5 things we learned from college basketball’s opening weekend

Kentucky-Vermont Was More About Vermont (Kind Of)

Friend of the program, Chris Stone, wrote a wonderful piece on why Big Blue Nation should be concerned with Kentucky’s lack of playmakers, the players’ constant settling for mid-range jumpers, and inability to properly defend basic pick-and-roll offenses.

The first two issues are real, although, I’d be less worried about the PnR issues. The Wildcats are incredibly young. With a roster built as such, the defense is usually the last thing to start shining. Yes. Yes. Kentucky played two low-majors so far, with only its athleticism showing well on that side of the floor, but John Calipari should have that issue corrected before games truly matter.

For Vermont, it was a national showcase game. Not just for this season, but for the program moving forward. Despite some real concerns in the first-half, John Becker managed to get his guys to adjust at the half, and the Catamounts were stunningly excellent the last 20 minutes of the game.

A veteran team, returning its core from a group that ran roughshod over the AEC last season, Vermont doesn’t only look as if it is one of the better mid-major teams in the nation, the Catamount already look like they belong as a program that should be receiving some top 25 votes.

All of that — after a loss!

Hyperbolic, this is not. Vermont has two of the most underrated players in the entire nation in returning AEC Player of the Year Trae Bell-Haynes and the nation’s top new star in Anthony Lamb.

Despite Lamb getting in foul trouble, he finished with 15 points and 7 manly rebounds against Kentucky. As for Bell-Haynes, he looked like he belonged playing big boy basketball, constantly blowing by Big Blue Nation’s supposedly more athletic guards.

What is the ceiling for Kentucky? Even with all these issues, still the Final Four.

Strangely, that just so happens to be the same ceiling for Vermont.