Yale enjoyed three games in four days so much, they’re doing it again. Yale’s last win in Burlington was in 2014, and the last time they went there, some egregious ref-show nonsense robbed them of the game (yes, I’m still mad about it). This year looks like a prime year to change Yale’s Vermont luck—Vermont doesn’t seem to have the physicality or quickness to defend well, so I’m cautiously optimistic about this game.
The two non-D1 games…well, they’re going to happen. Shame it’s so hard for Yale to get people to play them.
That’s an insane stat about how long it’s been since Yale won in Burlington. Sentiment in my head is we’ve passed Vermont in quality over the past half-decade or so.
Gus Yalden for Vermont is awesome. Basically a wrestling character who’s a high major offensive talent. Was a big Wisconsin recruit before he had some marijuana incidents and played sparingly at Seton Hall. He’ll dominate the America East but Yale should match up well with him in general with Townsend and Aletan on the back end.
My guess is Jones is doing the back-to-back D3 games as preparation for the backtobacks in conference play. I’m a sucker for those games even though they don’t matter just because I like seeing the younger guys show what they can do.
Yale survives by three a game they led almost the whole way. This game looked a bit like a game after Thanksgiving. A little disjointed, especially on defense. Riley Fox had a huge game, including the big three to put it away. At this point, I’ll take any win in Burlington, no matter how.
I was just thinking about something interesting from the end of that game. People don’t talk about this much, but an essential skillset for post players is mastery of the dark arts. Screens where your feet are just a little too wide, giving the guard a little shoulder check as he fights over it, little shoves in the back when your guy goes up for a rebound, stuff like that. Gus Yalden impressed me most with his elite, uh, poophousery. I’m not sure he set a legal screen all night, but he almost never got called for it. He got burned on a critical late possession with Yale up 1 when he forgot that you get max 1 dubious screen per 10 second increment. He’s going to eat the America East alive.
It seemed like Yale’s half-court D was not at its best against Vermont. They either turned the ball over (frequently without much help from Yale pressure) or got a good shot or got fouled on the great majority of possessions. But Yale really did a great job offensively driving into the lane and finishing with layups, midrange shots, or kickouts to open three-point shooters.
As I suspected, Yalden was more of a problem for Yale than any big they would face unless they get to the big dance. He has a big bag of tricks to go with his big body.
He’s been limping on and off since the Rhode Island game. I assume it’s just precautionary/resting a nagging minor injury. Could be beneficial to sit him for UIC and Albany and just get him fully healthy for post Christmas.
