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'It's time to get one': UVM men's basketball confident as 15 seed vs. Marquette

alex abrami, burlington free press
·4 min read

The University of Vermont men's basketball team escaped snowy Burlington on Wednesday morning.

The destination: Columbus, Ohio for another NCAA Tournament.

And the Catamounts plan on to staying through the weekend.

"I think it’s time to get one. I think that’s how everyone in the locker room … that’s how our coaches feel," UVM guard Aaron Deloney said during Tuesday's news conference.

Senior captain Robin Duncan: "We are coming in confident. We are trying to keep our swagger with us. Just because we won the America East championship, we don’t want to be done yet. We want to go as far as we can."

Vermont, though, faces a daunting task for the program's ninth March Madness appearance and fifth under 12-year head coach John Becker.

Tabbed a 15 seed in the East Region, the Catamounts (23-10) are paired against two-seed and Big East champion Marquette (28-6), the sixth-ranked team in the country with conference player of the year Tyler Kolek headlining a high-scoring attack. The Golden Eagles opened as 10.5-point favorites over Vermont.

More:March Madness: Coverage of UVM basketball teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament

"Tyler Kolek, the Big East player of the year, but I think the reason he got that award is because they are such a good team," said Finn Sullivan, the America East player of the year. "They won the Big East, regular season and tournament. It’s going to take all of us, a full team effort."

The Marquette-Vermont matchup is scheduled for a 2:45 p.m. eastern time tip-off at Nationwide Arena. The first-round contest will be televised nationally on CBS.

History of 15 seed upsets at March Madness

Fifteen seeds have only won their opening-round games 10 times in NCAA Tournament history. Richmond over Syracuse in 1991 was the first No. 15 to advance to the Round of 32.

Through last year's March Madness, 15 seeds have a 10-138 record against two seeds, according to NCAA.com.

But since 2012, it's happened six times, including in each of the last two tournaments with Oral Roberts knocking off Ohio State and St. Peter's stunning Kentucky in its sublime run to the Elite Eight.

Of the 15-2 matchups, about 25% have been decided by single digits. In addition to St. Peter's run, Oral Roberts and Florida Gulf Coast (2013) made it to the Sweet 16.

Vermont, of course, turned into a Cinderella in 2005 as a No. 13 seed. Vermont toppled Syracuse with a 60-57 overtime victory to cap the Catamounts' golden era in the final seasons for coach Tom Brennan and star players Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine.

Moment not too big for Catamounts

Recent Catamount teams in the NCAA Tournament were unable to pull off another shocker. But they have been close. They hung with Purdue in 2017 and Florida State in 2019 before those teams' massive frontcourt size and strength proved overwhelming down the stretch.

Then last year, the 10-time America East champions gave Arkansas everything they had, but ultimately fell 75-71. The Razorbacks went on to reach the Elite Eight for a second straight season.

Duncan is the lone holdover from 2019 squad. And Duncan, Sullivan, Deloney and Nick Fiorillo were part of last year's tourney team.

"We are not going to be overwhelmed by the moment. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished," Becker said.

Still, just because Vermont's been knocking on the door in Becker's tenure, doesn't make them due for an upset win vs. Marquette.

"We not owned anything because we’ve been close," Becker said. "That’s the goal of this program, to win a couple games and get to the second weekend. It’s certainly what we’ve been trying to build here and we have another opportunity to do that."

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

TV, radio, stream information

Teams: (15) Vermont vs. (2) Marquette

Site: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

Date: Friday, March 17

Tip-off: 2:45 p.m. eastern (approx.)

TV: CBS (commentators Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappa, sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl)

Stream: March Madness Live (sign-in with TV provider or app)

Radio: The Game (97.1 FM, 960 AM)

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont basketball at NCAA Tournament: History of 15 seed upset wins