Photo Credit: Brian Jenkins

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Former Catamount men’s basketball player Colin McIntosh ’09 is continuing his playing career overseas, as he has recently signed with a team in Portugal. UVMathletics.com recently had a chance to catch up McIntosh and talk about both his new team and the 2009-10 Catamounts.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the team that your on?
A: I am playing in for a team called Barreirense in the top league in Portugal. The town that I am living in is called Barreiro, which is next to Lisbon. We are playing preseason games now and start the regular season early in November and go to early May. We have been playing preseason games for the past few weeks and the team is 3-2 since I got here, losing to two of the top teams in the league. I have been playing alright, averaging about 15 and 7 but need to step it up for sure. There is one other American on the team named Quintin Thornton, a big man who played at LSU for two years after playing in junior college.

Q: I know you haven't been over there that long, but what are the biggest differences between college and the level your playing at now?
A: To me there are not many differences except that the refs call traveling a lot more and let players get away with carrying the ball, which is kind of frustrating. Other than that and the lane being wider, it’s not much different.

Q: How long will you be in Portugal for this year? Do you get any breaks where you will be able to come home?
A: They actually booked a flight for me to go home already for May 13. It looks like the longest vacation we will get is the four days they give us over Christmas so I probably won’t be going home. Fortunately my dad and sister are coming over for Thanksgiving and my mom and brother are coming for Christmas.

Q: How excited are you to continue your basketball career?
A: I am very glad I have been given this opportunity to keep playing hoops. I had the best year of my career last year and wanted to keep it going.

Q: What are your expectations for your first season?
A: My expectations for this team are to try and finish in the top three. It’s a solid league and we lost some close games to two of the top teams so I think we have a chance to be pretty good. They finished sixth last year but I am hoping we can do better this year. Personally I feel that I will be able to score a lot because I am getting more touches and they are expecting me to score which gives me the opportunity to be more aggressive and bring out some of my Larry Bird moves. There is still a lot of stuff I can improve on, but I am trying to get better and better every day.

Q: What do you think you will miss the most about not playing at Vermont?
A: Soccer is the big sport over here and basketball is a distant second, if it is even second. With that said, there isn’t much crowd support and that is something I am going to miss a lot because I loved playing in front of our fans. I am also going to miss not being able to talk easily with all of my teammates because most of these guys speak some English but it's not easy to hold a regular conversation sometimes do to the different languages.

Q: The team opened the year with a preseason game this past Sunday. Will you miss not playing at Patrick Gym?
A: I loved playing at Patrick gym and am really proud of some of the games we have had there. UVM was a great experience but I have to look forward to what's ahead of me too. People say that college is the best time of your life, but I try not to look at it that way. I want to continue to enjoy myself and what I am doing, even though it might be a grind.

Q: Will you get a chance to follow Vermont at all this year?
A: I am definitely going to follow the team this year, but it's only going to be through checking scores and stuff online.

Q: Do you keep in touch with any of the guys still on the team, and if so, have you talked to them lately about the upcoming year?
A: I keep in touch with some of the guys on the team and it seems like they have a chance to be good this year. It looks like the freshmen are pretty talented and should be able to contribute right away. It’s been too long since the Catamounts went to the ‘Big Dance’ and I hope they can get it done this year.