UVM Excites Vermont Fans

Vermonters from all over, even a few LSC students like myself, are getting excited about UVM's tournament win.

UVM only has one NCAA tournament win in the school's history, and boy was it a win.  The 13th seeded Vermont Catamounts played the 4th seeded Syracuse Orange in 2005.  Nearly no one picked the catamounts, which only got a berth into the tournament because they won their conference, the America East Conference.

Since their big play-in win against 16 seeded Lamar on Wednesday night, UVM students, Vermonters, and even LSC students are going nuts about seeing a team that they feel a connection to.  It goes to show that Vermonters really do take pride in what little basketball they do have that represents them. 

The Vermont Frost Heaves, a semi-professional team, folded last year due to financial concerns.  On that team was former UVM stand-out Marqus Blakely.  Blakely eventually ended up in the NBA Developmental league and was even called up as a reserve for the Houston Rockets for a while.  Blakely currently plays for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA-DL.

Lyndon State definitely has it fair share of "superfans" here on campus.  There isn't, however, a large fan base for a many reasons.  For one, we are a small college in a low populated area for Vermont.  Second, and more importantly, the men's or women's basketball teams haven't won a North Atlantic Conference Title in quite some time.  The men's team was able to make it to the championship game last year, but lost a hard fought game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as excited to see the UVM Men's Basketball team get a win, even if it is a play-in game.  I'm just disappointed in the lack of interest in the local basketball teams, because there are some very good ones, even high school teams.  There are two local teams, the Danville Indians Boys team and Lyndon Institute Vikings Girls, who made it to the State Championship games this year.

If only people could get as excited about the teams around here, then would the basketball "scene" be as exciting and entertaining as watching the Boston Celtics or Kentucky Wildcats on television.