Vermont Catamounts Update

The real season has started for the Catamounts.

For almost all Mid-major basketball teams, their record in out of conference games means little. Sure it can help them and the other teams in their conference get better seeds in the NCAA tournament. But these teams have little to no shot to being selected to the tourney if they fail to win their conference title.

Vermont has had a solid start to their conference season, starting out 3-2 with wins over Binghamton, New Hampshire and Maine. The two losses both came on the road to Albany (a one point overtime heartbreaker) and UMBC (the favorite to win the league.

The league has remarkable parity this year. Any team has a legitimate shot at winning each game they play. This means that homes are vital for any team that wants a good seed for the conference tournament. This is a good sign for the Cats as they have played only two games at home so far (both wins) and have already gathered a road win at Maine. If the Cats can hold serve on their court and maybe get one or two more road wins, they could end up with a top 3-4 seed for the conference tournament.

Injuries have depleted the Cats all year. Just as one player gets healthy another valuable contributor goes down. Evan Fjeld has come back the last few games and has provided some inside scoring and depth on the frontline to help out conference player of the year favorite Marqus Blakely down low. But just as Fjeld came back, three year captain Kyle Cieplicki went down with an ankle injury that could keep him out of multiple games.



The best news of this year has been the development of Marqus Blakely. He has gone from dunker (see video) to legit post presence. He's a stat sheet stuffer. He leads the league in points and blocks per game. He is fourth in rebounding and steals and is 20th in assists.

Mike Trimboli is also having his best statistical year to date as well and can also be considered a 1st team all-conference player and has the ability to win player of the year as well. This star power on the Vermont team gives them a legitimate chance to make the big dance this year.

Much of this season will depend on how well this team can gel with all their injuries and if they can become healthy for the remainder of the conference slate and tournament.