Vermont 76 Marist 72
Vermont held off a hard charging Marist team and hung on for a tough win on the road. Marist looked very poor to start out the game and Vermont jumped out to a big lead. The Red Foxes began to chip away and started to speed Vermont up on offense. This forced the Cats into too many turnovers and as a result Marist came all the way back and took the lead. Vermont executed down the stretch and was able to pull out the victory. There is a lot to unpack from this game. First, Payton Henson can really put the ball in the hoop. He led the Cats in scoring for the second game in a row finishing with 18 points. His rebounding has also been impressive as he finished with 8 boards to lead the Cats. Anthony Lamb bounced back with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Henson and Lamb give Vermont a dimension that they have never had: two post players who score inside, outside, and can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. Trae Bell-Haynes fell one point short of a double double, finishing with 9 points and 10 assists. Dre Wills continued his strong start with 11 points and Kurt Steidl righted the ship with 10 points. Vermont got to the rim relentlessly and shot 53% from the field. Now on to the not so pretty numbers. First off Vermont committed 18 turnovers and most of them were bad turnovers on passes at the top of the key. Several times Vermont players turned to swing the ball and passed it directly to a Marist player. Those are flat out inexcusable. Henson finished with 6 turnovers and many of them were careless or sloppy. As the post play looks good for the Cats, the perimeter play is struggling. The three point shooting has been poor and opposing teams are shooting very well from three. Through the three games Vermont sits at 33% (17-51) from three and opponents are 43% (29-67). That is a significant and concerning disparity. Often when Vermont struggled in games last year it was due to that exact difficulty. Also, as was a struggle at the beginning of last year the defensive rotations are atrocious. The team at large is struggling mightily to grasp the defensive rotations and it has resulted in Becker struggling to find working lineups. So far this season Becker's substitutions and lineups are making the statement "play D or sit". That is part of the reason Wills has played so many minutes. The rotations will get better as they did last year but they certainly are not there yet. It was great to get the win but it was heart wrenching game to watch. It was good for Vermont to get some practice in a close, hard fought game and be forced to make tough plays down the stretch. Now it is time for the home opener. Certainly not the most exciting home opener but one that I wouldn't miss.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Vermont at Providence 11/14/16
Providence 80 Vermont 58
Vermont couldn't overcome a sluggish start and Providence pulled away in the second half to hand the Cats their first loss of the season. Providence dominated Vermont physically and kept the Cats from getting to the free throw line. This was an ugly one for sure. The one bright spot was Payton Henson. He looked very good for the second straight game leading the Cats with 21 points and 7 rebounds. He looked great off the dribble and fished strong around the hoop. He is going to be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams all season because of his versatility and athleticism. Dre Wills again looked like his old self and had some very good moments. It was good to see Josh Hearlihy on the floor and I really like his floor game and defensive versatility. Other than that it was kind of a train wreck. Vermont committed 17 turnovers, shot 5-20 from three, and consistently made poor decisions on both defense and offense. Trae Bell-Haynes had one of those games he has from time to time where he gets caught going too fast with nowhere to go. Anthony Lamb had a "freshman" game where he tried to force it on offense and put himself in some tough spots. I said that I wasn't concerned about Kurt Steidl after the opener and I am not ready to say concerned yet, but he has started the season about as poorly as possible. Missing shots, turning the ball over, and looking uncomfortable on the court, Steidl has got to get himself going in the right direction. The player I am deeply concerned about is Darren Payen. If Steidl has started out about as poorly as possible, then Payen has definitely started out as poorly as possible. He looks just awful at both ends of the floor which culminated in him getting stuffed by the rim on a wide open dunk in the waning moments of the game. A tough game all around but one the Cats can learn from and get better. I do want to mention that it looks as though the America East will not be as down as some prognosticators mentioned before the season. Albany and UNH already have a good win each and UMass Lowell just beat Wagner who just beat UConn. The Conference is starting to look as though it will be very competitive. Now it is time for Marist on Wednesday,
Vermont couldn't overcome a sluggish start and Providence pulled away in the second half to hand the Cats their first loss of the season. Providence dominated Vermont physically and kept the Cats from getting to the free throw line. This was an ugly one for sure. The one bright spot was Payton Henson. He looked very good for the second straight game leading the Cats with 21 points and 7 rebounds. He looked great off the dribble and fished strong around the hoop. He is going to be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams all season because of his versatility and athleticism. Dre Wills again looked like his old self and had some very good moments. It was good to see Josh Hearlihy on the floor and I really like his floor game and defensive versatility. Other than that it was kind of a train wreck. Vermont committed 17 turnovers, shot 5-20 from three, and consistently made poor decisions on both defense and offense. Trae Bell-Haynes had one of those games he has from time to time where he gets caught going too fast with nowhere to go. Anthony Lamb had a "freshman" game where he tried to force it on offense and put himself in some tough spots. I said that I wasn't concerned about Kurt Steidl after the opener and I am not ready to say concerned yet, but he has started the season about as poorly as possible. Missing shots, turning the ball over, and looking uncomfortable on the court, Steidl has got to get himself going in the right direction. The player I am deeply concerned about is Darren Payen. If Steidl has started out about as poorly as possible, then Payen has definitely started out as poorly as possible. He looks just awful at both ends of the floor which culminated in him getting stuffed by the rim on a wide open dunk in the waning moments of the game. A tough game all around but one the Cats can learn from and get better. I do want to mention that it looks as though the America East will not be as down as some prognosticators mentioned before the season. Albany and UNH already have a good win each and UMass Lowell just beat Wagner who just beat UConn. The Conference is starting to look as though it will be very competitive. Now it is time for Marist on Wednesday,
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Vermont gets another 2017 commitment
Third post of the day! That is a new record.
A dynamic point guard from Canada commits to Vermont.... Stop me if you have heard this before.
The excitement around the Vermont Program continues as they receive a commitment from Canadian PG Stefan Smith for the 2017 class. Smith attends Bill Crothers Secondary School which is the same school that Trae Bell-Haynes attended. I saw Smith behind the bench at the St. Michael's scrimmage and he must have like what he saw because he was originally offered as part of the 2018 class. After watching highlights Smith has the potential to be a very good player for Vermont. Like Bell-Haynes, Smith has a strong body and uses it to get to the rim and finish through contact. He has dynamic playmaking skills and a good outside shot. Looks to be a well balanced player who will fit into the new style of play that Vermont is building. The word from some of the North Pole Hoops scouts is that he is another high character/tough defender/team leader type player. It is great to see a connection paying dividends and it is not surprising that Bell-Haynes is a great ambassador for the Vermont program. With what Bell-Haynes has accomplished at Vermont, it is exciting to get another player from the same program. Bell-Haynes was college ready both physically and mentally and without taking anything away from what a great player he is, attending Bill Crothers must have contributed to his readiness. The momentum for Vermont continues to skyrocket and will only build further if Vermont can have the kind of success they are looking for this year. To continue building for the future from a recruiting standpoint, the last area of need for Vermont is getting a few big men as part of the 2017 and 2018 classes. They have one more scholarship in 2017 and then the big year when 5 become available for the 2018 class. Vermont is continuing to make noise on the recruiting trail and setting themselves up for continued success.
A dynamic point guard from Canada commits to Vermont.... Stop me if you have heard this before.
The excitement around the Vermont Program continues as they receive a commitment from Canadian PG Stefan Smith for the 2017 class. Smith attends Bill Crothers Secondary School which is the same school that Trae Bell-Haynes attended. I saw Smith behind the bench at the St. Michael's scrimmage and he must have like what he saw because he was originally offered as part of the 2018 class. After watching highlights Smith has the potential to be a very good player for Vermont. Like Bell-Haynes, Smith has a strong body and uses it to get to the rim and finish through contact. He has dynamic playmaking skills and a good outside shot. Looks to be a well balanced player who will fit into the new style of play that Vermont is building. The word from some of the North Pole Hoops scouts is that he is another high character/tough defender/team leader type player. It is great to see a connection paying dividends and it is not surprising that Bell-Haynes is a great ambassador for the Vermont program. With what Bell-Haynes has accomplished at Vermont, it is exciting to get another player from the same program. Bell-Haynes was college ready both physically and mentally and without taking anything away from what a great player he is, attending Bill Crothers must have contributed to his readiness. The momentum for Vermont continues to skyrocket and will only build further if Vermont can have the kind of success they are looking for this year. To continue building for the future from a recruiting standpoint, the last area of need for Vermont is getting a few big men as part of the 2017 and 2018 classes. They have one more scholarship in 2017 and then the big year when 5 become available for the 2018 class. Vermont is continuing to make noise on the recruiting trail and setting themselves up for continued success.
Vermont at Quinnipiac 11/12/16
Vermont 94 Quinnipiac 70
Now that is a season opener.
Vermont dominated an overmatched Quinnipiac squad from start to finish and picked up their first win of the season. Quinnipiac was very weak and is going to struggle this season but the Cats first game against a Division I opponent could not have gone better. The script remained the same from the exhibition games. Anthony Lamb and Payton Henson are going to have a tremendous impact for Vermont. Lamb again looked like Vermont's best player. Finishing in traffic, hitting perimeter jumpers, knocking down free throws, and going all out on every play. Lamb led the Cats with an efficient 23 points and 9 rebounds in only 24 minutes. The eye test is even better as he made several beautiful plays that don't show up in the box score including a sequence where he stole an inbound pass and immediately threw a home run pass to Henson for a dunk. He is a very special player. Henson was just as impressive in his Catamount debut. Transfers ability to impact the game right away is notoriously difficult to predict but this time it is clear right away that Henson is going to be very good for Vermont. Henson contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds in 26 minutes. Henson too showcased his ability to score inside and out and run the floor to get easy buckets in transition. Adding two polished scorers to an already potent offense is very exciting. Vermont can spread the floor and attack the rim from almost any position when Henson and Lamb are on the floor together. Trae Bell-Haynes looked great dishing out 8 assists to go along with 16 points. Ernie Duncan added 13 points and looked much quicker going to the hoop. Dre Wills did some very nice Dre Wills things including a stretch in the second half where he had a steal on three consecutive possessions. Vermont was without Josh Hearlihy and Nate Rohrer and they were still very deep and able to use several different effective combinations. Kurt Steidl really struggled to get into rhythm but that is no cause for concern as he has proven that he bounces back. The only player who had some concerning minutes was Darren Payen who looked all out of sorts on both ends of the floor. He is definitely one of the players most in danger of losing minutes. The Hearlihy situation concerns me a little and I hope it is nothing serious because it is in games against teams like Providence on Monday where they could really use his versatility. Vermont has the capability to pull off a few upsets in the non-conference schedule because of their ability to score the ball. What a great way to open the season and get the ball rolling. Now on to Providence Monday night for what will be a great test.
P.S. It looks like they will after all redshirt Ben Shungu as planned because I did not see him on the bench (redshirts don't travel with the team). It is great that it worked out that way because he could benefit from a redshirt year.
Now that is a season opener.
Vermont dominated an overmatched Quinnipiac squad from start to finish and picked up their first win of the season. Quinnipiac was very weak and is going to struggle this season but the Cats first game against a Division I opponent could not have gone better. The script remained the same from the exhibition games. Anthony Lamb and Payton Henson are going to have a tremendous impact for Vermont. Lamb again looked like Vermont's best player. Finishing in traffic, hitting perimeter jumpers, knocking down free throws, and going all out on every play. Lamb led the Cats with an efficient 23 points and 9 rebounds in only 24 minutes. The eye test is even better as he made several beautiful plays that don't show up in the box score including a sequence where he stole an inbound pass and immediately threw a home run pass to Henson for a dunk. He is a very special player. Henson was just as impressive in his Catamount debut. Transfers ability to impact the game right away is notoriously difficult to predict but this time it is clear right away that Henson is going to be very good for Vermont. Henson contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds in 26 minutes. Henson too showcased his ability to score inside and out and run the floor to get easy buckets in transition. Adding two polished scorers to an already potent offense is very exciting. Vermont can spread the floor and attack the rim from almost any position when Henson and Lamb are on the floor together. Trae Bell-Haynes looked great dishing out 8 assists to go along with 16 points. Ernie Duncan added 13 points and looked much quicker going to the hoop. Dre Wills did some very nice Dre Wills things including a stretch in the second half where he had a steal on three consecutive possessions. Vermont was without Josh Hearlihy and Nate Rohrer and they were still very deep and able to use several different effective combinations. Kurt Steidl really struggled to get into rhythm but that is no cause for concern as he has proven that he bounces back. The only player who had some concerning minutes was Darren Payen who looked all out of sorts on both ends of the floor. He is definitely one of the players most in danger of losing minutes. The Hearlihy situation concerns me a little and I hope it is nothing serious because it is in games against teams like Providence on Monday where they could really use his versatility. Vermont has the capability to pull off a few upsets in the non-conference schedule because of their ability to score the ball. What a great way to open the season and get the ball rolling. Now on to Providence Monday night for what will be a great test.
P.S. It looks like they will after all redshirt Ben Shungu as planned because I did not see him on the bench (redshirts don't travel with the team). It is great that it worked out that way because he could benefit from a redshirt year.
Vermont Season Preview 2016-2017
The expectations are high for another season in Catamount country. The excitement has been building and today it is time for the hype to begin its journey into reality.
Record: 22-9 (13-3) 1 seed, win in the championship against Albany.
Starting five: Trae Bell-Haynes
Ernie Duncan
Kurt Steidl
Anthony Lamb (he may not start right away, but will be before long)
Payton Henson
Team Leaders:
Scoring: Everyone......but seriously Vermont is going to have as many as 5 players averaging between 10-12 points.
Rebounds: Lamb. He has that Voelkel-like ability to go get the ball no matter where it is.
Assists: Duncan. I think the great passing that he showed very briefly during his redshirt year comes back.
This is the year the Cats transition from plucky young underdogs to experienced favorite. The biggest key to their success will be if they are mentally able to make that shift. The talent is there. This team will be very efficient offensively and is going to be able to run away from some teams by purely outscoring them. The defense should be slightly better, although the rule changes are going to make that process difficult. There are going to be a large number of fouls called, especially in the early part of the season as the NCAA continues the freedom of movement point of emphasis. Get ready for some ugly non-conference games. It is getting harder and harder to play tough, on the ball man to man defense in college basketball. As a result the definition of what a good defense is looks like it is changing. Much like last year, the newcomers are going to have lapses on defense early on as they get used to the system. Coach Becker admitted his "teach offensive players defense" has been more difficult than he anticipated and it will be interesting to see if he has more success with that idea this year. This is the type of team that could steal a few surprise wins in the non-conference if they are able to get the chemistry going much earlier in the season than the last few years.
Keys to Success
Managing minutes: Having too many good players is a nice problem to have but can also be a very tricky one. It seems like the players have bought into the "winning is everything" mentality. This should help limit some of the disappointment with minute fluctuation. This team also has strong leadership and a great trio of captains to remind everyone of the ultimate goal. Another difficulty with a deep team is making sure the right player is playing at the right time. Balancing when to pull a struggling player or who to put in to take advantage of a match-up can be tricky. When a team has a small rotation, the players out there are the players you got and you ride them for better or worse. This year the lineups could be vastly different game to game. This can be both a blessing and a curse as that leaves more in game decisions for the coaching staff and more in game uncertainty for the players.
Rebounding/post defense: I am going to put these two categories together as they are very closely related. On paper Vermont will be an improved rebounding team. With Albany and New Hampshire shaping up to be the biggest threats in the America East, rebounding will be at the heart of conference success. Both Albany and New Hampshire are still going to be very good rebounding teams and Vermont will hopefully be able to close the gap. The biggest loss the Cats will experience from Ethan O'Day's graduation will be his shot blocking. He was an exceptional shot blocker and bailed Vermont out often with his individual efforts. Without a great shot blocker to protect the rim, Vermont is going have to play better help side defense and not get caught up in the air trying for the big shot block. Having a great shot blocker is not a necessity to have good interior defense. Teams just have to be more diligent in their execution of the defensive scheme.
Mental toughness: Playing conference games as the favorite means everyone gives you their best shot. Teams circle you on the calendar and they all want to the the one to knock you down. To play at a high level, Vermont is going have to be mentally tougher than every other team in the conference. This group has demonstrated the ability to overcome a tremendous amount of adversity and stay together during their few years together. Vermont now is tasked with proving that they can win in the tournament. It is easy to rationalize tough playoff losses when they come after a season in which a team has overachieved. Vermont has had the luxury of being in that situation the past two years. The fact is Vermont has struggled in the playoffs for several years and the last two years they have blown significant leads in the process. The regular season success has been fun but it is time to win the title. This is the year where the team has to make a statement that they can win in the tournament. Anything short of a championship will be a colossal disappointment and the question will start to become: will they ever win in the tournament?
Beating Albany: Here is the big one. I am sure the fans know how that Albany has been a thorn in the Cats side for quite sometime, but when you look at the numbers it is startling. Vermont has lost 5 straight games overall to Albany putting their last win on 2/1/2014. That is almost three years. Ouch. When you dig deeper and look at just games in the conference tournament the dominance is overwhelming. Vermont's career record against Albany in the tournament is 1-5. They have lost 5 straight tournament games to Albany and that puts their one and only win on 3/9/2003. 2003!! That is quite a stretch of dominance for the Great Danes. Albany is going to be very good again this year and Vermont has to find a way to break through. There is no path to the championship without beating Albany.
If Vermont can remain mentally tough and focused on the ultimate goal, they will have a great season that should result in a championship. They have a very exciting group of players and will play an exciting brand of basketball. Being a fan this year will be a high excitement/high anxiety kind of year. Whenever "your" team is the favorite it makes every single game seem that much more important as the push the tournament marches on. I really like this team this year and believe in their ability to succeed. Unfortunately there is only one result that will feel satisfying. This year there is no consolation prize. It is time to break through.
Record: 22-9 (13-3) 1 seed, win in the championship against Albany.
Starting five: Trae Bell-Haynes
Ernie Duncan
Kurt Steidl
Anthony Lamb (he may not start right away, but will be before long)
Payton Henson
Team Leaders:
Scoring: Everyone......but seriously Vermont is going to have as many as 5 players averaging between 10-12 points.
Rebounds: Lamb. He has that Voelkel-like ability to go get the ball no matter where it is.
Assists: Duncan. I think the great passing that he showed very briefly during his redshirt year comes back.
This is the year the Cats transition from plucky young underdogs to experienced favorite. The biggest key to their success will be if they are mentally able to make that shift. The talent is there. This team will be very efficient offensively and is going to be able to run away from some teams by purely outscoring them. The defense should be slightly better, although the rule changes are going to make that process difficult. There are going to be a large number of fouls called, especially in the early part of the season as the NCAA continues the freedom of movement point of emphasis. Get ready for some ugly non-conference games. It is getting harder and harder to play tough, on the ball man to man defense in college basketball. As a result the definition of what a good defense is looks like it is changing. Much like last year, the newcomers are going to have lapses on defense early on as they get used to the system. Coach Becker admitted his "teach offensive players defense" has been more difficult than he anticipated and it will be interesting to see if he has more success with that idea this year. This is the type of team that could steal a few surprise wins in the non-conference if they are able to get the chemistry going much earlier in the season than the last few years.
Keys to Success
Managing minutes: Having too many good players is a nice problem to have but can also be a very tricky one. It seems like the players have bought into the "winning is everything" mentality. This should help limit some of the disappointment with minute fluctuation. This team also has strong leadership and a great trio of captains to remind everyone of the ultimate goal. Another difficulty with a deep team is making sure the right player is playing at the right time. Balancing when to pull a struggling player or who to put in to take advantage of a match-up can be tricky. When a team has a small rotation, the players out there are the players you got and you ride them for better or worse. This year the lineups could be vastly different game to game. This can be both a blessing and a curse as that leaves more in game decisions for the coaching staff and more in game uncertainty for the players.
Rebounding/post defense: I am going to put these two categories together as they are very closely related. On paper Vermont will be an improved rebounding team. With Albany and New Hampshire shaping up to be the biggest threats in the America East, rebounding will be at the heart of conference success. Both Albany and New Hampshire are still going to be very good rebounding teams and Vermont will hopefully be able to close the gap. The biggest loss the Cats will experience from Ethan O'Day's graduation will be his shot blocking. He was an exceptional shot blocker and bailed Vermont out often with his individual efforts. Without a great shot blocker to protect the rim, Vermont is going have to play better help side defense and not get caught up in the air trying for the big shot block. Having a great shot blocker is not a necessity to have good interior defense. Teams just have to be more diligent in their execution of the defensive scheme.
Mental toughness: Playing conference games as the favorite means everyone gives you their best shot. Teams circle you on the calendar and they all want to the the one to knock you down. To play at a high level, Vermont is going have to be mentally tougher than every other team in the conference. This group has demonstrated the ability to overcome a tremendous amount of adversity and stay together during their few years together. Vermont now is tasked with proving that they can win in the tournament. It is easy to rationalize tough playoff losses when they come after a season in which a team has overachieved. Vermont has had the luxury of being in that situation the past two years. The fact is Vermont has struggled in the playoffs for several years and the last two years they have blown significant leads in the process. The regular season success has been fun but it is time to win the title. This is the year where the team has to make a statement that they can win in the tournament. Anything short of a championship will be a colossal disappointment and the question will start to become: will they ever win in the tournament?
Beating Albany: Here is the big one. I am sure the fans know how that Albany has been a thorn in the Cats side for quite sometime, but when you look at the numbers it is startling. Vermont has lost 5 straight games overall to Albany putting their last win on 2/1/2014. That is almost three years. Ouch. When you dig deeper and look at just games in the conference tournament the dominance is overwhelming. Vermont's career record against Albany in the tournament is 1-5. They have lost 5 straight tournament games to Albany and that puts their one and only win on 3/9/2003. 2003!! That is quite a stretch of dominance for the Great Danes. Albany is going to be very good again this year and Vermont has to find a way to break through. There is no path to the championship without beating Albany.
If Vermont can remain mentally tough and focused on the ultimate goal, they will have a great season that should result in a championship. They have a very exciting group of players and will play an exciting brand of basketball. Being a fan this year will be a high excitement/high anxiety kind of year. Whenever "your" team is the favorite it makes every single game seem that much more important as the push the tournament marches on. I really like this team this year and believe in their ability to succeed. Unfortunately there is only one result that will feel satisfying. This year there is no consolation prize. It is time to break through.
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Exhibition: St. Michael's at Vermont
Vermont 94 St. Michael's 65
Vermont had their full squad and came out firing in their final exhibition game. It was great to see Ernie Duncan back on the court and he showed no ill effects from his sprained thumb leading the Catamounts with 21 points including 5-9 shooting from three. He looked like the Duncan from down the stretch last year and completely changes the dynamics of the Cats offense. His ability to rise up and shoot no matter the situation is crucial when Vermont is really looking for a bucket. Its has been since Sorrentine that Vermont has had a player that has the ability to be effective taking ten three pointers in a game. If he can remain healthy he is going to have a great season. It was also good to see Ward back on the court, but he looked a little more affected by his injury battle. Ward looked tired and not quite up to speed, the result of missing practice time. Hopefully this game is a step in the right direction towards full recovery. It is again time to gush about Anthony Lamb. That kid is on another level. He is all out on every play and goes after the ball relentlessly. He can affect the game in so many ways and did so again tonight with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. I am sure there will be some growing pains but he has already looked like the best player on Vermont through the exhibition games. There are still many things the Cats need to work in in practice this week as the defense is not quite where it needs to be. The newcomers are still in the process of picking up the rotation as several players founds themselves lost on defense. After the two exhibition games there is no question that Vermont is the most talented team top to bottom in the America East. The question becomes: are they mentally tough enough to make a push for the championship? On a team this talented the only thing that will hold them back is their ability to remain focused on the goals of the team. Coach Becker has talked at length about this team only being concerned about one thing and that is winning. It is easy to talk like that when as of right now no one has lost any minutes. As the season goes on and players start to struggle, that is when winning needs to be the most important thing. The coaching staff is going to have a significant challenge in finding minutes for everyone and someone is going to have less minutes than they want. There are a lot of players deserving of minutes and only so many to go around. I think this team has committed to a goal and I hope that they can hold on to that when inevitably they face adversity. I can't wait for the opener next Saturday and to get this season rolling. I will post a Vermont season preview sometime this week. Time for the real thing.
Vermont had their full squad and came out firing in their final exhibition game. It was great to see Ernie Duncan back on the court and he showed no ill effects from his sprained thumb leading the Catamounts with 21 points including 5-9 shooting from three. He looked like the Duncan from down the stretch last year and completely changes the dynamics of the Cats offense. His ability to rise up and shoot no matter the situation is crucial when Vermont is really looking for a bucket. Its has been since Sorrentine that Vermont has had a player that has the ability to be effective taking ten three pointers in a game. If he can remain healthy he is going to have a great season. It was also good to see Ward back on the court, but he looked a little more affected by his injury battle. Ward looked tired and not quite up to speed, the result of missing practice time. Hopefully this game is a step in the right direction towards full recovery. It is again time to gush about Anthony Lamb. That kid is on another level. He is all out on every play and goes after the ball relentlessly. He can affect the game in so many ways and did so again tonight with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. I am sure there will be some growing pains but he has already looked like the best player on Vermont through the exhibition games. There are still many things the Cats need to work in in practice this week as the defense is not quite where it needs to be. The newcomers are still in the process of picking up the rotation as several players founds themselves lost on defense. After the two exhibition games there is no question that Vermont is the most talented team top to bottom in the America East. The question becomes: are they mentally tough enough to make a push for the championship? On a team this talented the only thing that will hold them back is their ability to remain focused on the goals of the team. Coach Becker has talked at length about this team only being concerned about one thing and that is winning. It is easy to talk like that when as of right now no one has lost any minutes. As the season goes on and players start to struggle, that is when winning needs to be the most important thing. The coaching staff is going to have a significant challenge in finding minutes for everyone and someone is going to have less minutes than they want. There are a lot of players deserving of minutes and only so many to go around. I think this team has committed to a goal and I hope that they can hold on to that when inevitably they face adversity. I can't wait for the opener next Saturday and to get this season rolling. I will post a Vermont season preview sometime this week. Time for the real thing.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Vermont receives its first 2017 commitment
Just a few hours ago Bailey Patella from Vermont Academy became the first player to commit to the Catamounts 2017 recruiting class. Patella is a 6-5 SF from Lenox, MA who was on campus this past weekend for an official visit. He has attended games before and is very familiar with the Vermont program. This is a great get for Vermont. Patella plays a high level of basketball at Vermont Academy and with his BABC team in the summer. Each of those teams is loaded with high level D1 talent and he is an integral part of each team. He has great athleticism and can really shoot it from deep. He is exactly the type of player Vermont needed to get for the 2017 class. With Kurt Steidl leaving there will be significant minutes available a the SF position. It is one of the few positions that will have available minutes in the 2017-2018 season. With depth at so many other positions it was important to find a versatile wing player. Patella brings exactly that skill set. He is the type of player that fits and finds success in Vermont's system. The coaching staff continues to find good shooters who have the potential to play tough defense and the athleticism to get out and run. He is a very exciting addition to the Catamounts and I think he will be a fun player to watch. Now that the first recruiting domino has fallen, it will be interesting to see if another commitment follows shortly. The signing period begins in one week and I think it is likely that the recruiting class will take shape at that point. The excitement continues to build for the Vermont program for this season and beyond.
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