John Becker and Vermont are so consistent that even death and taxes have begun to quiver. Year after year, teams challenge the Catamounts, but can’t take the crowd off their head.
The America East has its highest KenPom ranking since 2005, but it’s still lonely at the top on the banks of Lake Champlain, where Vermont won the regular-season title by four games.
For the first time in a long time, the America East’s identity is pace, with some of the fastest teams in the country controlling the tempo. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, am I right?
Bracket
Schedule
Note: All times listed Eastern.
Quarterfinals (Saturday, March 9), ESPN+
Game 1: (8) Albany at (1) Vermont, 3 p.m.
Game 2: (5) Binghamton at (5) New Hampshire, 3 p.m.
Game 3: (6) Maine at (3) Bryant 2 p.m.
Game 4: (7) UMBC at (2) UMass Lowell, 3 p.m.
Semifinals (Tuesday, March 12), ESPN+
Game 5: Lowest remaining seed at Highest remaining seed, TBA
Game 6: Third highest remaining seed at Second highest remaining seed, TBA
Championship Game (Saturday, March 16), ESPN2
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, at home of higher seed, 11 a.m.
The Favorite
Vermont (25-6, 15-1) enters the America East Tournament with home-court advantage once again. Since a shocking upset loss in early February to bottom-feeding NJIT, the Catamounts won seven in a row to close out the regular season.
John Becker is looking to take Vermont back to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year, but this time, on the strength of its defense.
“We have been elite defensively,” Becker told Mid-Major Madness. “This is maybe my best defensive team, led by Shamir Bogues and Ileri Ayo-Faleye.”
KenPom would agree with his assessment, as this year’s Catamounts team is the highest ranking defense of the Becker era, 59th nationally. In America East play, Vermont had a defensive rating of 91.0, over six points per 100 possessions better than anybody else in the conference.
In the fastest league in college basketball, UVM is the exception, slowing games down and winning with discipline and defense.
The aforementioned Bogues and Ayo-Faleye are the keys to the defense, but Vermont also has gotten timely scoring all year from TJ Long and Aaron Deloney. Against UMass Lowell last Saturday, Deloney, a fifth-year senior, poured in a career-high 33 points, willing the Catamounts to a victory.
Over the previous two America East Tournaments, Vermont has won all six of its games (all six played at…
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