Vermont Discussion Game Time 1:45 CT

[warriorchick]

St Joseph’s is still around. They are offering a bunch of unaccredited two year and certificate programs.

Is their campus still completely shut down?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Is their campus still completely shut down?

I don’t believe so.

[wadesworld]

Watching some replays of their games, they have two guys who initiate the offense. Dylan Penn and Robin Duncan.

Penn will have the ball in hands more often than not. He's quick and strong enough to take (America East level) defenders off the bounce. If he can beat his man he is pretty craft around the hoop. If he can't, he goes into a post up and tries to back down his defender. He's skilled enough in the post that he can score on guards with his back to the basket. However, he is really doing that so he can see his four teammates on the perimeter and is looking for an open man to begin a series of quick perimeter passes which forces the defense to rotate and leads to open shots.

Duncan is a taller guard (6'5") and is the more creative passer of the two. He is good at skip passes and dump offs and is usually the guy who finds the open shooter. He himself can't shoot and his scoring is pretty limited. He is a smart player though and knows when and where to cut.

I think we will see OMax on Penn. His size and length should be more than enough to contain Penn and will neutralize his post up ability, meaning we won't need to help on him and can play him as a passer.  Duncan has some creative passing ability but I don't think his skip passes will work well against our guys, there will be plenty of interception opportunities. I'd put Kolek or Kam on Duncan and have them sag to dare him to shoot and take away his passing ability.

Other key to the game will be limiting Matt Vertto. He's their starting "center" who during their current winning streak is shooting 45% from three. He has the potential to go nuclear and hit a bunch of treys. I think Oso should be more than a match for him. Tell Oso to run him off the line. He has some ability to put it on the floor but not against our level of defense. If Oso stays home, Veretto shouldn't be able to get shots off.

Vermont also has the conference player of the year on their team in  Finn Sullivan. His numbers are very muted for a conference POY and he doesn't seem all that potent on offense. Stick Stevie "Off Night" Mitchell on him and I think he'll be out of the picture.

Their defense struggled to stop America East opponents at times. We should eviscerate them on that end.

Game may have a smaller margin of victory than we expect just because of how SLOW Vermont is, but I expect us to be comfortably in control for 40 minutes.

Having not seen them at all, How do they utilize Vertto?  Is he running of screens around the perimeter?  If so, is there someone else we can stick Oso on while we have OMax chase him around the perimeter like he did with Hawkins?  And then we use Stevie on Penn to stay in front and just don't budge on the back downs.

[lawdog77]

St Joseph’s is still around. They are offering a bunch of unaccredited two year and certificate programs.

It wasn't for a few years. Looks like it reopened as a juco?

Their most famous alums I think are Gol Hodges and Ed Vrdolyak.

[pbiflyer]

I think this game is somewhat similar to our home game against Butler. We will basically drive to the basket and score whenever we really need to.

[MU82]

Thanks for the scouting report, TAMU. If your current gig ever stops working for you, you have a future in scouting.

Looking forward to Friday's resounding victory, a nice start to our big tourney run.

[Norm]

Vermont roster by points per game:

Dylan Penn - 13.5 ppg - 54% FG, 33% 3P, 84% FT - Senior/3 years exp
Finn Sullivan 11.9 ppg - 43% FG, 33% 3P, 73% FT - Senior/5 years exp
Aaron Deloney - 11.6 ppg - 45% FG, 41% 3P, 72% FT - Senior/4 years exp
Matt Veretto - 8.8ppg - 51% FG, 42% 3P, 76% FT - Senior/2 years exp (3 year gap playing bball)
Robin Duncan - 7.8 ppg - 53% FG, 21% 3P, 47% FT - Senior/5 years exp
Kameron Gibson - 7.9 ppg - 45% FG, 37% 3P, 72% FT - Senior/5 years exp
TJ Hurley - 5.3 ppg - 40% FG, 44% #P, 100% FT - Freshman/1 year exp
Nick Fioillo - 4.5 ppg - 41% FG, 17% 3P, 56% FT - Junior/3 years exp
Ileri Ayo-Faleye - 3.1 ppg - 38% FG, 50% 3P, 72% FT - Sophomore/2 year exp
Sam Alamutu - 2.4 ppg - 60% FG, 100% 3P, 25% FT - Freshman/1 year exp
Perry Smith Jr. - 2.0 ppg - 43% FG, 0% #P, 30% FT - Freshman/1 year exp

During the season all the players listed above averaged 10+ minutes per game, but the bottom four only averaged about 2-3 minutes per game in their conference tournament.

[barfolomew]

Watching them on YouTube, I am not overly concerned about the Catamounts.

On defense, I see Kam and Tyler getting to the rack at will without fear of a shot blocker.
If there is an NCAA tourney record for scoop shots, we may break it.

On offense, they seem to rely on capitalizing on slow/bad switches, which is NOT us.
They average just 9.3 turnovers a game, but I'd put the over at 16 on Friday.

This will not be close.

[nyg]

Vermont roster by points per game:

Dylan Penn - 13.5 ppg - 54% FG, 33% 3P, 84% FT - Senior/3 years exp
Finn Sullivan 11.9 ppg - 43% FG, 33% 3P, 73% FT - Senior/5 years exp
Aaron Deloney - 11.6 ppg - 45% FG, 41% 3P, 72% FT - Senior/4 years exp
Matt Veretto - 8.8ppg - 51% FG, 42% 3P, 76% FT - Senior/2 years exp (3 year gap playing bball)
Robin Duncan - 7.8 ppg - 53% FG, 21% 3P, 47% FT - Senior/5 years exp
Kameron Gibson - 7.9 ppg - 45% FG, 37% 3P, 72% FT - Senior/5 years exp
TJ Hurley - 5.3 ppg - 40% FG, 44% #P, 100% FT - Freshman/1 year exp
Nick Fioillo - 4.5 ppg - 41% FG, 17% 3P, 56% FT - Junior/3 years exp
Ileri Ayo-Faleye - 3.1 ppg - 38% FG, 50% 3P, 72% FT - Sophomore/2 year exp
Sam Alamutu - 2.4 ppg - 60% FG, 100% 3P, 25% FT - Freshman/1 year exp
Perry Smith Jr. - 2.0 ppg - 43% FG, 0% #P, 30% FT - Freshman/1 year exp

During the season all the players listed above averaged 10+ minutes per game, but the bottom four only averaged about 2-3 minutes per game in their conference tournament.

Yes, those are statistics against the likes of Albany, NJIT, Bryant, Binghamton, UMBC, not UCONN, Xavier, Creighton, Nova. Never the less not playing in a big arena as opposed to very small venues.

The only comp on the schedule is St.Marys, who pummeled them.  In that game, they did play numerous players, the bottom of their roster wouldn't be walk-ons on MU.
Boxscore:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401489013

[panda]

Yes, those are statistics against the likes of Albany, NJIT, Bryant, Binghamton, UMBC, not UCONN, Xavier, Creighton, Nova. Never the less not playing in a big arena as opposed to very small venues.

The only comp on the schedule is St.Marys, who pummeled them.  In that game, they did play numerous players, the bottom of their roster wouldn't be walk-ons on MU.
Boxscore:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401489013

Iona is a much better comp to us than st Mary’s. Vermont lost on a neutral floor to them by like 25

[lawdog77]

Watching them on YouTube, I am not overly concerned about the Catamounts.

Do they have any highlight reels/mix tapes ala Dexter Akanno?

[nyg]

Iona is a much better comp to us than st Mary’s. Vermont lost on a neutral floor to them by like 25

St. Marys ranked 19 and believe a 6 seed, Iona who knows....

But you at least get the point, especially the neutral court.  Stats on this team are not relevant because the level of competition is so far below the BE.  I get that they are best in their conference and won a bunch in a row, but this team might win one game in the BE if they shoot 85% from three and the field.

[pbiflyer]

Pick and roll all day long. And this may be Ben's big break out game.

[CountryRoads]

St. Marys ranked 19 and believe a 6 seed, Iona who knows....

But you at least get the point, especially the neutral court.  Stats on this team are not relevant because the level of competition is so far below the BE.  I get that they are best in their conference and won a bunch in a row, but this team might win one game in the BE if they shoot 85% from three and the field.

Without watching every game, it’s hard to tell how much better they’ve gotten over the course of the year but yeah…pretty much anybody that’s decent has blown them out of the water.

I remember we played them in 2017-2018 and I was pretty jacked to go to that game since I knew they were supposed to be good that year. They gave us a good game and hit a bunch of threes. We won by 10. Hoping that worse case scenario it ends up like that game.

[nyg]

Without watching every game, it’s hard to tell how much better they’ve gotten over the course of the year but yeah…pretty much anybody that’s decent has blown them out of the water.

I remember we played them in 2017-2018 and I was pretty jacked to go to that game since I knew they were supposed to be good that year. They gave us a good game and hit a bunch of threes. We won by 10. Hoping that worse case scenario it ends up like that game.

I know...Watch, MU will win by 10 and I'll have to eat crow after all the barking I have done on this topic.  But after watching their conference final game and comparing them to MU and BE, I still think MU pulverizers them. 

[GoldenEagles03]

Watching them on YouTube, I am not overly concerned about the Catamounts.

On defense, I see Kam and Tyler getting to the rack at will without fear of a shot blocker.
If there is an NCAA tourney record for scoop shots, we may break it.

On offense, they seem to rely on capitalizing on slow/bad switches, which is NOT us.
They average just 9.3 turnovers a game, but I'd put the over at 16 on Friday.

This will not be close.

The pick and roll for Kam/Tyler and Oso should be lethal.  Kam and Tyler are good at getting to the bucket off a screen but if they are stopped by a body then Oso at the rim should be all day.  They have no one go prevent buckets at the basket.

[JakeBarnes]

Sort of weird that USC played Vermont earlier this year. Only won by 2. So theoretical matchup there that could happen.

I am going to hope it doesn't, but definitely a quirk in the scheduling.

[panda]

St. Marys ranked 19 and believe a 6 seed, Iona who knows....

But you at least get the point, especially the neutral court.  Stats on this team are not relevant because the level of competition is so far below the BE.  I get that they are best in their conference and won a bunch in a row, but this team might win one game in the BE if they shoot 85% from three and the field.

To clarify - we’re stylistically much more similar to Iona than St. Mary’s.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

My only concern is Vermont plays zone and we play really dumb against it.  Their only hope is to muck it up, get hot from 3, and hope to pull out a close one.

If Marquette plays like the first BET game, it'll be close.  If they play with the same poise, confidence, and intensity we saw in the other two BET games, it'll be a comfortable victory.

[nyg]

To clarify - we’re stylistically much more similar to Iona than St. Mary’s.

Here is the last thing I'll mention/attach and it could happen.  But MU on a roll and Shaka will be teeing the team up, the matchup is well in MU's favor.

At least its a good read prior to Friday and gives some context 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2022-03-17/history-2-seeds-vs-15-seeds-march-madness

[MU82]

Trying to decide who will score most in this one -- Kam, TK, O-Max or Oso.

I think I'll go with Oso getting a season-high 20 points (or maybe even besting his career high, 22). Kolek will get double-digit assists, largely because nobody will be able to stop Oso's dunks, layups and short hooks.

[Skatastrophy]

Trying to decide who will score most in this one -- Kam, TK, O-Max or Oso.

I think I'll go with Oso getting a season-high 20 points (or maybe even besting his career high, 22). Kolek will get double-digit assists, largely because nobody will be able to stop Oso's dunks, layups and short hooks.

Sean Jones could eat them alive with his speed. Same with Stevie.

[willie warrior]

Pick and roll all day long. And this may be Ben's big break out game.

He sure needs one. Hasn't done squat in quite a while

[RJax55]

My only concern is Vermont plays zone and we play really dumb against it.  Their only hope is to muck it up, get hot from 3, and hope to pull out a close one.

MU is difficult to zone because Oso and Kolek are such good passers and the rest of our teams moves well without the ball. When teams have gone zone against us, Kolek has been going right to the middle. Now, he's at the top of the key with a variety of options. And, Vermont doesn't have the size to keep the ball out of the middle. Please Vermont, go zone.

[RJax55]

Pick and roll all day long. And this may be Ben's big break out game.

I don't see Ben playing a lot of minutes in this game. I would expect MU to go small if Oso were to get in foul trouble.