Alex Abrami announced on Twitter (it will always be twitter) that Nick Fiorillo suffered a lower body injury and is out indefinitely. Just devastating news for Fiorillo who had worked himself back from last season's injury. I have always loved Fiorillo's presence on the court and it is tough to lose his veteran presence. I really hope that he will be able to once again heal up and get himself back on the court before the end of the season. This thrusts Ileri Ayo-Faleye into a even larger role and opens the door for the freshman bigs, particularly Seth Joba to have an opportunity to carve out a role. Ayo-Faleye has been building hype and momentum with his offseason performances and is now locked into big minutes. Matt Veretto was already going to have a large role but his production and growth will be even more important now. Joba is supremely talented at the offensive end and could provide some scoring punch but will have to improve on the defensive end to carve out minutes. Last season was a reminder of how hard it can be for young players to pick up the defensive rotations. Jackson Skipper and Sam Alamutu could also see a few minutes in some small ball lineups. Hopefully this injury is will not keep Fiorillo out too long and I wish him a speedy recovery.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Drew Bessette commits to the hometown Cats
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Sean Blake kicks off the 2024 recruiting class
Vermont secured their first commitment for the 2024 recruiting class from Sean Blake, a 6'2 PG from Mississauga, ON. Blake is a talented player and a great way to to kick off the next recruiting class. He plays with a strong command of the game and has great pace with the ball in his hands. Blake has a quick first step and his best skill is finishing creatively and through contact at the rim. He plays with a high motor at both ends of the floor and uses his athleticism to make an impact at the defensive end. Blake is still developing as a shooter as he looks to round out his game. He has a chance to be the another link in the chain of strong Vermont PGs from the Toronto area. In two years there will be loads of guard minutes available and the coaching staff is getting ahead of the game by bringing a player in to learn the ropes before being counted on for production. Blake is a perfect fit and has all of the qualities the Vermont program prioritizes. He is oozing with potential looks like a player that will thrive in the Vermont ecosystem. Adding Nathan Johnson to the coaching staff certainly strengthened their Canadian recruiting connections so it makes sense to see their first commitment reflecting those ties.
Saturday, September 23, 2023
A Family Affair
Vermont officially announced Nathan Johnson as the new assistant coach for the men's basketball team. If the name sounds familiar it is because he is in fact replacing his brother Bryson Johnson on the Vermont staff. This was rumored for a while and it is a strong addition to the coaching staff. Johnson has a wide range of coaching experience in Canada, overseas, and spent the past two seasons on Penny Hardaway's staff at Memphis. With such an eclectic mix of experiences, Johnson will be able to bring a wide range of skills to the Vermont program. He has a strong player development reputation, which is the program's bread and butter. Adding a coach with experience developing and evaluating professional players and overseas connections adds another dimension to the coaching staff. The staff has a very nice blend of recruiting connections and professional basketball development experience. Bringing some experience from a big time program like Memphis, especially with all of the changes in the college basketball landscape over the past few seasons, is also going to help the Vermont program continue to grow and adapt. This feels like another great hire by Vermont and it will be exciting to see the influence on the upcoming season and current recruiting cycle.
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Non-Conference Schedule release
In what has become a later and later event each year, Vermont released their non-conference schedule this week. Mid-major/low-major scheduling difficulties are well documented and this year's schedule is both a reflection of those challenges and working with what they had. Last years non-conference schedule was tough, and in hindsight it was clear that the excessive travel early in the season and the lack of home games proved to do more harm than good. This year's schedule is a logical response with more regional games and extra home games. Like many mid-majors, especially good mid mid-majors, Vermont struggles to find teams that are willing to play them at home. The trend across college basketball is for the high majors to play as few home games as possible and there is a trickle down effect. With major conferences growing in size and adding more conference games, the window for scheduling is shrinking. This schedule is a good balance of winnable road games later in the schedule with home games sprinkled in early. Adding a second non D1 game is not ideal but is a trend on the rise as teams struggle to fill out their schedule. This is a schedule with a lot of winnable games without loading up on cupcakes (like UMass Lowell's non conference last season). The Myrtle Beach invitational has a great field and will give them several challenging opponents including the opening round matchup against another great mid major in College of Charleston. Getting Northeastern back on the schedule is great and I like getting both Yale and Colgate at home this season. Having the road games at the end of the conference schedule is great as it gives the team time to gel before going on the road to try and pick up a few wins. All in all another strong schedule that should they perform up to expectations, will give them the challenges they need to grow as a team but with a little more balance and room for error comparatively to last season. Also the exhibition against Catholic is a fun full circle moment for Becker!
Here is the schedule:
November 1st Exhibition: Home vs St. Michael's
It is great to be posting again! Things should start to pick up again as the season draws near so I hope to be posting again in the near future. The season is just around the corner!
Friday, June 30, 2023
Summer Updates
Hello all!
It has been a while and I have been itching for some college basketball. With the Becker camp going on this week I got a chance to stop by Patrick and catch some post camp scrimmage action. This was the first look at the new additions to the team and the thing that jumped out from the get go was the intensity of the play. The teams were really getting after each other and they looked like a very cohesive group. With several of the newcomers being experienced college players, there was a maturity and focus in the on court play. The other thing that jumped out was the overall talent level. The guard position in particular has tremendous depth and there are going to be fierce battles for playing time throughout the year. The coaching staff is looking at a "too many good players" dilemma. Coaches dream of a scenario where they have so many good options and I think after some of the difficulties in finding a good rotations last season, the coaching staff will gladly embrace the challenge of managing so much depth.
On to some individual performance reactions. Jackson Skipper was borderline dominant through the two hours of games, scoring at every level and getting physical on the defensive end. He is much stronger coming off his redshirt year and continues to look like a player that will be very good for the Cats in the future. Matt Veretto put on an incredible shooting display from three and looks like he will make a big jump with full season/offseason cycle under his belt. Aaron Deloney's return was huge for Vermont as the importance of his leadership was on full display. Much like last season when Becker said that it was "Robin's team" this is clearly going to be "AD's team". Nick Fiorillo is also taking on a leadership role and shot the ball well while looking more fluid and had some nice pop on a few dunks. Sam Alamutu is somehow even bigger and stronger and his first step looked a little quicker. Ileri Ayo-Faleye looked much stronger and blocked several shots. He is looking to build off his defensive stopper presence from last season. Michel Ndayishimiye continues to be lightning quick and competes on every play. Now on to the newcomers. Shamir Bogues is going to be a great fit at Vermont. He has a great pace to his game, calm and under control, and then immediately accelerating for a steal or a huge dunk. He is going to be a force on the defensive end and a strong finisher in traffic on offense. TJ Long started slow and was struggling to find his shooting stroke. Then one quick Becker pep talk and he was on fire the rest of the time. He is tough with a really nice stroke from deep. When he is feeling it he can put up points in a hurry. Jace Roquemore is another player with a great feel and a calm presence. He has great court vision and will be a great facilitator in the offense. Brenton Mills is quick and creative off the dribble. Seth Joba is big and athletic. He has good rebounding and shot blocking instincts and a smooth shooting stroke. As we saw last season predicting freshman impact can be hard but whenever Joba adjusts to the college game he has a very high all conference player ceiling. Noah Barnett is athletic and and a good rebounder. He has the tools to develop in a good player.
TJ Hurley is over in Hungary playing for team Canada and in their game today he played very well knocking down 3 threes and scoring a team high 13 points.
The two new walk-ons Charlie Moore and Michael Mora held their own nicely and played very hard. I mentioned Moore's addition in a previous post but Mora is a new addition. Mora hails from Asheville, NC and is a 6'6 guard. Both players looked like guys that will bring a lot to practice and Mora in particular looked like a guy could work himself into a role down the line.
Samurai Hoops had reported on twitter several weeks back that Bryson Johnson's brother Nathan Johnson was going to fill the vacant coaching position and that is the case. Johnson has lots of player development experience in Canada and will bolster Vermont's recruiting ties north of the border.
There is so much to be excited about with this season's team. They are going to be a very experienced team with great depth. Last season the early part of the year was difficult with the scheduling issues but it was also challenging to find the right lineups due to the lack of depth and inexperience. This season I would expect the Cats to hit the ground running a little bit more and have several different lineup options. There is a lot of versatility on the roster with different guys with different skill sets who the coaching staff will be able to mix and match and adapt to various game situations. Obviously this was just one practice and I admittedly was very wrong with my initial takeaways when I watched the after camp games last year, but this team has a very different feel. This group already looks like a team that has only winning on their mind.
Now the long wait until October begins. I am very excited to see how this group progresses and can't wait to see them again in the fall.
Friday, June 2, 2023
Vermont finishes their 2023 recruiting class
Vermont filled their last scholarship this morning with a commitment from Noah Barnett, a 6'9 forward out of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey. Barnett is coming off a very successful season with the Ironmen where he (and top '24 recruit Dylan Harper) helped lead the team to the Bergan County Jamboree title and Barnett made first team All-County. Barnett is a force on both sides of the floor. He is a hard working forward who can control the paint with his athleticism and strength. On the offensive side of the ball he crashes the glass hard and has the ability to face up and get to the rim. He is also comfortable with the ball in his hands in the open floor. He is physical on defense and has good shot blocking instincts. This is a great way to fill the last scholarship as Barnett has a chance to develop into a very good player. Paring him with Seth Joba in this freshman class gives Vermont two big post players who have all league potential down the road. Now I know Catamount fans might be little gun shy as last year's two freshman big men struggled to acclimate to the program, struggled to learn the defensive system, and ultimately decided to transfer. That is certainly something to keep in mind as big men have traditionally struggled in their first year in the Vermont program (I know I say this a lot but it bears repeating). The strategy by the coaching staff is sound as they need to get younger and depth in the post is something that is hard to find (especially in the portal era). So even though last year did not quite go as planned with the freshman post players, I am very excited about the future of Vermont's post game. Barnett and Joba's games complement each other nicely with Joba as more of a stretch player and Barnett doing work in the paint. Both have good shot blocking instincts which is exciting as rim protection is an area of need for the Cats. Both freshman will be able to work into the rotation with less pressure this season as Matt Veretto, Ileri Ayo-Faleye and Nick Fiorillo will give them a veteran presence but also an opportunity for minutes. This has been a great offseason for Vermont and they have once again put themselves in position to compete for a championship. An underrated aspect of their additions is that (barring transferring decisions) next offseason will feel a little more normal with only 3 open scholarships. The coaching staff did a great job building not only for this season but for future seasons as well.
P.S. A while ago Vermont also added walk on Charlie Moore from the New Hampton School to next year's team. Moore is 6'4 guard originally from California who played for former Catamount coach Andrew Gale this past season.