Vermont gets a 15 seed and travels to Columbus Ohio to play the 2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles on Friday. I thought I would give you my initial gut reaction before I write a full preview sometime this week. First off, for the first time in a while I feel like Vermont and the fans can just enjoy this year's NCAA tournament experience. The last several times they have made the tournament it felt like there was a lot of pressure to win even as a low seed, as if the success of the entire season depended on it. Those years as a popular upset pick are their own type of fun, but being the underdog who no one gives a chance to win is even better. So I am really going to enjoy and savor this one. Making the tournament in back to back seasons (for the first time since the three-peat from 2003-2005) has been the goal that I think was the next step in the program's rise and they accomplished that. Also how great for Kam Gibson to get to play in his home state. Now onto the game. I actually kinda like the matchup for the Cats. Every year they make the tournament it has felt like they play teams that are equipped to exploit their weaknesses. Big, strong, post oriented teams. Marquette is one of the best offensive teams in the nation and could certainly run the Cats out of the gym, however they are not a dominant rebounding team and don't have dominant rim protection. As a Shaka Smart team, they force a lot of turnovers and one of Vermont's strengths has been taking care of the ball. I could see Vermont's slow, deliberate pace helping them be disruptive to what Marquette wants to do. Then maybe a crazy hot shooting night from three and who knows? It is just nice to look at the makeup of a tournament opponent and see some ways that Vermont might matchup up decently for a change. I will dive into the numbers and provide a full preview sometime before Friday's game. Can't wait.