The eyes of Burlington will actually be on Cary, NC tonight, where Vermont plays Marshall for the D1 Soccer Championship. Nontheless, there is a BASKETBALL game (USA! USA!) Wednesday night at 7 so let’s get into it.
Vermont lost to Colgate Sunday, so quick turnaround for both teams. They have lost three in a row. They beat Buffalo. They have a junior named TJ Hurley, no relation to the New Jersey douches. He was all freshman in the Bartles & Jaymes conference last year.
I believe a catamount is some kind of wildcat, or should be. Famous alums include JFK, Martha Stewart and Borat. No pro wrestlers.
They’ve had some significant injuries and haven’t recovered since. TJ Long, their leading scorer last year, hasn’t played in the last few games and it’s looking like he won’t be available Wednesday either based on their forum.
Frankly, should win this one. Assuming we’re favorites going in, we should be favored every game from now until Kent State on 1/18. Not trying to get ahead, but nice to see the program continuing to take steps.
My lovely wife and I visited Burlington a couple of months ago. We visited the university. Yep, the gym reminds me of Withrow to some degree. I now know what their mascot is. They also had a couple of new vans parked along the curb by the ice arenas that were painted in school colors and labeled “Vermont Math Team”. A nice campus.
Some data to ponder on - their last five D1 games (non-D1 games not included in stats here) they’re below average outside of a very active defense. They defend the 3pt line well and get a decent amount of blocks. Their pace is as slow as it gets.
They put up those numbers against (Kenpom Ranking) (Score):
Colgate (245) (60-65 A)
Yale (102) (50-65 A)
Brown (173) (53-60 H)
Northeastern (150) (68-64 H)
Fairfield (299) (66-67 A)
So 1-4 over their last 5 D1 opponents. Both teams played Sunday, but Miami could rotate.
Miami currently sits at 177 and the closest comp would be Brown.
I’m not sure a slow, incompetent offense (one of the lowest in efficiency) is really an identity? Their defense is solid, but low scoring is more out of necessity.
