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After losing in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament, Arkansas was still widely projected to make the NCAA Tournament as a 4 seed. Those expectations were met Sunday, as the Razorbacks landed in the West Region and will play their first — and potentially second — game in Buffalo, N.Y.
Their first-round opponent is 13-seed Vermont. It’s a team many Arkansas fans likely know very little about, as the schools have never met on the hardwood.
To help you out, HawgBeat did some research for you in advance of their meeting in the Big Dance…
Hot, Hot, Hot
The Catamounts boast a 28-5 (17-1) record, which is impressive itself, but they ended the season in a similar fashion to Arkansas. They won 22 of their final 23 games, with their one loss in that stretch coming in overtime and on the road against conference foe Hartford.
In the America East tournament, Vermont had an average margin of victory of 36.7 points. Over its last 23 games, it had an average margin of victory of 19.4 points, while its one loss was by a single point.
This is also not new territory for the Catamounts or head coach John Becker. In his 11 years at the school, Becker has won 20-plus games 10 times and this will be his fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. It will be the third time in a row Vermont will be in the NCAA Tournament as a 13 seed, and it is 0-2 in the last two appearances.
No Fouls, No Points
While Vermont’s margin of victory has been impressive, it isn’t solely due to the fact that it puts up a ton of points. Rather, the Catamounts are among the nation’s best in points allowed per game.
Over the course of the season, Vermont held opponents to just 60.3 points per game — good for 10th in the country. If that wasn’t enough cause for concern, it also allows only 12.1 free throw attempts per game, which ranks fifth nationally.
It is no secret that Arkansas loves to get to the free throw line — leading the country in both free throws made and attempted — but based on the way the Catamounts defend, that could tough in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament.
Decent metrics across the board
While Vermont comes from the one-bid American East Conference, its metrics aren’t that bad.
The Catamounts come into the NCAA Tournament ranked 52nd in the NET, 59th on KenPom and 38th in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.
However, on KenPom, their offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency are fairly spread out. They rank 44th in adjusted offensive efficiency and just 74th in defensive efficiency.
One reason Vermont is much lower in adjusted defensive efficiency (74th) than scoring defense (10th) is likely because it plays one of the slower brands of basketball in the country. KenPom has the Catamounts at No. 288 in adjusted tempo.
For comparison, Arkansas ranks 40th in offensive efficiency, 16th in defensive efficiency and 28th in tempo.
Experience
Vermont’s entire starting five is made up of seniors. It has used nine different starters this season, eight of which are seniors and the other is a junior. Five of those starters were on the roster for the Catamounts’ most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019, when they lost to 4-seed Florida State 76-69.
Ryan Davis, the Catamounts’ leading scorer, was a freshman playing just 10 minutes per game. Isaiah Powell, the third leading scorer on this year’s team, was also a freshman and played 17.5 minutes per game. The team’s second leading scorer this year, Ben Shungu, was a sophomore playing 18.7 minutes per game.
That core accounts for 86.4 minutes and 41.8 points per game this season. Davis was named the American East Player of the Year, marking the sixth year in a row a Vermont player has won the award and the second year in a row that Davis has won it.
Davis started all 29 games he appeared in this season, averaging 17.2 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 42.3% from three on 3.3 attempts per game. His scoring actually decreased from a season ago, when he averaged 18.5 points, but his minutes also went down.
Becker’s continued excellence
This is Becker’s first job as a head coach at the collegiate level, but he has made the most of that opportunity. This season marked his sixth consecutive regular-season title in the American East with Vermont and his seventh overall.
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman even faced off against Becker and Vermont in the 2016 CBI. Musselman’s Nevada squad won 86-72.
“Vermont is well coached,” Musselman said. “We played against them at Nevada in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). They’re really coached, and their coach does a phenomenal job. They space the floor. They have great shooting.”
While Becker has lost his last three NCAA Tournament games as a 13 seed, he does have one NCAA Tournament victory. In 2012, Becker led the Catamounts to a play-in victory over Lamar, 71-59, before losing to North Carolina 77-58 in the Round of 64.
Becker should have programs calling him for bigger jobs based on the incredible job he’s done at Vermont the past 11 seasons. Before he took the program over in 2011, the Catamounts had been to just four NCAA Tournaments, with three coming under Tom Brennan from 2002-05.
Undersized boards
Vermont doesn’t have a single player on its roster taller than 6-foot-9. In fact, the Catamounts’ main rotation consists of just one player taller than 6-foot-7 — Ryan Davis (6-8)
Despite their lack of size, the Catamounts are fairly average in total rebounds per game, grabbing 35.1 per contest (184th). The biggest indicator that they are a good rebounding team, though, is that they have an average rebounding margin of plus-6.3 (22nd) and allow just 6.3 offensive rebounds per game.
Something will have to give, as Arkansas is an above-average total rebounding team. The Razorbacks average 38.2 rebounds per game (46th) and are 76th nationally with an average rebounding margin of plus-3.6. They also grab 11.2 offensive boards per game (78th).
