Previous Message

A catamount is just another name for a mountain lion. Very cool compared to a shark named Elbee.

Starters

Dylan Penn 5 Yr SR 6-3 195. 13.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 14/19 assist TO. 50% FG, 30% on 3s, 84% FT

Finn Sullivan 5 Yr SR 6-4 195. 8.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 19/19 Ast/TO, 41% FG, 31% 3s, 57% FT

Nick Fiorillo Jr 6-8 225. 6.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 7/13 Ast/TO, 43% FG, 23% 3s, 43% FT

Robin Duncan 5 Yr SR 6-5 190. 5.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 18/13 Ast/TO, 45% FG, 21% 3s, 47% FT

Aaron Deloney SR 6-0 165. 12 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 18/14 Ast/TO, 43% FG, 38% 3s, 74% FT

Bench (all listed play from 6.5 - 24 mpg)

Kam Gibson 5 Yr SR 6-3 190. 6.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 4/3 Ast/TO, 42% FG, 40% 3s, 70% FT

Matt Veretto SR 6-8 220. 4.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1/2, 44%, 30%, 0%

TJ Hurley FR 6-5 190. 2.5 ppg, .6, 4/5, 29%, 25%, 100%

Perry Smith FR 6-9 225. 2.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3/8, 53%, 0%, 40%

Sam Alamutu FR 6-5 215. 1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 5/6, 38%, 33%, 75%

Ileri Ayo-Faleye SO 6-8 210. 1.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2/5, 38%, 33%, 75%

Observations
They play a lot of guys but average 64 and give up 73 points a game. Lost big at St. Mary's, in 2OT at Fullerton, by 2 at USC, by 21 to Iona, by about 30 to Yale, beat Ball St. by 5 and Brown by 15, lost to UNCW yesterday by 2.

Not a good shooting team: FGs 44% is ok, 31% from 3s bad like us, 66% FT better than us but bad. Being outrebounded by 4 and a 94/109 Ast/TO ratio. No standout players, but a good amount of upper classmen (7 total SRs and JRs). Against a stingy defense they may crumble (held to 44 v Yale) sound familiar? Against the most common opponent (Fullerton) it was a run n gun game (95-87 loss in 2 OT). They slowed down a typically uptempo USC and nearly beat them (59-57 loss).

Coach John Becker is 257-102 in 11 seasons at Vermont and his team has never finished lower than 3rd and either won or tied for winning the conference 7 times. 4 times in the NCAA tournament. Doesn't this sound like what we all want out of our coach in the Big West...reasonably dominant?

Prediction
Should be a close game, both teams have similar profiles although I sense we are different with the full court press style not sure what their 'style' is. They aren't big, lots of guards. They have the better coach and play in a similar league (America East). This is a tossup but with their experience and better coach, I predict:

Vermont 67, LB 63

although it wouldn't shock me if we win by 10. Would need big games from guys who struggled yesterday and dominate the boards.

GO BEACH! Please surprise me and kick the catamounts butts!