5 things to know about Vermont

Duke is in the NCAA tournament for the third straight season and it’ll face a team that’s also in it for the third straight year.

Vermont has become a mid-major powerhouse under coach John Becker, and the Catamounts have their sixth NCAA tournament bid in his 13 seasons as head coach to prove it.

Upon brief glance, Vermont takes care of the ball, plays stingy defense that doesn’t allow for many second-chance points, and is playing its best basketball in the last five weeks.

Here is what you need to know about Vermont before Friday’s game:

Looking at Becker’s body of work really makes you wonder why he hasn’t been snatched by a power conference team.

Vermont has won at least 20 games in 12 of his 13 seasons; the one they didn’t was 2020-21 during the COVID pandemic, when the Catamounts only played 15 games (and went 10-5). Vermont is 308-119 over the last 13 seasons.

It’s a level of dominance that becomes even more absurd when looking at what the Catamounts have done in the America East Conference. The combined record over the last 13 seasons is 177-31, a winning percentage of .851.

Vermont steamrolled through its league this season. The Catamounts were 15-1 in the regular season and won three games in the league tournament — though each of those was dicey. Vermont beat Albany, New Hampshire and UMass Lowell by a combined 15 points, none of them by double digits.

The only loss to a league foe was a 63-61 game at NJIT, in which the Highlanders got a 31-point game from a freshman guard (Tariq Francis) who led the America East in shot percentage (per KenPom).

Vermont’s leading scorer is TJ Long, a 6-4, 195-pound guard, and he’s only averaged 12.2 points this season.

The Catamounts are deep. Nine players average at least 15 minutes per game and none of them is over 30. Seven of those nine average between 22 and 29 minutes per game. Vermont’s 37.3% of bench minutes, per KenPom, is 53rd in the country.

And they’re an older team, ranking 93rd in KenPom’s experience tracker. Vermont doesn’t have a freshman in its regular rotation, and its top six scorers have all been in college for at least three seasons.

The Catamounts aren’t without ailments, though. Senior forward Matt Veretto didn’t play in the last five games, and sophomore wing TJ Hurley missed the last two games of the regular season and AEC tournament opener. Hurley returned to play 2 minutes against New Hampshire and 13 against UMass Lowell, far below his minutes for the majority of the season.

Vermont doesn’t crash the offensive glass and keeps its opponent from doing the same.

The Catamounts rebound 22.6% of their misses, 345th in the country out of 362 teams (per KenPom). It’s the second-lowest rate of any NCAA tournament team, with 16th-seeded Montana State at 20.7%.

That’s probably because Vermont takes a lot of long shots. The Catamounts have a 3-point attempt/field goal attempt rate of 44.1%. They don’t have a bona fide knock-down shooter; rather, it’s a five-out offense in which every player is a threat to pull from long distance.

And on the defensive end, offensive rebounds are hard to come by.

Opponents only rebound 23.4% of their misses against the Catamounts, the eighth-best percentage in the country (again, KenPom). Their company in that stat involves teams Duke is familiar with; Arizona is seventh in the country (23.2%) and UNC is ninth (also 23.4%).

Vermont played one game against a power conference team this season and it was a Dec. 16 loss at Virginia Tech, 73-51.

The notables from that game were the Catamounts shooting 21-for-57 (36.8%), which crushed any sort of offensive efficiency. They were outrebounded 42-26, with Virginia Tech’s Lynn Kidd recording a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds).

It’s worth noting three other non-conference games Vermont played.

The Catamounts went 2-1 against teams in the NCAA tournament, and each of the wins came against a team that’s also a 13-seed. Vermont beat Charleston 73-64 in the third game of the season, the first game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. The Catamounts made more 3-pointers (11) than 2s (10) in that game. (Charleston plays Alabama on Friday)

Vermont’s other win against a 13-seed was a 66-65 defeat on Yale on Dec. 2. That one had a crazy ending — if you don’t want to click the link, just know that Vermont won after it trailed 65-60 with 3.8 seconds left. (Yale plays Auburn on Friday)

The loss to a team in the NCAA tournament came a week before the loss in Blacksburg, when Colgate beat Vermont 77-71. The Raiders made 8 of 15 3s in that win, with Vermont going 8-for-25.

Duke and Vermont have played three times, most recently in the 2013-14 season and never in the NCAA tournament.

That most recent matchup is one that didn’t exactly leave the Blue Devils with a feeling of fulfillment.

Delving deeper into that game, Duke blew a 15-point lead. Vermont tied it at 90-90 on a four-point play by Candon Rusin with 10.4 seconds left. Rodney Hood brought the ball down the court and drove, getting fouled and making the game-winning free throw after missing the first attempt.

Hood said afterward, “We didn’t win this game. We kind of deserved to lose the game, and we got lucky.”

Duke’s other games against Vermont predated Mike Krzyzewski’s arrival — Duke won 94-77 in 1975, and 92-67 in 1979.