America East Basketball: Vermont Earns a #13 Seed

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On Saturday afternoon, the Vermont Catamounts (26-4) punched their ticket to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the tenth time since 2003. The 66-61 victory over UMass Lowell gave Vermont their third straight conference title. They are champions of America East for the 11th time which is a league record.

Sunday evening, the team gathered to find out where and who they will play in the field of 68. The where is the South Region, as they will head to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The who is one of the blue bloods of college basketball. Friday at 7:10 PM, Vermont will face the #4 seeded Duke Blue Devils (24-8) from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The number 13 seed for the league is the fourth time since 2017. That is the best stretch of any league in the Northeast. Back in 2004 when the Catamounts upset Syracuse in Worcester, MA. they were a 13 seed.

The Blue Devils finished second in the regular season in the ACC. In the postseason tournament, they fell to North Carolina State in the quarterfinals. Duke is making their 46th NCAA tournament appearance, and their second straight under head coach Jon Scheyer. They have won five national championships, the last one was in 2015. All-time in the tournament, the Blue Devils are 119-40. One player to pay attention to is forward Kyle Filipowski who finished 7th in scoring averaging 17.9 points per game. He also finished 6th in rebounding averaging 8.2 a game. He shoots at 51% from the field (205-for-401). He averaged 1.56 blocks per game as well.

Duke has the second-highest scoring offense in the league at 79.8 a game. Their defense is third allowing 67.4 a game. They have the best scoring margin in the ACC at +12.41. As a team, they shoot at 48.2% which is also the best in the league. If that is not enough, they are the best 3-point shooting team in the league at 37.7% (267-for-708). They averaged 15.4 assists per game which you guess is #1 in the league.

Vermont’s calling card is their ability to play defense. They were #1 in AE allowing 63 points per game. They have the best margin at 9.4. Their assist/turnover ratio is the best in the league at 1.51 (466 assists, 309 turnovers). They have the second-best 3-point makes at 8.7 (295 makes in 34 games). They have held opponents to a 40.6% shooting. Graduate senior Aaron Deloney is second in the league in assists/turnover ratio at 2.6 102 assists to 39 turnovers. TJ Long is #1 in 3-point FG percentage at 37% (77-for-209).

There is no question this will be a tough task for Vermont. But that’s why they call this March Madness. Anything is possible.