America East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

1. Vermont Catamounts

Projected Starters

Guards – Stef Smith (SR), Ben Shungu (SR), Robin Duncan (JR)
Forwards – Bernie Andre (SR), Ryan Davis (JR)
Bench – Justin Mazzulla (SR), Tomas Murphy (GR), Bailey Patella (SR), Aaron Deloney (SO), Isaiah Powell (JR), Georges Lefebvre (FR), Duncan Demuth (JR), Nick Fiorillo (SO), Skyler Nash (SR), Eric Beckett (SO), Deng Adiang (SO), Kevin Garrison (JR)

Vermont has been able to put together two decades of basketball dominance in Burlington for about the last two decades. During the last four seasons, the Catamounts have posted an overall record of 109-28, which is almost an 80 percent overall winning percentage. Along with winning throughout the season, Vermont has dominated the America East, by going 59-5 during the last four seasons of conference play.

Coming off his fifth America East Coach of the Year Award, head coach John Becker will be entering his tenth season for the Catamounts. Part of Vermont’s excellence is its stingy defense, which makes every possession a challenge for its opponents. Vermont allowed the fourth-fewest points nationally last season, only giving up 59.5 points per game. With an experienced roster loaded with upperclassmen once again, I expect Vermont to be at the top of college basketball in total defense.

First, the Catamounts suffered two significant losses during the offseason when their two starters, Anthony Lamb (16.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and Everett Duncan (9 ppg, 4.2 rpg), graduated from the program. Lamb was Vermont’s leading scorer and rebounder the past two seasons and was selected as a two-time America East Conference Player of the Year for 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, Duncan who was Vermont’s fourth-leading scorer from this past season started all 33 games for the Catamounts.

As for the players heading back to Vermont, Becker will bring back 2020 First-Team All-Conference senior guard Stef Smith (14.2 ppg, 2.6 apg), who is my prediction to win the 2021 America East Conference Player of the Year. Smith, who is a three-point shooting threat, took the step up towards improving his perimeter game from his sophomore to junior seasons. Last season, Smith led the conference with a three-point field goal percentage of 42.3 percent.

Becker will get back a second senior at guard with Ben Shungu (7.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg). He played a crucial role last season locking up opponents around the perimeter and was named as the 2020 America East Defensive Player of the Year.

Even though he is listed at 6-2, Shungu was a consistent rebounder last season and will look to keep his defensive momentum rolling into this season. What’s impressive is that Shungu had a career-high 10 rebounds last season against New Hampshire, which ranked 5th nationally in rebounds per game last season.

The third guard back in the starting five is junior Robin Duncan (4.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg). Duncan is the youngest of the Duncan brothers trio that was a part of Vermont’s NCAA Tournament team in 2019. Robin’s oldest brother Ernie graduated in 2019 and Everett graduated after last season.

Robin Duncan started 10 games last season but should see increased playing time this season. Duncan didn’t have tons of opportunities to score last season, but when he did, he was efficient by connecting on 46.7 percent of his shots.

Now, we’ll take a look at the two starting forwards that I predict will be part of Vermont’s starting lineup. The first forward is junior Ryan Davis (9.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg). He was named the 2020 America East Sixth Man of the Year. I expect Davis to have a huge season and make a tremendous impact on this season’s squad.

Last season, Davis averaged 20 minutes per game last season, connecting on 53 percent of his shots. During a 10-game stretch from late-January to mid-February, Davis got hot shooting 57-97 from the floor (58.7 field goal percentage). If Davis can keep up that type of offensive production, the Catamounts are going to be even more dangerous.

In the offseason, Becker landed a solid transfer that should be able to help out the Catamounts tremendously on the boards. I predict that the last player in the starting five at forward will be senior grad transfer Bernie Andre (11.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg). Andre started 17 games last season for Northern Arizona and tallied three double-doubles. He should be able to cut into some of Lamb’s rebounding production that the two-time America East Player of the Year had last season.

Now, we will take a look at two key impact players that I believe will give Vermont a boost this season as former transfers. The first player is forward Tomas Murphy (9.3 ppg), who is a grad transfer from Northeastern. Murphy started four games last season for the Huskies, but his season ended early due to an ankle injury. Murphy is a 56 percent career shooter and can provide an extra element to boost the Catamounts inside scoring.

The second player that could play a key role as a transfer acquisition is guard Justin Mazzula. Mazzula sat-out in 2019-20 due to transfer rules. He was a 33-game starter for the George Washington Colonials, where he averaged 8.9 points per game and led his team in assists during the 2018-19 season.

Even with the loss of the two-time America East Player of the Year Anthony Lamb, Vermont should be able to have enough weapons to still provide a spark offensively, along with its lockdown defense. The Catamounts have appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments in the last 18 seasons.

With a deep roster full of upperclassmen and experience, Vermont is my pick to take home the America East title this season. I project that the Catamounts dominance in the America East will continue into 2020 and 2021.