Vermont at Stony Brook, a recap

This picture was not from tonight's game, I should point out, but I do want to provide a frame of reference every time I mention Evan Fjeld. He is the guy that either played bass in Cream, or perhaps drives a windowless van. I don't want to go through a blow by blow of the game, because there are several game summaries out there, but I'll just drop some thoughts on you.
- It started with Stony Brook running out ahead early, because they hit a lot of open looks. They definitely had energy, and the tiny arena seemed very loud, with a lot of good, interested fans in attendance. They wanted to run, and they did just that early, but you could tell that as the game went on, Vermont slowed things down, and the game started to move to their pace. They couldn't hit anything, so it took a while for them to come back. Fortunately, they held the Seawolves to 20% shooting in the second half as well as they tried to come back. Vermont ended up winning 55-49.
- Before the game, my friend Anthony put the line at Vermont -6. I just wanted to give him props.
- Could these teams make noise in the tournament? Well, I don't know that I expect either to make the tournament, but if they got there, these are the type of teams that do it. Stony Brook, especially Marcus Rouse, was successful when they were hitting from downtown, the greatest of giant killers in the tournament. Vermont is technically and fundamentally sound. They should have won this game by about 20, but struggled to hit open jumpers. They definitely don't have the athletes to run with a bigger school in the dance if they get that far (I mean, John Oates up there is the best player on the team) or the shooting to get lucky, but if they run into a young team that makes mistakes, Vermont is sound enough to take advantage.
- I was really impressed by the overall sportsmanship. I heard nothing overly critical of the officials, even after hard fouls, I saw players going out of their way wo make sure things were still cool. The two teams exited at the same time down the same hallway towards the lockers, and there were no issues at the end of the game, It's something that you don't see much, and I definitely wanted to compliment the teams and the fans.
- There was no commentary on my feed, but they had the game audio piped in. There was the PA. guy, but I couldn't make out what he said. Instead, I heard the Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell shouting instructions at his team, especially Anthony Mayo. Also, you could hear the Stony Brook AV club shouting back and forth and scorekeepers keeping score. It was an interesting perspective.
- The other guy, besides Fjeld and Rouse, that stood out for me was Dave Coley. He looked a lot like Stevie Wonder. not many black guys named Dave. Speaking of black guys, not many black guys playing for Vermont.
- The real reason I didn't notice anyone else out there was because the feed was so grainy, and there was no zoom on anyone. It was really hard to tell anyone apart, except the players who were lighting things up, and Coley with his hair. I should point out that Brian Voelkel for Vermont had a double-double, but I couldn't tell. Just another white guy in a green jersey.

It was a well contested match that I wish I could have made it to, if only for a close up look at Evan Fjeld's mustache, as well as a chance to enjoy the atmosphere in that small gym on Long Island.

Upcoming: Vermont at Stony Brook

It's sneaking up on me, but the first game of 2011 for the Victoria Times Ryan's Random Road tRip is coming up on Tuesday. Do to extenuating circumstances, I will be unable to get to the game, so instead I will be watching it from home online. The team selected was the Vermont Catamounts, and their 13th game of the season, which ends up being their America East conference opener against Stony Brook, a New York school on Long Island.

Vermont, the road team in this competition, has pretty much handled their business this year. They went 9-3 in the non conference portion of the schedule, with their three losses to a now ranked Connecticut team, Brigham Young and at Fairfield. Vermont doesn't really have a marquee win to their credit, so it's hard to say what their talent level is at, though blow out losses to BYU and the loss at Fairfield don't say anything good. Evan Fjeld is probably the premier player for the Catamounts, averaging 17.2 points a game from his spot as forward. The senior also posts a strong 7 rebounds a game, which is second to freshman forward Brian Voelkel's 10 a game. Joey Accaoui is a secondary scorer for Vermont with 13.5 a game, while little used Sandro Carissimo is the winner of the "best name" contest.

The Seawolves are a different story. It's pretty easy to see where they stand. Stony Brook isn't so good. They stand at 5-6 and actually start their America East schedule today against Maryland-Baltimore County. They definitely have no good wins and certainly a handful of bad losses, like games against Wagner, Lehigh, Columbia, Sacred Heart and an 88-62 dismantling at the hands of Notre Dame. The leading scorer for Stony Brook is Bryan Dougher at about 15 points a game. #2 on the list is Chris Martin, who is presently injured, and even so only has a bit more than 8 points a game. Dallas Joyner is the leading rebounder, with about 7 a game. It's hard to say that this team has a star. Preye Preboye is the strongest name in this bunch.

I think the Seawolves injury issues and lack of a true identity will lead them to struggle against Vermont. I don't really have faith in the Catamounts, though, either, especially on the road. If the Vermont scorers can get going and stay out of foul trouble (a problem for Fjeld at times), they should be able to come away with the victory, but I am going to go with Stony Brook as my official prediction.

Change of plans

Well, I took a quick look at Vermont's basketball schedule. They decided to label a couple games as "exhibitions" which pushed their Game 13 back by two games, and now Game 13 of their regular season is January 4th at Stony Brook. That means it is officially one of this years games, and I won't be waiting all the the way to December. Unfortunately, it also means that I will be unable to go to the game, as it interferes severely with Real Job Inc. I do plan on watching the Stoney Brook video feed from here in the comfort of my mother's basement.
This will be the conference opener for the Catamounts, who will travel to Stony Brook, which is on Long Island. The Catamounts and Seawolves (best matchup I've had so far in terms of nicknames, I think) play in the America East conference. Last season, Vermont won the conference tournament, while Stony Brook won the regular season title, so this is a pretty big matchup. I'm disappointed I won't be able to go, but I'll still enjoy catching the matchup.