A 56-53 victory over the University at Albany in the conference championship propelled the Catamounts to a No. 13 seed and a matchup in the Midwest region with the No. 4 seed Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday night in Milwaukee.
The UVM team boarded its flight just days before Vermont was slammed with what may prove to be the largest snowstorm since 2007.
It was two years before that previous big storm when the Catamounts last earned a March Madness bid, in which they upended Syracuse in an upset for the ages. In that contest the Catamounts were also a No. 13 seed, a piece of history not lost on basketball pundits.
The Catamounts are being bandied about as a possible Cinderella team in this year’s tournament. Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn included UVM at No. 8 on a list of his top 10 bracket busters, noting the “extreme, positive momentum” the team brings with a 21-game win streak and an undefeated record in America East play.
ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s statistical prediction machine, gives UVM a 14 percent chance of claiming another upset as the 13th seed. That’s the highest potential for victory predicted for any of the four No. 13 seeds, though Eastern Tennessee State is close with 13 percent.
The Catamounts will have their hands full with the Boilermakers’ front court, which boasts 7-feet-2 Isaac Haas and 6-9 Caleb Swanigan. No player on UVM is taller than 6-feet-8.
Swanigan is a bona fide superstar who’s averaging 18.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. He has NBA talent, with many saying he’ll be a lottery pick if he declares for the draft, and he’s in the conversation for national player of the year.
The task of trying to stop Swanigan will fall, at least in part, to UVM freshman sensation Anthony Lamb, who is only 6-feet-5 but weighs 227 pounds. Lamb may be able to use his size to body up Swanigan, who is 250 pounds.
Lamb will also have to put up points for the Catamounts as their leading scorer with 12.6 per game, alongside his 5.4 rebounds per game — which also leads the team.
UVM will likely need a stellar night from the 3-point line too. As a team they’re shooting close to 37 percent, and March Madness upsets are often fueled by fire from threes.
Purdue can also get hot from beyond the arc, shooting 40 percent for the season. Protecting the paint and chasing shooters off the 3-point line will give a good UVM defense all it can handle.
The game is scheduled for a 7:27 p.m. tipoff Thursday on Tru TV. If the Catamounts advance, they’ll face the winner of the matchup between No. 5 seed Iowa State and No. 12 Nevada, who play later Thursday also on Tru TV.
