Because I was Curious about Vermont

So I'd heard varying reports about Vermont and how good they are this year. They didn't make it much of a game against UConn (though, away, the 2nd game of the season, that's no big surprise), but that they've won every other game they've played, so at 6-1 they're decent. Still, we've got folks saying they're legitimately worried, and others saying it should be a slaughterfest.



So I took a look at their boxscores to see if I could pull anything useful:



Their go-to guy is Fjeld - 6'8, 215 Senior at 21 and 7 a game, with the most minutes per at just over 30. He also gets 3 blocks a game (but is the only one on the team doing any blocking).



Their other two consistent scorers are 5'8 Senior named Accaoui with 13 pts per in 24 mins and Glass, another 6'8 forward at 11 and 5 in 24 minutes. For a 5'8 kid to be getting that kind of time, he's gotta be fast. However, you'd expect a better ball distributor. He averages under 2 assists a game.



Good news is, if we're still concerned about our post-defense (which, to be honest, I'm not - we're doubling down extremely well of late), neither of their scoring big-men look to be power-guys, Fjeld is the only guy to average 6 FTA's a game, and Glass averages less than one trip to the stripe per game.



They've got one other guy, Bald, a 6'4 kid who at least contributes offensively, at 7 pts per game. He plays about 24 mins as well.



Interestingly, they've got a freshman kid, Voelkel, who's 6'6 and 210, and is also in on average 30 minutes a game, but is no real kind of offensive threat at 4 points a game. He FILLS the stat sheet everywhere else, though. He's a 10-a-game rebounder, gets 5.3 assists a game, and 1.4 steals. Good thing he can't shoot, or he'd be a monster.



The rest of the team are role players. Only one other kid above 20 mins per, a backup guard, 5'11, who doesn't do much. Averages 3.3 and under 2 assists.



3 other players get minutes in the teens, and all score around 3 a game. Then there are a few 5 min per scrub time players.



I'm less concerned after looking through their stats. They're a decent shooting team, hovering around 50%, but they're also not too big into the 3-ball. Only their short guard shoots more than 1 a game, he takes around 4, but looks like he only shoots in the 30's from outside. Not that big a threat.



They're not a transition team, having scored only around 6 fastbreak points a game, even against the weaker teams. In fact, from the stats it looks like they got sucked into a speed game with UConn, which was their best fastbreak game so far at 15 points, but they got broken for 25 (of UConn's 89) points, so it looks like speed doesn't favor them.



The first 4 games of the season they didn't take particularly good care of the ball at 20 to's per game; the last 3 however they've dropped that neatly around 10. Could speak to the lack of pressure from the lesser opponents they've played recently, but it does look like a lockdown game will cause them to give up the ball. Couple that with the fact that they've only got one guy getting more than one steal per game, they really aren't a pressure defense either.



They don't appear to have one answer for Jimmer, so they'll either try the double-Jimmer method and get eaten alive playing 3 on 4, or let him be a hero on his home floor.



In all, I'm increasingly less concerned. I think it would be wise for Rose to rest up his starters as early as he feels comfortable doing so (excepting Jimmer, of course, that kid's gonna get more court time than a drunken Ute fan who just broke parole), to try and keep the starters a bit more fresh for Arizona.



Should be a fun game! I'm excited for Wednesday night!

I just wish it wasn't on CBS-C as now I have to find somewhere to watch the game. Great analysis-thanks. I think I get nervous about every game. I wouldn't have done well as a coach for that very reason.

EM_Puma wrote:
I just wish it wasn't on CBS-C as now I have to find somewhere to watch the game. Great analysis-thanks. I think I get nervous about every game. I wouldn't have done well as a coach for that very reason.

I just cancelled my Dish package a few weeks ago that gave me CBS-C :angry:



Hoping my cougar brethren pull through and get a stream of the game up

GolfDiveNCougs wrote:
Their go-to guy is Fjeld - 6'8, 215 Senior at 21 and 7 a game, with the most minutes per at just over 30. He also gets 3 blocks a game (but is the only one on the team doing any blocking).



Their other two consistent scorers are 5'8 Senior named Accaoui with 13 pts per in 24 mins and Glass, another 6'8 forward at 11 and 5 in 24 minutes. For a 5'8 kid to be getting that kind of time, he's gotta be fast. However, you'd expect a better ball distributor. He averages under 2 assists a game.



I'm less concerned after looking through their stats. They're a decent shooting team, hovering around 50%, but they're also not too big into the 3-ball. Only their short guard shoots more than 1 a game, he takes around 4, but looks like he only shoots in the 30's from outside. Not that big a threat.

"Vermont is led by 6-8 senior forward Evan Fjeld, who averages 20.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The preseason America East All-Conference player shoots an impressive 61 percent from the field.



5-8 reserve point guard Joey Accaoui comes off the bench and fills it up. He’s the second leading scorer averaging 13.3 points per game while shooting 41 percent from the three-point line.



Forward Matt Glass is Vermont’s best three-point shooter averaging 57 percent. The 6-8 forward is also the third-leading scorer for the Catamounts averaging 11 points per game...



The Catamounts are a good shooting team, making 49.5 percent of their shots from the floor and hitting 42 percent from the three-point line. They are also a solid rebounding team, out rebounding their opponents by six boards per game."



http://deepshadesofblue.com/byu-had-better-focus-on-vermont" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;







Another interesting match-up for this game: T.J. Fredette Vs. The Crowd.

He's going to be performing at halftime. Word on the street is that he'll be debuting a new rap song about himself and his brother Jimmer.

Oh, Mars, you just get so argumentative sometimes. Read what I said. Yeah, their big scorer shoots a good percentage. Never said he didn't. Takes an average of around 13 shots, makes and average of around 8. The rest he gets from 4ish for 6ish freethrows. That's why I said our double down low defense would be useful.



Forgive my eyeball math faux pas regarding the short kid's 3 pt percentage. The 7 box scores I looked at showed him o'fer-ing a couple games, one-for-three in another, and one big shooting game (5/10 3s) against 2-win 5-loss Dartmouth, who, from the stats look like they were selling out the perimeter d to try to protect the key. I just estimated that he shoots in the 30s, and thanks to your scrutiny, if we remove the outlier, I'd say that's about right. If you're inferring we shouldn't leave him wide, I agree. However, with a hand in his face (from one of our guards 6 to 10 inches taller than he is), he's DEFINITELY not 5/10 prolific.



Happy birthday the other kid shoots 57% from 3. He averages one shot a game! That means on average, one of his 3's falls every other game. I'm not worried.



Interesting note on rebounding, I agree, that ought be an emphasis for our boys tomorrow. I didn't take the time to compare rebounding #s to their other opponents. Now that you mention it, tho, they were out rebounded 44 to 30 against UConn, which admittedly, against UConn wouldn't be too bad, but without looking, I can't see the likes of Quinnipiac, Dartmouth, and NJ Institute of Technology effectively throwing many bigs at the boards. I'd not be worried about our bigs (to say nothing of CA, KC and JE) collecting plenty enough rebounds.



Not always what the numbers are, but what they MEAN, which is why I wanted to actually see the box-scores.



Unrelated, sadly, I'm afraid you may be correct regarding the AZ game. That's a lot of travel this week to feel like they'll be super sharp against AZ, and on a neutral, even if it IS a home crowd.

Oh. My apologies that I saw affront where there was none. It just seemed from your bolded portions (that, admittedly, were precise, where my analysis wasn't), that it was your intent to correct. I'll not jump to the same conclusion next time.

"In all, I'm increasingly less concerned."



Very interesting turn of phrase. I'd have to agree that I'm decreasingly more concerned. :D



I'll be DVR-ing the game and watching later. I'm really looking forward to this one. I've seen what kind of team this can be when the opponent's defense concentrates on Jimmer, so I'm optimistic about the outcome of the game. It would be great, however, if Jimmer could have an Arizona-like game there.

Well, Todd Christensen I ain't...

;)

I also heard on ksl or one of the AM radio statison that Vermont is one of the worst teams in taking care of the ball. They have one of the highest turnover margins in the NCAA and the Cougars are top 15 in turnover margin and steals.



We will eat them in transition if they turnover the ball AT ALL. That's the type of game we'll be trying to play. I'd say guard the perimeter (so that one guy can't make his one shot 60% of the time), make them drive and a number of those will end up as loose balls and quick layups.