now. At this point it is basically a complete do over. Back in their own beds and then an "exhibition" game against NVU-Lyndon to hit the reset button and start the season over. The offense is completely broken. Almost every possession is a scramble ending in one on one isolations. There is no post offense at all and even the sure handed veterans are turning the ball over at an alarming clip. Vermont shot 35% from the field and committed 17 turnovers compared to only 9 assists. Back to the drawing board to find an offensive approach that fits the personnel on this team. The Vermont coaching staff has always done a great job of building their roster to fit the system they run. It feels like they misjudged or overreached to try and fill out the roster and are now struggling to make the pieces fit. This offseason certainly required more creativity than the coaching staff has ever had to do before, and as of right now, it doesn't look like it is going to be a traditional Vermont team. That doesn't mean they can't make it work, but the climb is much steeper. At the same time Bryant and UMass Lowell have burst out of the gates and are staking their claim to be the favorites going into conference play. If conference play started today, I am not even sure where to place Vermont based on how they have looked over the last two weeks. The month of December will be an opportunity to take a deep breath, reassess, and find a way to build some momentum.
