Vermont secures another commitment

The 25-26 Vermont frontcourt is taking shape. The Cats got a second commitment of the week from Ben Michaels, A 6'8" forward from Ipswich, UK who just completed his freshman year at Buffalo and has three years of eligibility remaining. Michaels had a strong freshman year which saw him average 8.1 points and 4 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game, including 15 starts. This is another awesome addition to the Catamounts and already gives them a formidable core group. Michaels played his high school ball at Long Island Lutheran (NY) where he played with big time NBA prospect VJ Edgecombe, who just completed his freshman year at Baylor. Michaels freshman season culminated with a spot on the MAC all-conference freshman team. He has great size and athleticism and plays with a high motor. This past season he showed some strong shooting potential, knocking down 24 threes. There is room to grow, but Michaels has all the makings of a reliable stretch four. He also proved to be a disruptive defender, racking up 19 steals and 23 blocks. He was coached this past season by former Catamount assistant coach Hamlet Tibbs so you know the coaching staff was well informed while pursing Michaels. With Michaels and Yalden joining Noah Barnett, it has the potential to be a complete 180 from the difficulties in the post this past season. Time will tell, but this looks like a home run start to the offseason roster reload. 

Sunset, Sunrise

For the first time in a while the reflections of the season include a bit of uncertainty and goals that were left unachieved. This season was a true test for the Vermont program as adversity was plentiful and the forward progress was slowed. It is easy to look at the past season and pick apart the things that went wrong and the disappointments that were endured. The season was a roller coaster full of ups and downs and certainly puts more pressure on the offseason than in past years. However, the fact that the Vermont program has reached a point where a 21 win season that fell short of a championship is a "down year", should provide some solace for how strong this program has become. The grit and mental toughness that this group demonstrated down the stretch was incredibly fun to watch and inspiring.

I think back to the season opening win against UAB and that win maintained its worth the whole season through. It showed where Vermont could have been if they had been able to field a consistently healthy team throughout the season. Nobody wants to make excuses, but the fact is that the roster was ever changing and it made finding that classic Vermont program continuity and chemistry that much harder. Despite those challenges this team was still able to rattle off a 10 game win streak and was playing their best basketball of the season until the Shamir Bogues injury was one too many. In a weird way, this season was a herculean effort by the players and staff to take this group and overcome their flaws to put themselves in a position to compete for a title. 

The main culprit this season was the difficulty in finding consistent offense. It was the worst offensive performance by a Becker team after a somewhat difficult offensive year the season before. Roster building is always a complicated process and the new NIL/portal era of recruiting has thrown a major wrench in the offseason. Finding pieces that fit and filling team weaknesses has never been both easier and more complicated at the same time. There are more options available but more competition for available players. There will assuredly be a concerted effort this offseason to give the Cats more balanced offensive options in an effort to get back the offensive efficiency that started this run of success. 

I will miss the incredible defensive intensity and excitement that Shamir and Ileri brought to every game and it will be weird to see the team without Nick after a half dozen years at Vermont. It will be exciting to see the TJ and TJ show (health permitting) one more time. The America East has been decimated by graduation and the portal so far with I believe only TJ Hurley returning from the all conference teams. The rosters across the league are barren and the league will be wide open. Despite Vermont's own roster needs, they are the only team returning an all conference player and if TJ Long comes back healthy they would return two. 

On a personal note, as you know I stopped responding to the comments during this season. Don't worry!

Ultimately this was for a good reason as I have gone back to school part time to get my Masters degree in Sports and Performance Psychology. With the extra time devoted to school I had to make some time cuts somewhere and I wanted to make sure I could continue writing the blog. I think I will be able to return to answering comments over the summer as the recruiting picks up. I am very excited for the potential of a midlife career change and have been really enjoying the classes thus far. 

Speaking of recruiting, NIL has finally come to the Green Mountain State! In honor of the late Barry Stone, a celebrated former player, alum, and Catamount superfan, the Cats now have an NIL fund that we the fans can directly contribute to. This will help Vermont Men's and Women's teams compete for players, particularly with other mid-major programs who have already dove in to the NIL deep end. With University resources being squeezed across the country, this is the best way that Catamount country can directly contribute to the success of the program. 

Here is the link if you would like to donate: Barry Stone Fund

Spread the word!

Once again thank you for reading and reaching out. This blog continues to be an amazing experience that has created community connections and given me a wonderful opportunity to share my love for basketball and Vermont. 

Vermont gets their big man

Hop on the Gus Bus!

The first portal commitment of the offseason for Vermont comes from Gus Yalden, a 6' 9", 260 lb forward from Appleton, WI. The Cats have been looking to add a big on the portal over the past few off-seasons and they have found their guy in Yalden, who has three years of eligibility left. Yalden has had quite a circuitous journey on his way to arriving at Vermont. Early in high school, he drew major power 5 interest and was rated as a 4 star prospect. He then went to IMG Academy (FL) where he struggled through foot injuries. Then after stops at the Asheville School (NC) and La Lumiere (IN), he committed to play basketball for his hometown Wisconsin Badgers. I remember following his recruitment at the time because he played for the Albany City Rocks AAU team and Vermont had expressed some interest. He red-shirted his freshman year at Wisconsin and ran into a few off-court issues. After the season he transferred to Seton Hall where he played 8 minutes a game across 26 games. Yalden comes to Vermont with a tremendous opportunity to step in a play a big role for the Catamounts. There were a few things I remember when following his recruitment. One was I thought the "Gus Bus" nickname was awesome and there was also a lot of "Baby Jokic" talk about his style of play. Being compared to the greatest basketball player of all time is a big swing but it gives an impression of how diversified his game is at his size. I love the fit at Vermont. Minutes are plentiful and he has a well rounded game. Watching interviews with Yalden, he describes himself as a "glue guy" who can do a bit of everything to help his team. He has a true back to the basket game, finishing with both hands around the hoop. He has a nice shooting touch on a little one-legged turn around and could develop into a good outside shooter. Yalden shines as a passer and is capable of playing off the dribble. He also plays with a ton of personality and fire. This is the type of post scorer the Vermont coaching staff has been searching for and Yalden gets a chance to prove himself at the college level. I think about how Ileri Ayo-Faleye had similarly red-shirted and not played much before coming to Vermont (also with 3 years remaining). The coaching staff was able to unlock his potential and he became a great player. This is a really good start to the offseason and gives the Cats some recruiting momentum as they reload. The America East will be more wide open than ever next season and adding Yalden to the returning group of guards is a great start. So excited to see the roster take shape!!

Shy Odom enters the portal

 Here we are again!

Another portal entry for the Catamounts, this time it is Shy Odom. It is unfortunate that his health never got right this season and he did not get the opportunity to showcase his skills. A healthy Odom would have been a fun player to watch in a Catamount uniform and I wish him well wherever he finds a home. This is going to be a crucial offseason for the Cats as they try to retool their roster to fill the departing defensive holes and get more dynamic on offense. To me the biggest portal needs are a post scorer and a player or two that can break the defense down off the dribble. The largest contributor to the choppy offense in my opinion was the difficulty in breaking defenses down off the dribble. If the Cats can find that more consistently, I think it will lift a lot of the other offensive areas as well. Losing Shamir Bogues, Ileri Ayo-Faleye, and Sam Alamutu leaves a pretty big hole on defense and they are going to have to address that this offseason as well. The entirety of the America East will be rebuilding this offseason as an insane amount of minutes across the league are leaving due to graduation or the portal. The league will be completely different next season.  Full disclosure, I LOVE portal season. I know that the system as it currently sits needs some tweaks and it is a crazy headache for coaching staffs, but it is really fun as a fan to see who teams are going after. The chase and search for information is addicting. I am sure I will be posting again soon!

Sam Alamutu enters the portal

Today the portal officially opened and Sam Alamutu became the second Catamount to enter the portal. Once Alamutu was recognized on Senior day, I thought this was a likely possibility. As I have said with previous grad transfers (Stef Smith, Aaron Deloney), after putting in four years and earning a degree is the perfect time to explore all of the options that might be out there. A normal process for a regular student and a great opportunity for Alamutu. During his time as a Catamount, Alamutu worked hard to carve out a role and became an indispensable player over the last two seasons. A Swiss army knife who's versatility allowed him to play and guard every position on the court. He is also a good example of the time it can take to adjust to the college game. Alamutu worked hard after his redshirt year to make the leap and remained patient when he did not crack the rotation right away. I wish him the best of luck at his next destination! With the portal officially opening today I would expect information to be coming fast and furious over the next month as teams restructure their rosters for next season. 

Seth Joba enters the transfer portal

The offseason has officially begin with the first portal activity for Vermont. Seth Joba has entered the portal after two seasons with the Cats. Joba struggled to crack the rotation and it makes sense that he would be exploring his options. He is a talented player who I think could be productive with the right fit. I wish him well and hope he finds the program he is looking for. His decision to move on continues a portal era trend of Vermont struggling to consistently find and develop post players. In the portal era, the Cats have been kinda stuck in the middle, with portal big men almost always going to a higher level and high school big men not being quite ready to be big contributors. Due to graduation and the portal, it is going to be a new era across the America East and for Vermont. This is going to be a big year for the Cats on the recruiting trail with minutes and spots up for grabs. With the offensive struggles this season, Vermont is certainly going to focus on that side of the ball in the offseason. The portal officially opens on Monday and I can't wait to see what players end up where. 

America East Semifinal: Down and Out

Maine 57 Vermont 42

After winning three consecutive championships, overcoming injuries and adversity, winning 10 games in a row down the stretch, and if you can believe it for the first time since 2015 (again throwing out the COVID year), Vermont will not be in the title game. It is someone else's turn. I say it a lot and it bears repeating, Vermont has had an unprecedented and frankly mythical run of success and to expect to never lose or have another team rise up is unrealistic. This was a roller-coaster season full of twists and turns and going all the way back to Jayhlon Young's de-commitment in June, it felt like the basketball gods were signaling that this year was going to be one full of challenges. Losing Shamir Bogues was the straw that broke the camel's back and the Cats season came to a close. 

First and foremost, a tip of the cap to Maine, who beat Vermont for the first time since 2010 (that is quite a run). They absolutely dominated the game and executed on the defensive end like I haven't seen in a long time. The Cats had their struggles but most of the turnovers and missed shots were due to an insane defensive effort from Maine. Kellen Tynes played like a man possessed and dominated end to end. Maine came in and said "we are going to smother TJ Hurley and make someone else beat us" and boy did they execute that strategy. Hurley had no space and no time as Maine threw everything but the kitchen sink to stop him. The Black Bears were hungry. Vermont came out flat for the second straight game and this time they could not recover. Maine was all over them from the tip and forced the Cats into 17 turnovers which turned into 21 points for the Black Bears. Vermont was back on their heels and played very tentatively as it seemed like Maine defenders kept coming out of nowhere to get steals and swat shots. The Cats shot 25.9% from the field and 4-26 (15.4%) from three. The Cats defense was very good as well holding Maine to 38.6% shooting and 4-17 (23.5%) from three. They could not get anything to fall against the highly motivated and energetic Maine defense. 

One incredible highlight was Sam Alamutu pulled down an herculean 21 rebounds! He worked very hard to initiate the offense and finished with 8 points. Ileri Ayo-Faleye finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds but shot 4-15 from the field. Hurley finished 1-15 from the field as he fell victim to three time defensive player of the year Kellen Tynes. I look forward to the Hurley revenge tour next season. Jace Roquemore went out with a bang, delivering quite an impressive poster dunk. 

I will reflect and recap the season in the coming weeks but I wanted to thank to the team for another exciting season in Catamount country and now on to cheering for the Vermont Women's team on Friday!!