Kansas vs. Vermont: College basketball game preview, TV schedule

Can last year’s American East Conference regular season champions Vermont scare the nation’s No. 1 team in the Kansas Jayhawks?

TV Schedule: Monday, November 12 at 9:00 PM/EST (ESPN2)

Location: Allen Fieldhouse (Lawrence, Kansas)

No. 1 Kansas is coming off a five-point victory over a top-10 Michigan State team in one of the most impressive victories of the young season. The Jayhawks may not face a ranked opponent until December 15 when it hosts No. 9 Villanova, but its schedule isn’t very easy up until that juncture.

Monday night shouldn’t be a game that Kansas should come complacent and overconfident into. Vermont, who defeated a rather talented Boston University squad by six points in its opener, has established itself as one of the best mid-major programs in the country in recent memory. The Catamounts have posted 20 or more wins in each of its last ten seasons and has 56 wins in the past two seasons alone.

However, Kansas’ talented that earned the program the No. 1 overall preseason ranking may be too overwhelming for virtually all of its opponents this season. In the Jayhawks’ win over No. 10 Michigan State, freshman Quentin Grimes, Memphis transfer Dedric Lawson, and junior big man Udoka Azubuike all showed out. Grimes posted a team-high 21 points and added four assists and Lawson had a double-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists. Azubuike added 17 points in a mere 20 minutes of floor time.

Kansas has even more than just talented; it is one of the deepest teams in the country. Ten different Jayhawks saw at least five minutes of floor time in their season opener.

Vermont may have talent and depth for American East Conference standards, but the group matches up poorly with Kansas. Junior forward Anthony Lamb (14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds per game last season) looks to be the centerpiece for the Catamounts. Ernie Duncan is the only other returning double-figure scorer, as the junior guard posted 10.8 points per game last year. Duncan has two other brothers, Everett and Robin, in the program as well; the former being a senior who averaged 6.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while the latter is a freshman who looks to contribute off the bench.

I would love to see the nation’s top team be stunned by a talented mid-major squad. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case on Monday night. Bill Self’s team is the No. 1 team in the country because of its mix of veteran and transfer pieces as well as freshmen talents that blend perfectly together on paper. Vermont very well could hang with the Jayhawks in the first half, but Kansas will come out victorious in any circumstance.