Photo Credit: Brian Jenkins
Live: Video (B2) | Audio | Stats
Video: Season Preview | Media Day | Catamount Tip-Off
2009-10 Schedule | Photos (Flickr)

NOTE: There will be no audio with the B2 video because of technical difficulties. Audio is available via SportsJuice.com for FREE (Click Here) to listen

VERMONT MEN’S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
The University of Vermont men’s basketball team kicks-off the 2009-10 season on Sunday in a preseason game at home vs. Concordia from Montreal, starting at 1 p.m. The Catamounts are coming off a 24-9 record last season and went 13-3 in America East play to earn a share of the regular season championship.

The game can be heard live on WEAV-AM 960 and DOT-FM 96.7, and on the internet at www.UVMathletics.com with the audio stream provided by SportsJuice.com. The game will also be broadcast live on the Internet via B2 Networks on a pay-per-view basis of $7.

PROMOTIONS: There will be a postgame Catamount Kid’s Conference presented by the Doubletree, where kid’s will get to ask their favorite men’s basketball players questions and Doubletree will be providing free chocolate cookies.

FLASHBACK: Vermont defeated Concordia in the first preseason game of the season last year, 77-69. In his first career game in a Catamount uniform, Garvey Young led the way with 14 points. Marqus Blakely added 12 points and 12 rebounds.

PRESEASON POLL: Vermont was picked to finish second in the 2009-10 America East Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll, while senior Marqus Blakely was named to the preseason all-conference team. The conference released the poll and all-conference team on Wednesday at America East Basketball Media Day. Boston University received all eight possible first-place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their team) and 64 points to be named the preseason favorite, followed by Vermont, which received the remaining first-place vote and 56 points. Albany barely edged Stony Brook for third place with 43 points, while the Seawolves came in one point behind with 42, just ahead of New Hampshire’s 39. Hartford and UMBC tied for sixth with 28 points apiece, while Maine (14 points) and Binghamton University (12) rounded out the poll. Blakely joined Boston University’s Corey Lowe and John Holland as the only unanimous selections for the preseason all-conference squad. The trio was joined by Albany’s Tim Ambrose, Joe Zeglinski of Hartford and Muhammad El-Amin of Stony Brook. Ambrose and Zeglinski tied for the final spot.

ROAD TRIP: The Catamounts’ two preseason games will be the only chance to catch them at home prior to December 13, as they will play their first 10 regular season games of the year on the road. Vermont opens the regular season on Friday, November 13 at Loyola (Md.) and will play in seven different states before its home opener on December 13 vs. Quinnipiac. Two years ago the Cats started the season with eight of their first nine away from Patrick Gym.

CATS ON TV: Vermont is guaranteed to play at least six games on television this season. The first Catamount men’s basketball game to be televised will be Vermont vs. Quinnipiac on December 13 at 12 p.m. on the New England Sports Network (NESN). Vermont will play five America East conference games on television starting on January 10 at Albany at 4 p.m., which will be shown in the Albany area on Time Warner Cable (TW3). Both showdowns with Boston University will be televised this year. The first meeting between the Catamounts and Terriers in Burlington on January 17 (2 p.m.) will air on ESPNU and the February 9 game in Boston on Comcast Sports Net at 7 p.m. Vermont will appear on NESN when it travels to face New Hampshire on January 27 at 7 p.m. The Cats also travel to face Stony Brook in a game that will be televised on both NESN and Madison Square Garden Plus (MSG+) on February 24 at 7 p.m. Other potential television appearances include the BracketBuster series on February 19-20 on the ESPN family of networks and the America East Tournament, which will take place March 4-7 on the campus of the University of Hartford. The semifinals on March 7 will be televised and the finals will be held on March 13 at the highest remaining seed and be played on ESPN2.

RAISE THE BANNER: Prior to the Cats’ final preseason game against Saint Michael’s on November 7, a banner will be raised commemorating Vermont’s America East Regular Season Co-Championship and also its appearance in the College Basketball Invitational last season.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION: Senior Marqus Blakely was selected as one of the top 10 rebounders in the nation in a recent story on ESPN.com by Jay Bilas. Bilas ranks Blakely at #10 in the country, as at 6-foot-5 he is also the shortest player in the top 10. Blakely was also mentioned in another ESPN.com story by Fran Fraschilla that looked at some of the top defenders in the nation, as he ranked just outside of Franschilla’s top 10. Junior Joey Accaoui was also named one of the top 50 shooters in the nation this season by Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com. Accaoui came in 23rd in the nation in the ranking.

BRACKETBUSTERS: Vermont has been selected to the pool of teams to participate in the eighth-annual ESPN BracketBusters series, which will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPNU on Friday-Saturday, February 19-20. Vermont will host a game for the second straight season, and is the only America East team to have a home game as part of the BracketBusters series this year. In all, a total of 98 teams will compete in the 49-game, two-day event with 11 of the 49 match-ups pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other will be televised nationally, highlighted by six games on ESPN2 and five on ESPNU. The BracketBusters event will feature three America East teams as Boston University and New Hampshire join Vermont. An America East team has played in a BracketBusters televised game in four of the last five years, as the Catamounts played Buffalo last year and Nevada in 2005, while Albany played Boise State in 2007 and Virginia Commonwealth in 2006. Last year in front of a sold-out crowd at Patrick Gym on ESPN2, Vermont defeated Buffalo 78-70 as part of the BracketBusters series.

LEGENDS CLASSIC: The 12-team field for the 2009 Legends Classic men’s basketball tournament was announced in September. Vermont will open the regional round on November 22 on the road against Rutgers starting at 4 p.m. The Cats will also play Drexel, Cornell and Toledo in the sub-regional round in Philadelphia, Pa. on November 27-29.

CLASS OF 2013: Vermont newcomers Luke Apfeld (Wolfeboro, N.H.), Brendan Bald (Millersville, Md.), Ben Crenca (Exeter, R.I.) and Simeon Marsalis (New Rochelle, N.Y.) will make their first appearances in a Catamount uniform on Sunday vs. Concordia. The Catamounts will also add Massachusetts transfer and Jericho, Vt. native Matt Glass this year, who will have to sit out the 2009-10 season due to NCAA rules, but will have two years left to play.

20 WINS: Vermont earned its 24th victory of the season last year when it topped Green Bay, 76-72. The Cats have now recorded 20 or more wins in six of the last eight seasons, after not accomplishing the feat in the first 87 seasons of the history of the program. UVM had 24 wins last year, which are the third-most in a single season in Catamount history. The 2004-05 and 2006-07 teams share the Vermont record for most wins in a season with 25. Head coach Mike Lonergan has recorded 20 or more wins in 10 of his 16 seasons as a head coach, including eight times while he was at Catholic University.

POSTSEASON PLAY: Vermont made its fifth postseason appearance in the last seven years with a trip to the College Basketball Invitational last season. The Cats made the NCAA’s in 2003, 2004 and 2005, while earning their first trip to the postseason NIT in 2007. The win over Green Bay in the opening round of the CBI also marked only the second postseason win in team history.

REGULAR SEASON CROWN: The Catamounts earned a share of the America East Regular Season Championship with the win over Maine in the regular season finale on March 1. Vermont shared the regular season title with Binghamton, as both teams posted 13-3 league records. It marked the third time in the last five years and fourth time overall that UVM has earned at least a share of the regular season.

LAST TIME OUT: Calvin Haynes hit a baseline floater with 6.1 seconds left in overtime to lift Oregon State to a 71-70 victory over Vermont on March 23 in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational. Junior Marqus Blakely led the Cats with 17 points, while senior Mike Trimboli ended with 15 points and five assists.

TICKETS ON SALE: Tickets are now on sale for the 2009-10 season. Individual game tickets can be purchased via the Internet by going to www.UVMathletics.com. Season ticket packages can be purchased in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office. Tickets are also available over the phone at 1-866-4Cat-Tix (1-866-422-8849). Reserved seat season tickets for men’s basketball are $144 per seat ($12 x 12 games). Approximately 100 men’s reserved seats remain for the 2009-10 season. If the reserved seat allotment runs out, the ticket office will begin selling general admission season ticket packages. All season ticket packages will be mailed out in late October.

AROUND THE RIM: Marqus Blakely is the only two-time conference play of the year in the nation to return this season … Two members of the class of 2009 are now currently continuing their basketball careers overseas, as Mike Trimboli is playing in Poland and Colin McIntosh is playing in Portugal … The men’s basketball team volunteered and participated in the annual Kevin Roberson Run during Homecoming Weekend.

WHO’S NEXT: The Catamounts return to action on Saturday, November 7 when they host Saint Michael’s in their final preseason game of the year. Vermont opens the regular season on November 13 with a trip to Loyola (Md.).

FOLLOW OR FRIEND THE CATAMOUNTS ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER: The UVM Athletic Department has a Facebook page. Click here to become a friend of the department to keep up with all the happenings in Catamount Country. Fans can also follow the Catamounts via Twitter. The department has a general Twitter account @UVMAthletics and the men’s basketball team also has a Twitter account @UVM_M_Hoops. Follow @UVMAthletics for general news on the department and/or follow @UVM_M_Hoops for more in-depth coverage of the team, including in-meet updates throughout the season.

CATAMOUNTS ALL-ACCESS: Visit the Catamounts All-Access page at UVMathletics.com for information on how to get results of your favorite Catamount teams minutes after the conclusion of the meet via a text message on your cell phone via eScores. The feature is available to anyone with a cell phone, regardless of cell phone service provider. Also, stay up-to-date with the Catamounts. Sign up for the Vermont men’s basketball eNews, offered free of charge by the Athletic Communications Office. Receive all the latest news and notes, as well as complete game summaries for every contest via your personal e-mail account. Catamounts All-Access also includes links to UVM's other social networking sites like Flickr and YouTube, Vermont's television schedule, live stats, live audio streaming and wallpaper for your computer.

PHOTO STORE: Catamount faithful can purchase athletic pictures at www.UVMathletics.com via the Vermont Photo Store. Pictures make great gifts for holidays, home wall art, or office decorations. Powered by Replay Photos, the website will feature pictures of all 18 sports, including meet action photos from the 2009-10 season once they become available.

GET YOUR GEAR: The UVM athletic department, in conjunction with TeamFanShop, has launched its first-ever merchandise and apparel store through the school's official athletic site at UVMathletics.com. The new online store includes hats, polo shirts, shorts, t-shirts, gifts and much more from several leading manufacturers.