2012-2013 Vermont Catamount Thread!

[UVM7680]

Originally Posted by littlemanwithpants

http://uvmathletics.com/mobile/index.aspx?story=31965

No mention of Blue here... He's not on the updated roster either... Anyone have any insight?

Also nothing about Harrison Taggart. And I see Ryan Pierson has jersey #3 on the UVM roster. (Trey had #3 at Illinois St and Fordham; I was assuming he'd want that number at UVM, à la Four.)

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by littlemanwithpants

http://uvmathletics.com/mobile/index.aspx?story=31965

No mention of Blue here... He's not on the updated roster either... Anyone have any insight?

Maybe he can't be included until he is accepted for grad school. I don't know what his grades are like.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Nice seeing the roster get updated and fill in a bit- was looking sparse for a whole.

RE: Blue & Taggart- most likely given the timing of their commitments being so late in the signing season I would expect a separate announcement at a later time introducing those two players.

[NU Hoop Fan]

Originally Posted by UVM7680

Also nothing about Harrison Taggart. And I see Ryan Pierson has jersey #3 on the UVM roster. (Trey had #3 at Illinois St and Fordham; I was assuming he'd want that number at UVM, à la Four.)

Pierson wore 30 at NU, and I think in high school.

3 will be the number of times per half you'll scream "Ryan, grab the ball."

Seriously, I think he'll do very well at UVM, he was the proverbial "needed a change of scenery" kid. He was in a mental funk all season - went from All CAA Rookie as a freshman to us bringing in a couple of kids who were better than him (one who was runner up for CAA ROY) and he didn't really handle the situation well or rise to the occasion.

[icemchine9]

From what I've heard, pierson has been pretty darn good in uvm scrimmages. I think he'll end up being very good in a league with few big men.

[NU Hoop Fan]

Originally Posted by icemchine9

From what I've heard, pierson has been pretty darn good in uvm scrimmages. I think he'll end up being very good in a league with few big men.

Agree. 100%.

He's not physical, that's my knock on him at NU. Smaller, rougher/physical bigs will be able to push him around. I honestly think he's a better face to the basket guy (more of a 4) than a center. But you're right, in a league with a few bigs, he will likely excel. If he gets a little more agile, watch out.

He also gets frustrated pretty easily. We could tell if he would have a good game in the first 5-7 minutes.

But he's a real good kid. We all knew he wasn't happy at NU, and I had a few conersations with him. Good student, good person.

He will be happy that BU isn't in the AE any more, or I'd have ridden him mercilessly. Now I have to drive to Durham to do it. ;-)

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Pierson was great as a freshman at NU- and last year it ultimately seemed that his style of play- more traditional, back to the basket, catch and seal- was bypassed by NU in favor of more 6'7''/6'8'' face the basket, slash off the dribble types of big men.

He will do well in a conference with less skilled and less athletic big men by default as Ice and NUHF have pointed out- I think everyone is in agreement that the CAA has far superior post players in terms of overall size and athleticism- but he also *should* do well because he will be in an offensive system at UVM that is a better fit/match for his skills and will put him in a position to get touches on offense and be productive and successful.

[NotDeadYet]

Pierson will make Crenca work harder in practice. I'm hoping for a BIG senior year from Crenca, free of injuries. He has shown so much promise in the past and been so unlucky with his knees. I'm hoping he is Mr. Double Double this year.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Originally Posted by NotDeadYet

Pierson will make Crenca work harder in practice. I'm hoping for a BIG senior year from Crenca, free of injuries. He has shown so much promise in the past and been so unlucky with his knees. I'm hoping he is Mr. Double Double this year.

Yep- Pierson and O'Day will help Crenca in practice. I hope Crenca can give us whatever he can next season and just hope his final season is injury-free.
Seems like a real good kid, great teammate, and a positive presence on the team. Deserves a final season free of surgeries/injuries.

[Blakely4Prez]

Originally Posted by UVM Hoop Cat

Yep- Pierson and O'Day will help Crenca in practice. I hope Crenca can give us whatever he can next season and just hope his final season is injury-free.
Seems like a real good kid, great teammate, and a positive presence on the team. Deserves a final season free of surgeries/injuries.

Crenca does look a little slimmer. Living in Vermont and being a Lake Monsters season ticket holder, Crenca works every game there in the beer tent, so I've seen him throughout the summer. Like many have said, he's been unlucky with the injury bug, but he always seems to come into the seasons healthy and in good shape.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Originally Posted by Blakely4Prez

Crenca does look a little slimmer. Living in Vermont and being a Lake Monsters season ticket holder, Crenca works every game there in the beer tent, so I've seen him throughout the summer. Like many have said, he's been unlucky with the injury bug, but he always seems to come into the seasons healthy and in good shape.

That's great news, and I agree he seems like a hard worker and he was off to a very strong start last season and was playing the best basketball of his college career. He seemed to be in great shape- then the knee surgery happened, and he came back and looked like he had gotten out of shape and lost his rhythm.

Hopefully, he can maintain it from start to finish next season.

I'd love it if Crenca can give us 17-20mpg next season and average something like 5pts/5boards and get some blocks while staying healthy all season, that would be huge IMO and plenty of production. A double/double while would be nice is completely unrealistic as someone else mentioned because he can't be on the court that long. Cutting down on turnovers will be an asset as well, Crenca had a high number of turnovers relative to his minutes last season- 30 turnovers in 356 total minutes. Same with Bergmann.

For a comparison Matt Glass had 36 turnovers in 935 minutes.

[Blakely4Prez]

Originally Posted by UVM Hoop Cat

That's great news, and I agree he seems like a hard worker and he was off to a very strong start last season and was playing the best basketball of his college career. He seemed to be in great shape- then the knee surgery happened, and he came back and looked like he had gotten out of shape and lost his rhythm.

Hopefully, he can maintain it from start to finish next season.

I'd love it if Crenca can give us 17-20mpg next season and average something like 5pts/5boards and get some blocks while staying healthy all season, that would be huge IMO and plenty of production. A double/double while would be nice is completely unrealistic as someone else mentioned because he can't be on the court that long. Cutting down on turnovers will be an asset as well, Crenca had a high number of turnovers relative to his minutes last season- 30 turnovers in 356 total minutes. Same with Bergmann.

For a comparison Matt Glass had 36 turnovers in 935 minutes.

Ya....the bolded would be nice.

Ever since Holm played in the program, I can't help but unfairly make a comparison to him anytime someone with his size and body type plays for UVM. With how shitty Holm played his JR year, and how everytime he'd get put in the game during his junior year I'd get so pissed at Lonergan for letting him play cause he turned the ball over so much, he had a brilliant senior year and career (think he's still in Japan).

For some reason, I still hold out hope that Crenca can do what Holm did as the AE is even worse off now overall in terms of talent than back when Holm was a senior. Bigs are non-existent in this guard heavy league, so Crenca's size is a huge asset. If healthy, he'd be dangerous. That is why I'm so excited about Pierson next year.

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Originally Posted by Blakely4Prez

Ya....the bolded would be nice.

Ever since Holm played in the program, I can't help but unfairly make a comparison to him anytime someone with his size and body type plays for UVM. With how shitty Holm played his JR year, and how everytime he'd get put in the game during his junior year I'd get so pissed at Lonergan for letting him play cause he turned the ball over so much, he had a brilliant senior year and career (think he's still in Japan).

For some reason, I still hold out hope that Crenca can do what Holm did as the AE is even worse off now overall in terms of talent than back when Holm was a senior. Bigs are non-existent in this guard heavy league, so Crenca's size is a huge asset. If healthy, he'd be dangerous. That is why I'm so excited about Pierson next year.

I see the need to compare Crenca to Holm- about as close a comp as we can find in recent years for UVM- but IMO I think Holm was considerably more skilled offensively and by my eyes Holm had at least 2 inches on Crenca. Holm was a legit 6'11'' and Crenca was listed at 6'8''- 6'9'' in HS and is probably closer to that than his listed height of 6'10''.

For Crenca, it's really just staying healthy and providing quality minutes at center for us. He's not capable of playing 25+ min a game and he won't ever give us a double-double (Holm averaged 31mpg as a senior and averaged 10ppg/12rpg), but if he can stay on the court for 17-20mpg he'll have nice stats and contributions.

Holm also probably benefited a great deal by practicing with Coppenrath while red shirting and then two seasons with Martin "I stopped Hakim Warrick" Klimes.

[NotDeadYet]

I was thinking of Holm's double doubles when I brought up Crenca for discussion. I didn't think about the minutes per game issue. Duh..

[UVM Hoop Cat]

I think everyone all around would be pretty happy if Crenca had a Chris Holm Junior Season stat line- 21mpg, 8.2ppg, 6.5rpg, and 50% FG .

A Chris Holm senior stat line would be a Brendan Bald FR-SO, quantum leap of epic proportions for Crenca.