Quick Facts: 2009-10 record: 25-10 (12-4 America East)
Letterwinners Returning: 7
Starters Returning: 1
Newcomers: 5
Head Coach: Mike Lonergan (6th season)/ 315-147 career record
Over the course of his tenure at the University of Vermont,
men's basketball coach Mike Lonergan has turned the program into one of the
most consistent in the America East. The 2009-10 campaign proved to be one of
the finest in school history, as Lonergan led the Catamounts to a 25-10 (12-4
America East) record, and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The 25 wins matched the
single-season record, while the postseason appearance was the third in five
seasons for this program.
While the success of the 2009-10 season is something any
coach would be proud of, Lonergan is now faced with the reality of trying to
rebuild a program that lost three players to graduation and another player who
transferred. The most difficult task for the sixth-year coach and his staff
will be replacing the production of Marqus Blakely. Blakely, who was an America
East All-Conference First Team selection, as well as the America East Defensive
Player of the Year, provided the Catamounts with a level of athleticism and
talent that couldn't be matched.
One of the guys that will be charged with helping the
frontcourt play at a high level is senior forward Evan Fjeld. Last season,
Fjeld averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and was named to the
America East All-Conference Third Team. With the loss of Blakely, it will be expected
that Fjeld will take his game and his leadership for this young team to another
level.
"Evan is important this year, being the only returning
starter," said Lonergan. "What we are really looking for out of Evan this year
is leadership. He is our captain and we want him to be a more vocal leader. We
need a lot of points and rebounds out of him, but with such a young and
inexperienced team, we really need leadership as well."
With the loss of Maurice Joseph and Garvey Young, the
backcourt is a huge question mark for Vermont. While there are some talented
young players that Lonergan will need contributions from, he is hoping that
sophomore guard Brendan Bald can emerge as an elite player on the perimeter.
Bald averaged only 2.9 points per game last season, but he showed glimpses of
his potential whenever he was on the court.
"I think Brendan Bald will have to make the biggest jump for
us," Lonergan revealed. "He had a good freshman year. He didn't get a lot of
minutes because he played behind some pretty good players. This year, we expect
Brendan to be a starter and he will probably triple his minutes. He is going to
get a great opportunity and hopefully he will make the most of it. I think he
is a very athletic wing player that is strong and a very good defender. So, we
are looking for him to have a really good sophomore season."
Even with the departure of so many key pieces from last
season, Lonergan believes this team is capable of competing at a high level.
However, in order to do so, this group needs to get healthy and gather some
confidence early in the season.
"We have to get healthy," emphasized the sixth-year coach. "There
are a lot of question marks around our team. Two of our young guys, who we
thought would be building blocks for the future of our program, Ben Crenca and
Luke Apfeld, are coming off of major knee surgery. We have to get healthy and
stay healthy. We really have to have a lot of our guys who are going to get
more of an opportunity to play this year step it up in key roles instead of
just being role players off the bench."
For the first time in recent years, Vermont is not one of
the favorites in the America East entering the season. The Catamounts do have
some nice pieces to build around in Fjeld, Bald and Matt Glass, who sat out the
2009-10 season due to NCAA transfer rules. If this team is going to compete for
its usual spot near the top of the conference, it must get healthy and survive
a grueling non-conference schedule. If the Catamounts can gather some confidence
heading into America East play, they might be able to surprise some teams
throughout the conference portion of the schedule.