[UVM Hoop Cat]

More in-depth piece on UVM transfer Thomas Murphy for anyone who might be interested in some Friday reading --- New Cats, Who Dis? Thomas Murphy

His name is spelled incorrectly. Always a good starting point.

 

[Saul.T.Lode]

His name is spelled incorrectly. Always a good starting point.

Good catch. Sorry about that!

 

[RF1]

Tomas Murphy grew up and lives in the village of Wakefield, RI. It is located in the Town of South Kingstown not far from the campus of URI. Tomas comes from a family where everyone played hoops. His father Jay played at BC and was drafted in the 2nd round of the NBA in 1984 and played several seasons in the league. He played for both Tom Davis and Gary Wiliams at BC and played in two Sweet 16's, one Elite Eight, and one NIT in his four seasons. Jay's wife Paivi played basketball in Finland. All their sons played hoops. Son Erik played basketball at Florida, and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the 2013 NBA draft. Son Alex played at Duke, Florida, and Northeastern.

 

[VCat_2015]

His name is spelled incorrectly. Always a good starting point.

I also assume his name is not prononced “thomas” but “toe-mosh” or even “toe-mahj”?

 

[GoCatsGo]

I also assume his name is not prononced “thomas” but “toe-mosh” or even “toe-mahj”?

I don't remember which post/thread it was, but I think we established that despite the more Euro spelling, it is just pronounced "Thomas."

 

[UVM Hoop Cat]

Yeah I feel the same way. I might go as far as to say there will definitely not be a season. The second, and more deadly, wave of the virus is expected in the winter. Really unfortunate but this whole situation is unprecedented

The reality is the only feasible way for Sports to commence absent a vaccine at really any level is for daily testing for players before practices/games but the testing kits are not being manufactured quickly enough/getting into people's hands and even then that will be without any fans in attendance.

That all being said, carry on with discussions about Nick Fiorillo's impact for 2020-21.

 

[NotDeadYet]

The reality is the only feasible way for Sports to commence absent a vaccine at really any level is for daily testing for players before practices/games but the testing kits are not being manufactured quickly enough/getting into people's hands and even then that will be without any fans in attendance.

That all being said, carry on with discussions about Nick Fiorillo's impact for 2020-21.

I think he's going to be great.

 

[VCat_2015]

Yeahhhh.....so its sound like UVM is about to announce some really drastic budget cuts. I heard 8% across the board salary cuts, layoffs of non-academic staff, etc. It really isn't surprising, and President Gurimella hinted at the looming challenges previously (though he said there'd be no personnel changes through at least the end of the fiscal year, June 30th), but now we're finally seeing the magnitude of the crisis.

This doesn't bode well for capital projects (or college athletics in general) regardless of whether schools and sports return next fall or winter. There will most certainly be changes to the new arena project. I'll leave to the rest of you to speculate the degree of those changes.

 

[catpower]

Yeahhhh.....so its sound like UVM is about to announce some really drastic budget cuts. I heard 8% across the board salary cuts, layoffs of non-academic staff, etc. It really isn't surprising, and President Gurimella hinted at the looming challenges previously (though he said there'd be no personnel changes through at least the end of the fiscal year, June 30th), but now we're finally seeing the magnitude of the crisis.

This doesn't bode well for capital projects (or college athletics in general) regardless of whether schools and sports return next fall or winter. There will most certainly be changes to the new arena project. I'll leave to the rest of you to speculate the degree of those changes.

Schulman address the facility specifically the other day in a video interview:

He said that all donors still onboard with the project (there is an online troll who was trying to say the Tarrants pulled their funding. He's a miserable human who seems like he just wants attention. Anyone who clicks in the replies on twitter knows exactly who I'm talking about), and that they also got new donations in light of the events to ensure the project is able to move forward. But, they'll be looking at changes in efficiencies and whatnot. My guess is timeline wise that you're likely looking at a 2022-23 open date for the basketball one, but I suspect the Gutterson renovations will be able to get done by 2021 since those are the furthest along.

 

[catpower]

Well, here's the budget cuts from the Arts & Sciences dept.

UVM Pay Cuts Email

The email below, that went to UVM Arts & Sciences faculty, outlines the plan to reduce non-tenure faculty pay by 25%. Deans will a pay cut…

medium.com

Admins taking an 8% pay cut and non-tenure faculty taking a 25% cut (0.75 FTE/full time equivalent). It's highly likely every part-time person in A&S is going to be laid off for good too. It's very shitty.

 

[popolamma]

I hate to get too excited about freshmen, but Lefebvre's highlights have him listed as 6' 10" now. He looks huge and in great shape/athletic. Thoughts?

Georges Lefebvre Highlights 2019-20

Georges Lefebvre Highlights 2019-20

www.hudl.com

 

[Mr quint]

That’s actually one reason I’m cautiously excited. He showed up at one of the late season games and was on the bench watching warm ups. He looked big and relatively strong already. The adjustment is generally not easy so I’ll stay careful about getting too amped. But the eye test is positive.

 

[Steve-skylar-nash]

I love what I see!

Though he does look a bit out of control when he was driving to the rim

 

[GoCatsGo]

I hate to get too excited about freshmen, but Lefebvre's highlights have him listed as 6' 10" now. He looks huge and in great shape/athletic. Thoughts?

He was at Senior Night this year with his family. I would not say he's 6-10 (unless he's had a quarantine-related growth spurt). He's every bit of 6-8 though, and has long arms.

Even though they are 100% completely different players, I kind of feel the same way about him as I did about Deloney coming in: high ceiling, low floor, look to the future. If you ran 10,000 simulations of his freshman year I think you get some versions where he breaks out early. But I think more likely (especially given our roster construction) that this is a developmental year...adding more minutes as the year progresses, and ready to step up as spaces open up.

 

[catpower]

Just a FYI...don't see it in here but UVM announced it wants to be back on campus for fall semester:

UVM planning for students to return to campus this fall

Concern is rising about students returning to the city to move in and out of off-campus apartments, as leases switch hands at the end of May and start of June.

vtdigger.org

 

[Longclaw]

Georges is definitely one of the more physically gifted players we have recruited. We will see how it translates. Giddens was also supremely athletic and huge and only had a small impact.

 

[popolamma]

All very true. I agree about the control when driving to the hoop, but the guy can shoot and is real athletic. I'm interested to see if he challenges for a rotation spot right away.

Did we come to a consensus on starters?

Shungu
Smith
Patella?
Andre
Davis

With Duncan, Murphy, Deloney, Powell in the mix for subs? That still leaves out Becket and Fiorillo. Both didn't see the court much at all. Do they hope for more time this season?

*EDIT I realized I left out both DeMuth and Mazulla. WOW how will anyone get minutes?!

I'm realizing that this team is deep again and Lefebvre will have to really show he can compete for minutes. On the bright side, he'll have a lot of good competition for practice.

On a different note, I was watching Durugordon highlights last night, dreaming he would commit to VT. I was honestly impressed with the level of play of everyone in the video. It must have been AAU, or maybe just a really competitive HS. Durugordon looks legit though and I feel like there's a LOW chance he ends up at an AE calibre school.

 

[popolamma]

Duplicate Message

 

[tizzy]

All very true. I agree about the control when driving to the hoop, but the guy can shoot and is real athletic. I'm interested to see if he challenges for a rotation spot right away.

Did we come to a consensus on starters?

Shungu
Smith
Patella?
Andre
Davis

With Duncan, Murphy, Deloney, Powell in the mix for subs? That still leaves out Becket and Fiorillo. Both didn't see the court much at all. Do they hope for more time this season?

*EDIT I realized I left out both DeMuth and Mazulla. WOW how will anyone get minutes?!

I'm realizing that this team is deep again and Lefebvre will have to really show he can compete for minutes. On the bright side, he'll have a lot of good competition for practice.

On a different note, I was watching Durugordon highlights last night, dreaming he would commit to VT. I was honestly impressed with the level of play of everyone in the video. It must have been AAU, or maybe just a really competitive HS. Durugordon looks legit though and I feel like there's a LOW chance he ends up at an AE calibre school.

Fiorillo is a walk-on AND was red-shirted. That suggests Becker sees lots of promise in this kid - one who looked pretty solid in the only time we got to see him - the early, open scrimmage. I have a sneaky suspicion he could be very good for us (think Clancy Rugg: from redshirt, to productive year, to scholarship to very good conference big).

And per a conversation this past season with someone with close ties to the coaches, ‘Demuth is really good’, bwas a bit hampered by injuries.
I would not be surprised to see Lefebrve red-shirted this year, as promising as he seems to be, with Davis, Powell, Bernie, Demuth and Tomas Murphy, all seemingly ready to go, plus Fiorillo looking forward his minutes.

Becket might benefit from red-shirting, with all the strong guards we have (Benny, Steph, Aaron, Robin, Mazzulla).

Then there is always Bailey as the in-house Swiss Army knife, as a very good 3, a 4 in a small lineup or even a 2, if we go small and he can develop a solid outside shot.

 

[LakeSinclair]

Fiorillo is a walk-on AND was red-shirted. That suggests Becker sees lots of promise in this kid - one who looked pretty solid in the only time we got to see him - the early, open scrimmage. I have a sneaky suspicion he could be very good for us (think Clancy Rugg: from redshirt, to productive year, to scholarship to very good conference big).

And per a conversation this past season with someone with close ties to the coaches, ‘Demuth is really good’, bwas a bit hampered by injuries.
I would not be surprised to see Lefebrve red-shirted this year, as promising as he seems to be, with Davis, Powell, Bernie, Demuth and Tomas Murphy, all seemingly ready to go, plus Fiorillo looking forward his minutes.

Becket might benefit from red-shirting, with all the strong guards we have (Benny, Steph, Aaron, Robin, Mazzulla).

Then there is always Bailey as the in-house Swiss Army knife, as a very good 3, a 4 in a small lineup or even a 2, if we go small and he can develop a solid outside shot.

All true - I'm really looking forward to the coming season. I sure hope it happens.