Shamir Bogues joins the Catamounts

Ooooooo boy did the Cats have a weekend!!

Shamir Bogues, a 6-4 guard from Killeen, TX who played the last three years for Tarleton State, committed to the Catamounts this evening, with two years of eligibility remaining. Ever since Vermont reached out several weeks ago, this it the commitment I have been hoping for. Bogues visited Vermont this past weekend and I have been obsessively checking twitter ever since. He is exactly what the Cats needed. Bogues is an ELITE defender. He has made the WAC all defensive team two years in a row and has averaged two steals a game during his career. For context, his 159 career steals would already place him seventh on the career list at Vermont. He will immediately be a defensive player of the year candidate. As you might imagine with those defensive numbers, Bogues is a incredible athlete who is lightning fast and plays above the rim. He has tremendous length and physicality which he also uses to score at the rim on the offensive end. Bogues has steadily improved his offense each year and had a career offensive season last year shooting 53% from the field and making 36% of his threes (17/47). Where he really does damage is in the post, using curls and cuts and his length to finish around defenders. Think the way Vermont used Dylan Penn and Robin Duncan as guards scoring in the paint. Pairing him with Jace Roquemore gives Vermont two very versatile guards who can rebound and make plays. Bogues is an absolutely perfect fit in the Vermont system especially with some of the adjustments the coaching staff made last season. With the addition of Bogues the Cats have done an excellent job replacing production on both offense and defense. It is especially exciting because Bogues, Roquemore, and TJ Long have two seasons of eligibility left. This is the commitment that puts the Cats over the top and gives them the pieces to make another title run. What an incredible week of recruiting for the Cats. 

Vermont lands UC San Diego transfer Jace Roquemore

Here we are again!

On a big weekend for Vermont basketball the Cats grabbed another commitment for next season from 6'5 guard Jace Roquemore. He announced that his two finalists were Vermont and Pacific last week so a commitment seemed likely. Roquemore is from Henderson, NV and comes to Vermont after 4 years at UC San Diego. He in in a similar situation as Nick Fiorillo where he redshirted the year before the 20-21 COVID season and therefore I believe he still has two more seasons of eligibility left. Roquemore started 58 games for the Tritons over the last two seasons and has proven to be a very versatile and high IQ player. He has career averages of 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists. That versatility will allow him to play multiple positions for the Catamounts and will replace some of the playmaking ability that Vermont lost due to graduation. Roquemore is comfortable running the offense with the ball in his hands and rebounds well from the guard position. While not a volume shooter, Roquemore has improved his perimeter shooting each year and shot 40% (26/60) from distance last season. The Vermont coaching staff will look to unlock Roquemore's potential in the same way they did with Finn Sullivan (6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists at San Diego before coming to Vermont). Roquemore may not be able to impact the game defensively quite as much has Finn did but does have similar offensive versatility. He is a very good passer and is able to slow the game down and calmly run the offense. I would expect him to get minutes at the PG spot for Vermont this season. The coaching staff had done a great job infusing the roster with experience and potential. I am interested to see how they choose to fill the final two roster spots. 

Brenton Mills joins the Catamounts

 Vermont landed a commitment from 6'3 guard Brenton Mills who is a grad transfer from Allen, TX and will have one year of eligibility remaining. If the name sounds familiar that is because Mills played his first two seasons at Binghamton before spending the last two seasons at Bowling Green. Vermont was looking to add some experience through the portal and they did so with Mills. He has played 106 career games (85 starts) and made both the all freshman team and the all America East third team following his sophomore season. Mills is a good depth add for the Catamounts. He reminds me of Kam Gibson in that he is a low turnover, offense first guard who will be able to give minutes at either guard position as long as he can get up to speed and improve on the defensive end. At Binghamton, he was a high volume three point shooter, knocking down 36% (85-231) from deep. He will be looking to recapture that magic returning to the America East as he struggled from distance during his time at Bowling Green, shooting only 27% on much lower volume (34-124). I am sure that what drew Mills to Vermont was to find a winning program where he can contribute and have an opportunity to make it to the NCAA tournament in his final college season. With Deloney returning, TJ Long joining from Fairfield, and now Mills, the Cats have very quickly done a great job of addressing their number one offseason issue, which was guard depth. They still need another point guard and probably want another frontcourt player for depth. Based on Becker's comments when Deloney recommitted, he hopes to have the roster finalized this week and I would expect more news in the coming days as I am guessing they are hosting visits this weekend. The weather is cooperating nicely so hopefully I will be writing again soon!

AARON DELONEY IS BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Aaron Deloney announced on his instagram today that he will be returning for his 5th year in Catamount country. No analysis is needed to explain how great this is for Vermont. Deloney has blossomed over the last two years and will return as the unquestioned leader of the Cats. The more the weeks that had passed with no official goodbye announcement from Deloney, the more confident I was getting in his potential return. It feels good that he explored his options and ultimately decided that Vermont was the place to be. Deloney comes back with the potential to be the Cats leading scorer and make a run at all conference first team. His role in the offense will likely be similar but his role in the locker room will be expanded and be even more important. So excited to have AD back and can't wait to watch him close out his Catamount career.