UVM Rolls Past Albany, Maine Squeezes By Binghamton

Vermont nearly gained a share of first place. Maine rallied on the road from as many as 20 points down to beat Binghamton by 3 points. Vermont, also playing in New York, jumped out of the gate to another slow start before shutting the door in the second half beyond a huge night from Brandon Bald. He scored a career-high 20 points, including a thunderous jam late in the second half (expect a video soon).

The win left the standings in America East like this:

Maine: 8-1
Vermont: 7-2
Boston University: 5-4
Hartford: 4-4
Albany: 4-5
Stony Brook: 3-5
New Hampshire: 3-6
Binghamton: 3-6
UMBC: 2-6

If Vermont and Maine take care of business over the next several games, February 16th looms as large a date on the Catamounts calender as any, when they take a trip up to Orono to face the Black Bears.

As a Catamount fan, you have to like your team's chances this season. Sure, Maine spanked them in Burlington. But the Cats have shown that they take care of business against teams that they should beat. Out of their five losses this season, only the Boston University loss on the road is even somewhat questionable. And when you take care of business against the teams you should beat, it bodes well for the America East Conference tournament.

On a side note, UNH's Tyrone Conley busted out for 26 points in their victory over Boston University. UVM hopes Conley doesn't stay hot when he comes home to Burlington Monday night.

Catamounts a #14 Seed In Latest Projections

RealTimeRPI.com does things a little less conventionally than ESPN. While you can expect ESPN's Joe Lunardi (regarded as "THE" Bracketoligist) to completely neglect the truest of mid-major conferences when it comes to his NCAA tournament projections, RealTImeRPI.com uses the RPI (Ratings Per Index) system to determine their own projections. Ratings Per Index is a system determined upon three things: your record, your opponents' record, and your opponents' opponents' record. Starting in 2004, more weight was given to road victories and less weight to home victories. The website also uses a Strength of Schedule model (SOS) to help determine their bracket predictions. In a way SOS and RPI reflect the same things: whether a team has played a competitive schedule or not. RPI takes into account how many of those games the team has actually won.

Lunardi appears to merely shoot a glance at who is in first place in a conference like America East, and then he has them assume the position of a 15 or 16 seed, ostensibly depending on how he feels that week. This method should not be discounted -- the NCAA tournament committee does much of the same thing on selection Sunday (for example, how did Vermont garner a 16 seed last year? How?? Many teams rated higher than them did not have a road victory against a power conference team). This is not to say Lunardi, and others like him, disregard RPI and SOS in making their bracket, but it seems like they use it only for the top 12 or 13 seeds in each region, knowing that a small population of people (like Cats fans) actually nitpick about the 14-16 seeds.

Regardless, it was nice to see the Catamounts get some respect, as RealTimeRPI projected them as a 14 seed in their latest bracket projections. The 14 seed is not only a desirable spot to be ranked (it was a #13 seed they drew when they shocked Syracuse in 2005, but hopefully I don't need to remind you), but it also means RealTImeRPI is projecting the Cats as the America East conference champions, despite being one game behind Maine in the standings.

Of course, Joe Lunardi has Maine as a 16 seed, with Vermont nowhere to be found in his latest bracket.

UVM Blasts Hartford, Albany Next

UVM had another impressive win again Hartford, their 10th in a row against the Hawks. The 72-51 win was UVM's third in a row since losing to Maine at home. The win improved Vermont to 5-2 in America East play. Maine beat UNH to improve to 6-1 in the conference. It seems the two teams are headed for a two horse race for the regular season America East crown, barring Boston University (5-3) playing more consistent basketball. The rest of America East seems to be supremely mediocre.

Against Hartford, Evan Fjeld again led the way in the scoring department with 16 points, while Brian Voelkel did his usual impressive work on the glass with 10 boards, matching his average.

Vermont fans have to love the contributions they are seeing from freshmen Luke Apfeld, Sandro Carissimo and Voelkel. All three have stepped up and provided serious minutes for the Catamounts. Carissimo started his third straight game in a row, and gave a steady presence at the point guard position. His starting allows Joey Accaoui to come off the bench, a role he seems more comfortable in. Or, at least, Coach Lonergan seems more comfortable with him coming off the bench.

Vermont travels to Albany on Saturday. They beat the Great Danes 60-48 earlier in the season, but road games are obviously tougher than home games. Logan Aronhalt and Tim Ambrose are two guards who create matchup problems for UVM. Expect a combination of Sandro Carissimo, Joey Accaoui, Brandon Bald, and Simeon Marsalis to split time on those two, who both average over 14 points a game. Vermont should have an advantage inside and on the boards. Look for them to exploit underclassmen Blake Metcalf (sophomore), John Puk (freshman), and Luke Devlin (freshman) down low to get the W at SEFCU this Saturday.

Blakey Traded to Iowa Energy

Marqus Blakely was traded by the Bakersfield Jam to the Iowa Energy for a future first-round pick on Monday. The Jam likely made the move because they have a bevy of wing players in their lineup.

It is universally acknowledged by scouts that Blakely has a huge upside. BasketballProspectus.com recently highlighted him as an efficient star who has a future in the NBA (article: ). The only downsides to Blakely's game have been apparent for a long time: he struggles shooting the ball from range, and at only 6'5", it's hard to imagine him playing power forward in the NBA. On the other hand, at some point people need to realize that someone who dominates at every level he has played at (averaging 13.0 ppg and 6.1 rpg in his first D-League season thus far), particularly at the defensive end of the floor (1.7 steals a game, just under 1 block per game), deserves a chance. His phenomenal athleticism brings a lot to the table. And most fans know Marqus doesn't have bad ups either. Not bad at all.

The real question is, can somebody find me that Iowa Energy Blakely jersey?

Bye, Bye, Binghamton

Binghamton has officially shown their true colors. UVM won 70-52 against the Bearcats, who lost their fourth straight game after starting conference play in America East 3-0. The good Cats, the Catamounts, won to improve to 5-2 in America East and 14-5 overall.

Vermont won doing what has become traditional fashion: they started off slow and finished strong. They went into halftime with a 31-27 lead, relinquished the lead at 35-37, and then poured it on to win by 18 points. The scoring was again exceptionally balanced: Freshman Luke Apfeld had a huge game, scoring a career-high 13 points, Brandon Bald matched that 13, and the usual suspects, Evan Fjeld and Joey Accaoui, added 12 and 11, respectively.

Two seasons ago, I couldn't stand the Bearcats. They procured America East's lonely tournament bid, despite matching UVM's 13-3 conference record. They did it on the strength of transfer D.J. Rivera and the swagger of point guard Cameron "Tiki" Mayben. The program suffered under the intense scrutiny of the media while facing NCAA recruiting and academic violations the following summer. While not a whole lot became of those allegations, the program was in shambles. Despite this, Binghamton persevered to a respectable 8-8 conference record in the 2009-2010 season only to be left out of the conference tournament in a last-minute decision. Ever since, I have felt awfully bad for the Binghamton Bearcats.

It is an interesting dilemma that faces the college basketball media conglomerate: is it worth destroying a small school's reputation based on NCAA allegations? Let's face it, that Binghamton team got way more negative press coverage than it could ever have gotten positive press coverage, barring a T.J. Sorrentine-like moment. Or is it Binghamton's fault? Is this a dilemma that faces mid-major programs across the country? Clearly, some crooked things happened behind the scenes in Binghamton. Clearly, the infractions were not nearly as bad as they were initially thought to be. Is it worth it, to have North Carolina-sized dreams about your basketball program, when you play in a conference like America East? Can it really aid your college's reputation if your basketball team is good enough?

As a serious college basketball fan, this is a tough subject to think about. What is the role that college sports should have in American society? Because as it stands, that role seems far too vast. A school's entire reputation can be based on their sports teams. And that's a lot of pressure on a bunch of 20 year-olds.

UVM Beats UNH in Catfight

Coach Mike Lonergan needs to find a way to get his team to perform in the first half. Playing an overmatched and beat-up UNH squad, UVM again needed a superb second half to knock off UNH 61-53. The win moves Vermont to 4-2 and drops New Hampshire to 1-5 in conference, something that is sure to make nearly every Vermonter smile (if you wondering about the "nearly," see "The One That Got Away," one blog entry prior. Tyrone Conley is probably not smiling).

Concerns
-It's hard to not notice the discrepancy between UVM's first and second half play. In Vermont's last five wins, they have either trailed or led by less than two points at the half. In those five wins, their average margin of victory is 14. While they still won these games, it seems like the Cats need to get into the habit of putting lesser teams away early. If not for their sucks, for our sake! Cheering for second half teams is liable to take years off of your life. Fair warning.

-UVM shot an anemic 12-21 from the free throw line against UNH. Joey Accaoui, who had missed three free throws all season coming into the game, was 3-6 from the line. While the Cats still shoot a decent 67% (5th in America East) at the line, this is a statistic that must be improved before the conference tournament. It would be nice for someone like Accaoui to emerge as a late game cooler -- someone who can put the game on ice shooting free throws.

-While any road win is a good win, UNH was missing leading rebounder Dane Diliegro and go-to scorer Alvin Abreu. The Wildcats still hung in the game the entire first half, and made small runs in the second half. The students at UNH are still not back from break, so the gym in Durham was not to be confused with a different gym in North Carolina (as if it ever is). This is a game you'd like to see the Cats put away early and often.

Positives
-Sandro Carrisimo had the best game of his freshman year since the opening game against Siena. He dropped 12 points in his first career start. This is nice to see since it reiterates the trend of different players stepping up to be the supplementary scorer to Evan Fjeld and Accaoui. Fjeld, who has not scored in double figures only twice this season, had 10 points, while Accaoui had 13.

-Banged-up or not, UNH was held to 30% from the field, which is always a good sign for the Cats.

-UVM out-rebounded UNH 35-20, another trend that seems to continue. Again, Diliegro, UNH's leading rebounder was not in the game, but you gotta take what you can get. And if UVM keeps getting rebounds, we'll take it.

All in all, a W is a W.

The One That Got Away

(Tyrone Conley, #21 in Center)


The first time I saw Tyrone Conley play basketball, he wasn’t even playing basketball. I attended the 2005 Vermont Senior All-Star Game in Windsor, VT. Unbeknownst to me and my four fellow friends, there was a dunk contest at halftime. About three players who were seniors (this is high school, of course) would compete in the dunk contest, as would some sophomore kid named Tyrone Conley, who was lacing up his shoes on the sideline. The crowd buzzed a little – I mean, you don’t just invite a sophomore to a senior dunk contest if he can’t dunk like crazy, right? Tell me you would not just invite some kid who can sort of throw it down one out of ten times if he gets the right “oop,” -- you wouldn’t do that, right? But this is Vermont, remember, so you never know.
The following is probably grossly exaggerated, but it is exactly how I remember Conley’s first dunk: He stood near the half court line on the left side of the hoop. He appeared to be around 6’1’’, and certainly no taller than 6’3’’. He wore an oversized black t-shirt with no writing on it, and a pair of silver shorts. His shoes were black. Conley started his run up the left side of the court. He approached it like he knew what he was doing. And then, all of the sudden he elevated from the second block of the foul line off of two feet. He jumped like he knew what he was doing. He pointed the ball at the rim with two hands, brought it below his waist, and then threw the ball through the rim like those of us whom gravity actually applies to could only dream of. He dunked like he knew what he was doing.
I don’t remember much that happened after that. Mostly because I was black-out-intoxicated off of second-hand dunking (a first time occurrence for me. Seriously, be careful of operating vehicles and heavy machinery if, and when, this happens to you. And it will happen to you). Apparently, I jumped out of my seat and collapsed on the bleachers in a mess of tears, laughing, and hunger to see such a supernatural feat happen again. The drive home was fast and erratic. I’m not sure why I was driving. Was I driving? My friends claim I was driving.
In search of such an adrenaline rush, I attended two of Conley’s games during his junior season of high school (my senior year). In the first one, he and his Burlington Seahorses played undefeated Spaulding High School (the defending state champions) and he scored 24 points – in the first half. He ended up with 36, and Burlington blew out Spaulding by at least twenty (On a side note, I bought a 50-50 raffle ticket, looked the man in the face and said, “I will win this raffle.” I will be damned if I didn’t walk back down there ten minutes later to collect my 70 bucks from that same dude). The rematch of these two teams happened in the state championship at Patrick Gymnasium. We sat behind the bench and watched Conley lead his team to a state championship.
Tyrone and my honeymoon ended a year later, when it was announced that he would attend UVM’s “rival” UNH (rival in quotation because we always seem to come out on top in basketball) I was beside myself. The potential storyline just seemed so perfect: hometown kid, joins the UVM Catamounts, and leads us to another NCAA tournament. Instead, I was left wondering what might have been. I even e-mailed the UVM coaching staff, wondering how we let Conley get away. They claimed that they needed scholarships for big men since they already had a bevy of guards (a fair point). And just like that, Conley the Seahorse became a Wildcat instead of a Catamount.
So when the Cats travel to Durham, NH tonight, I will be cheering for UVM, against UNH, and for Tyrone Conley to succeed against other teams.