Vermont Catamounts
America East (25-7, 15-1)
Seed: #7
West Region
Big Wins:
11/13 at Boston College (77-63), 12/28 at Central Connecticut State (55-48),
2/11 at Albany (67-63)
Bad Losses:
12/1 at Towson (54-67), 12/17 Harvard (76-84), 1/18 Maine (64-69)
Coach:
Mike Lonergan
Probable
Starters:
Mike Trimboli,
Sophomore, Guard, 16.1 ppg, 4.8 apg, 1.8 spg
Kyle Cieplicki,
Junior, Guard, 7.4 ppg, 2.7 apg
Marqus Blakely,
Freshman, Forward, 5.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Chris Holm,
Senior, Forward, 10.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 1.0 bpg
Martin Klimes,
Senior, Center, 6.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Key
Roleplayers:
Nick Vier,
Freshman, Guard, 2.1 ppg, 1.5 apg
Joe Trapani,
Freshman, Forward, 11.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg
Colin McIntosh,
Sophomore, Forward, 8.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg
Timothy McCrory,
Junior, Forward, 2.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg
Why They Can
Surprise:
It is not North
Carolina, Connecticut or Florida that leads the nation in rebounding margin,
it is the Catamounts of Vermont. And that is mostly due to the double-double
machine that is 6-11 senior Chris Holm. Holm will rarely have a huge scoring
game, but will get the easy buckets under the basket.
Fellow senior
Martin Klimes will do the dirty work under the basket. Colin McIntosh has
been a great asset off the bench and the 6-8 sophomore can step outside and
hit the jumper. However, it is freshman Marquis Blakely who may prove to be
the wildcard for Vermont. After hardly seeing any minutes early in the
campaign, Blakely proved that he could be a big-time scorer and rebounder
from the small forward spot.
Why They Can
Disappoint:
Freshman Joe
Trapani reeled off six 20-point games before going down with an injury on
January 18th. Nearly a month later the 6-7 forward started his
slow return to game shape. Not counting the game he got hurt in, Vermont did
not lose a game during the stretch Trapani was sidelined. The team did not
have much time to get used to Trapani being back in the lineup and chemistry
and rhythm problems have arisen with his return. Yet, if at full strength,
Vermont is a much better and deeper team with Trapani on the floor. The
Catamounts are not the best shooting team around either, especially at the
free-throw line. The starting frontcourt of Holm and Klimes both shoot under
52% from the charity stripe.
Who To
Watch:
Point guard
Mike Trimboli is who Vermont wants to take the free-throws. The 6-1
sophomore shoots over 83% from the line and is the go-to-scorer for Coach
Mike Lonergen. Trimboli will get the headlines, but Kyle Cieplicki holds the
team together. The 6-4 junior is a shutdown defender and the prototypical
‘glue guy.’ While Cieplicki rarely does a lot of scoring, he has the ability
to hit the three-ball if the opposing defense forgets about him.
By the
Numbers:
Scoring
Offense: 70.4 (139th in nation, 1st in conference)
Scoring
Defense: 65.0 (82, 5)
Field-Goal
Percentage: 45.2 (132, 2)
Field-Goal
Defense: 40.7 (39, 1)
Free-Throw
Percentage: 67.1 (217, 7)
Rebound Margin:
9.8 (1, 1)
Assists Per
Game: 13.4 (172, 1)
Turnovers Per
Game: 15.9 (253, 9)
Joel’s
Bracket Says: Second Round loss to DePaul
▪
NIT
Capsules and Coverage
