Boston Gets the Cup

Boston wins Lord Stanley's cup in Vancouver over the Canucks, thanks to the stalwart goal keeping of Tim Thomas, former University of Vermont player. The home team won each game until vital game 7 when Boston took it 3-0. Enjoy your time with the cup boys. Mr. Thomas, I expect to hear about Lord Stanley taking a trip to Burlington!

College Hoops Round Up

The UVM men's basketball team will not be dancing in the big dance this year. They took a bad defeat from .500 NY-Stony Brook 69-47. They were undone by good defense by Stony Brook, injuries to important players and poor shooting.

The Vermont men are going to the NIT by virtue of their regular season championship. They will find out who they play Sunday night. Hopefully by then they will have their momentum back.

Their loss in the America East tourney illustrates how important it is to have some good flow going into the post season. Of our three local teams, two have good flow, Kansas and especially Kansas State, who has been playing very well. Missouri? Not so much. The loss to Kansas in Columbia was a tough one, the Tigers couldn't shoot a lick in that game. 28%? Two three point goals the whole game? Mizzou stayed close by dint of Kansas turnovers and making most of their foul shots. Still it had to be a bit of a demoralizing loss for the Tigers. That, coupled with the loss to Nebraska in Lincoln gives negative momentum for MU. Also they have no bye in the Big 12 Tournament.

Kansas State has been winning consistently for about a month now, and is playing its best basketball. Kansas is winning ugly, has point guard and chemistry problems, but as long as the Morris twins and Robinson keep up their strong inside work, Kansas will be tough to beat. The Jayhawks are likely a #1 seed in some region or another. Both KU and K State have byes in the Big 12 tourney so they will be less worn out if they go all the way to the finals.

March Madness (copyright NCAA) is here!

UVM Men Win America East Regular Season

The University of Vermont men's team beat the University of Maine to go to 22-5 and win the regular season America East title. A pretty big accomplishment, but there is still more work to do. The Catamounts must win the America East post season tourney for a seat at the Big Dance.

Congrats and Go Vermont!

Freeps file shot of Matt Glass against New Hampshire earlier this season.

Vermont Loses 84-66

Just too much...too much Skylar Diggins for one. She had 31 points and 7 steals for the Irish. It really looked like the legs wore out on the Lady Cats, who only play 6-7 deep. The Irish went 10 deep on their bench and this makes a difference in a one-and-done tournament. Still, a great effort, and it seems to me, that like the men, we have something to look forward to next year.

Not Looking Good for Lady Cats Right Now

Apparently UVM ran out to a 20-10 score with the lead, but Notre Dame has shown their quicker hands and faster team speed, and caused the Lady Catamounts to have heaps of turnovers. The trend has continued into the second half and now fouls are starting to stack up. A very long hill to climb with about 10 minutes left in the game.

Yes, I Hope So Too

From the comments section of the Burlington Free Press, by "jonhemlock"

written by Al Lesar of the South Bend Tribune: (I hope he eats these words.) BELOW

Another concern might be the level of play. The talent gap between the Irish and Cleveland State was wide. The chasm between Notre Dame and Tuesday’s foe, 10th-seeded Vermont, is equally large.

The score shouldn’t be close.

Two Vermont star players - Courtnay Pilypaitis and May Kotsopoulos - wouldn’t start at Notre Dame, but could play in the Irish rotation. Can’t say that about any other Catamounts.

It’s been 17 years that women’s basketball has had the 64-team field. In that time, No. 1 seeds are 67-1 against No. 16 - the only loss being Harvard’s upset of Stanford in 1998. Likewise, No. 2 seeds are 68-0 against No. 15.

The closest game for a Nos. 1 or 2 seed last weekend was Notre Dame’s 28-point win. The average margin of victory for the top seeds was 37 points, and 32 for No. 2s.

...uncooked, without sauce.

Tip is at 6:16 pm central time.

"...Kansas City, goin' to Kansas City..."

NCAA Women: 32 Going to 16 Over Next Two Days

Well, we are pretty darned excited here at "You're Looking Live" as the old alma mater, the University of Vermont won their first round game against 7 seed Wisconsin and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA women's tourney. If the Lady Cats can beat #2 seed Notre Dame, they will be in the Sweet 16 and--get this folks--come out to Kansas City to play!!!! (Sorry, like I say, kind of excited.) In the Sprint Center, even!!! (Sorry, italics are better than bold or caps, right?)

While, UConn, Stanford, and Tennessee are a step (or several, in the case of UConn) ahead of much of women's college basketball, there has developed a deep enough pool of talent that there are now more upsets in the tournament then ever before. Two 11 seeds (Arkansas Little Rock, San Diego State), a 10 seed (Vermont), and a 12 seed (Green Bay) won over the weekend. While I would doubt that we'll see any of these teams in San Antonio April 6th, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see one of them in a Sweet 16 venue near you. March is getting Mad on the distaff side, too.

From The Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words Department

(Burlington Free Press)

(Kansas City Star)

The A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words Department

(Burlington Free Press)

Dance Partner Is An Old Foe

The University of Vermont men's basketball team is seeded 16th and will go to Buffalo and play Syracuse.

:::face palm:::

One good thing for this mid-western UVM fan: It is not Kansas.

Another good thing: not traveling across the country as we have sometimes had to in the past.

One bad thing...do ya really think we could sneak up on Syracuse again?

Women's brackets out tomorrow at 7 pm eastern.

Third Time is the Charm: UVM Women Beat Hartford

OK, this is the sort of game it was:

UVM-----35 20 55

Hartford 17 33 50

A game of two halves. Vermont had large double digit leads in the first half and beginning of the second half, but Hartford, like any good team, had a spurt in 'em. A very good spurt, that got them within 3 with 2:15 left in the game. After that, the game looked like a normal game, except for Vermont's nerve racking free throw shooting. The team stats look pretty even in the end, but I bet to watch, this looked like two, no, make it three different basketball games. Vermont, then, is for sure, dancing in the NCAAs on the ladies side too.

TEAM STATS SUMMARY

--------------------------------------------

Points:----------------55-----------------------50

Field Goals:-----------19-59 (32.2%)--------18-47 (38.3%)

Free Throws:---------11-20 (55.0%)--------11-13 (84.6%)

3-pointers:------------6-14 (42.9%)---------3-15 (20.0%)

Rebounds (Off):-------36 (15)---------------30 (4)

Assists:----------- -----7----------------------9

Steals:-----------------4----------------------1

Blocks:-----------------3---------------------11

Turnovers:------------0---------------------0

Personal Fouls:-------12--------------------15

The Fly in Vermont's Ointment

The University of Vermont men's basketball team must shoot better from the free throw line. You will not have a chance against better competition if you make only 23 out of 35 free throw attempts (65.7%)

This business with free throws is crazy. How can you shoot 8/14 (57.1%) from the 3 point line and only 65.7% from the foul line? Coaches must want to pull out their hair.

Right this minute, I bet Kansas State's Denis Clemente is clanking a free throw...

Vermont Gets to Dance!

Patrick Gym--enter at your own risk! (Burlington Free Press)

Vermont gets to go dancing again. UVM overcame a game Boston University team for an 83-70 victory. Marqus Blakely had 24 points and 18 rebounds and definitely led the game in smiles. UVM never was behind in the game, leading by as many as 12 points, but BU went on a 15-4 run to bring the score to 54-53 UVM with 10:20 left. Then UVM went on a run too, to make it 60-53 with 5:48 to go. That number of points wasn't impressive, but not letting BU score in almost 5 minutes made the difference. BU never got closer than 4 points after that. Vermont made most of its free throws in the last minutes and completed the win. Ah, it's feels good!

Marqus Blakely at work. He had a monster in-yer-face jam in the second half that set the place on fire! (Burlington Free Press)

It was a joy to watch Blakely--it seemed he was always smiling--of course the numbers on the score board helped... (Burlington Free Press)

Evan Fjeld contributed 9 points and 6 rebounds, playing just four days after his mother died of cancer. He gave critical minutes in the second half playing well with four fouls to break BU's run. (Burlington Free Press)

UVM Men in Finals Too--Play BU at Home

Thou shalt not pass! or shoot! (Burlington Free Press photo)

After playing another ugly basketball game with the University of New Hampshire (final score 57-38), the Vermont men will play in the America East finals against #4 seed Boston University. UVM has beat BU twice already this season--hopefully they have that third win in them.

With the story in the Freeps was reader comments on going to the NCAA tournament. One comment did not think going to the Big Dance was that much of a Big Deal, to get bounced out by some basketball power (Oh, not KU again) in the first round. One writer proposed that the National Invitational Tournament would be a better choice for midmajors like UVM.

Very interesting conversation--however, I think if you were to ask the players, they would rather win a conference championship and go to the NCAAs. If I were in their shoes that is what I would say--to be a winner in your neighborhood, and then go and play in the tourney that features other conference winners and the best of the best? Even if I was UVM, and I checked my bracket and found Duke, Kansas State, Kansas or Syracuse there, I would still say, "This is the place to be."

UVM Women in America East Finals

UVM's May Kotsopoulos puts up a shot against BU (Burlington Free Press photo)

The University of Vermont women's basketball team will play ranked Hartford in the America East conference finals at Hartford Saturday March 13. The two teams have already played twice, with Hartford winning both times, 38-36 (how painful must this game have been to watch?) in Burlington and 61-51 at Hartford. This should be a close and interesting game, unless UVM does whatever they tried at Patrick Gym again...

To get there, UVM beat Boston University 69-52 on Sunday. The game featured a balanced attack with contributions from several players. Go Cats!

March Madness Is Just Getting Started!

The America East Conference tournament is set to start late this week, with the championship games for both the men and women on March 13th. The men's game will be on "The Deuce" (aka EPSN2) at 1100 central time. Both Vermont men and women are seeded second. Winner gets to go to the NCAA tournament and upset some major program.

GO CATS!!!!!!

Sorry just broke out in alma mater rooting...

UVM quick update

Lady Catamounts just took their first loss against undefeated Boston University Monday night. There are two undefeated in conference play teams in American East, Hartford and Boston U., each 5-0, with UVM right behind at 4-1.

The UVM men are undefeated in conference play with a record of 4-0. They are playing Hartford tonight--leading by 9 at the half. (Oh, the wonders of the interwebs!)

UVM women's hockey is laboring along at 6-16-1 over all.

UVM men's hockey is 11-7-2 overall and in the top 20.

You may think this is a waste of time, but the basketball men are always hanging around the top of the America East standings and a threat to dance in March, the basketball women are ranked right now, and men's hockey was in the Frozen Four last year, losing in the championship game.