Here’s a quick NCAA Tournament quiz for our readers. Can you name the team with the longest winning streak entering the tournament? We have to eliminate teams that lost in their conference tournament, so Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA are out. You still have Kentucky and Gonzaga to pick from, but you’d be wrong. The correct answer is the Vermont Catamounts, whose 21-game run is 10 longer than Kentucky’s. Vermont enters the Big Dance as a 13-seed and looks to extend its streak against the Purdue Boilermakers.
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They don’t play in one of the power conference’s so Vermont’s 21-game winning streak has largely gone overlooked for hoops fans not located in the northeast. That still doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s a 21-game winning streak. The Catamount’s are unbeaten in 2017 and haven’t lost since falling to Butler 81-69 on Dec. 21. They ran through the America East unscathed and squeaked by the Great Danes of Albany 56-53 in the conference tournament final as a 10.5-point favorite. It would be easy to look past Vermont, but getting 8-points against a team that has fallen in the first round the last two seasons looks like a gift.
Purdue claimed the Big Ten regular season title by default after Wisconsin and Indiana faltered. It was a down year in the league and the Boilermakers turned out to the best of the bunch. They enter the Tournament having split their last four games, including an overtime loss to Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals. The NCAA’s haven’t been kind to Purdue over the last two seasons, getting bumped in the first round. Purdue fell as a No. 9 seed in 2015 and was upset by Arkansas-Little Rock as a No. 5 seed last year. Moving up to a four-seed might be the difference.
Key Stat
Vermont’s defense keyed a late rally in the America East title game win over Albany and has been one of the best units in college basketball. The Catamounts surrender just 61.6 points per game to rank 11th nationally, and they held Maine and New Hampshire to 41 points in the first two games of the conference championship. During their record winning streak, Vermont held its opponent to fewer than 60 points 12 times and won 15 of the 21 games by double digits.
The Catamounts were hardly tested during the conference season but they still dominated, and that can’t be overlooked. The schedule was weak and three big time opponents in the non-conference slate slapped a loss on them. Purdue has superior talent and Vermont will be hard-pressed to score, so the defense better go into lock-down mode.
Player to Watch
Caleb Swanigan didn’t have his best game when the Boilermakers lost to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. Going for 13 points and 13 rebounds would be adequate for most, but not for Swanigan, who’s raised the bar for himself and his team. Swanigan led the Big Ten with 12.6 rebounds per game and was second in scoring. He was tops in both categories in conference-only games and was named the league’s player of the year.
Vermont lacks size up front and will have an issue defending Swanigan, who registered 26 double-doubles. If Swanigan has his way down low, the Boilermakers will be on their way to the second round. And that’s highly probable against a team that has no player taller than 6-8 on its roster.
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Vermont is a cool story with its 21-game winning streak and being the underdog. But their schedule was soft, even for them, and they dominated a conference that isn’t known for its hoops success. The Catamounts had non-conference games against Providence, South Carolina and Butler, losing all three by double-digits.
Those losses don’t diminish what they did against their conference foes, but let’s face it the America East isn’t the Big Ten. Swanigan is a legitimate NBA prospect and he will dominate in this game. Vermont has no one to match up with him so defensive schemes are key. The Catamounts won’t get much down low and their three-point shooting has been suspect. So they better play stellar defense, and that’ll lead to this game playing below the total.
College Basketball Odds: Purdue 63, Vermont 50
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