Vermont Smokes BU

How about that performance? Patrick gymlet felt like Patrick gymlet tonight.

After a prolonged struggle in home games, Vermont took their aggression out at the right time. Faced with the prospect of being 0-2 in league play and just 1-5 at home on the season, the Catamounts needed a win. Badly. They came out on Thursday night and played like that were the case, beating Boston University 83-69.

More on Vermont's Big W -- And BU's bad loss -- After the jump.

Attention, America East: did you watch any out-of-conference film? Four McGlynn can shoot the basketball. Four! rained four! threes on the Terriers and finished with 20 points on 6-12 shooting (4-7 from range, 4-4 from the line). Matt Glass added 19 points, including an emphatic dunk that just happened to be on the same end of the floor as The Dunk. When you have watched that dunk as many times as I have, you know that Glass is sitting on the bench with a tie on the top of the screen when Blakely decides it is hammertime. Let's just say Matt isn't sitting for the entire clip.

Back to the game. Everyone on Vermont contributed in the win. Brian Voelkel did the stuff Brian Voelkel does in conference play: 16 rebounds, six assists, and 4 points. Casual. Brendan Bald knocked down a couple shots and frustrated Darryl Partin (6-16 fg, 19 points) into taking bad shots (but Partin probably would have done that on his own). Luke Apfeld went 9-10 from the charity stripe and finished with 13 points. Apfeld also took three charges, which is especially shocking when you consider how many fouls that could go either way go against Apfeld because of his "hands-in-the-air-I-didn't-do-it" antics.

To me, the story of the game was Clancy Rugg. In 9 minutes of play, he had 7 points. You're probably wondering, is that really the story of the game? There were several moments when Rugg proved that he was the most athletic player on the floor. He shot a couple of jump shots with confidence and took the ball to the rack on a breakaway, ending up with a trip to the free throw line. This is really exciting for Vermont, a team that has a history of solid walk-on production. Expect Rugg to get a scholarship next season. There are eight other teams in America East that would offer him one if he were to show interest.

On the other side of the ball, BU looked bad. The Terriers have now lost seven straight, and tonight they looked like a team who is used to losing. They had some epic collapses on defense, several of which can be seen in the highlights of the game. With about ten minutes left, Vermont took their first double digit lead. BU started playing with the type of desperation you see teams play with when they're down double digits with only a couple minutes to go. Shots went up early and often in the shot clock, often from distance and usually well-guarded. In the first half, BU went 2-6 from three. In the second half, they went 4-14. While that is not a huge difference percentage-wise, it shows how differently the Terriers approached each half.

After making a lay up that cut the lead to 11, Jeff Pelage shoved Ben Crenca out of his way as he ran back down the court. WCAX+ showed the replay several times, and I'm trying to be objective when I say it looked like Pelage made the move out of frustration, completely unprovoked by Crenca. Those are the type of silly decisions made by a team on a several-game losing streak.

BU appears to have all the pieces -- speed and talent at the point, a lanky wing who can score, and some talented big men -- but none of the cohesion that it takes play good basketball. They're going to have to hurry up and right the ship before it is too late. Though, we all remember last year, when BU started slow in league play and then cruised into the NCAA tournament. The difference was that last year they had the conference's runaway player of the year, John Holland. This year they have some guys who need to make better decisions.