America East Basketball: A Look at the Vermont Catamounts

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For a team that has dominated a league the way that the Vermont Catamounts have done, you do not rebuild, instead, you reload. That is what head coach John Becker seems to have done this offseason. The defending regular season and postseason champions have made seven additions to the program for the coming year. Three by way of transfer and four recruits. The success of the program gives coach Becker an advantage in that he can now look for talent not only in the US but also in different countries. The brand is known as Vermont basketball and it is paying off in a big way.

The three transfers that are heading to Burlington, VT. are, Ileri Ayo-Faleye a 6-8 forward who spent two years at URI. Last season was a bit of a lost year for Faleye as he only appeared in eight games for the Rams. He did register two block shots in a game vs Providence. The coach thinks he may end up as the best athlete on the team. Faleye is being looked at as an inside option on offense and a rim protector on defense. Dylan Penn is a 6-3 guard who played four years at Bellarmine in the Athletic Sun Conference. Penn helped the team to capture the ASUN tournament and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that went with it. Penn was the MVP of the postseason as well as an All-League selection. During the regular season, he averaged 16.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and five assists. Becker likes Penn’s ability to finish around the rim. Matt Veretto is a 6-8 forward who last played for Delaware in the 2018-19 season. He averaged 6.4 points and 2.8 boards a game. He shot 39% from 3-point range as a freshman for the Blue Hens. Despite not playing for three years, Becker thinks he could be an X-Factor for the team.

From the recruiting trail comes Perry Smith, a 6-9 forward from Legacy Early College in South Carolina where he was a two-time USA National Prep champion. Smith is a talented big man who has a nose for the basketball on both ends of the floor. He is ranked as a three-star recruit by ESPN and a top-five recruit out of South Carolina. Jackson Skipper, a 6-7 forward from Link Year Prep in Tulsa, Okla is a player with a big upside who knows how to score down low. The coach thinks he has a bright future at Vermont. Jorge Ochoa is a 6-7 forward from Los Angeles, CA. by way of Veritas Training Academy. Last season, he went for 23 points and eight rebounds a night. Becker thinks he’s a skillful four-man who could be a great player at Vermont. Another three-star recruit ranked by ESPN is TJ Hurley a 6-5 guard from Pelham, Ontario Canada. He played at the Rock School last year and was named the 2022 Biosteel All-Canadian. He is known as a shooter who has picked up the system real fast. The coach thinks he will have an immediate impact on the team.

These players, as well as the rest of the basketball team, will get a chance to play and get to know one another. That’s because the Catamounts just finished a three-game summer trip to Montreal where they took to the court against three local schools. The experience of getting some on-court time before preseason practice gets started could prove to be a big plus for this team as it begins its defense of their titles.