County college men set for hoop season
Toolbox
BY Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: November 13, 2009
Green Mountain College men's basketball coach Todd Montana and Paul Culpo, his counterpart at neighboring Castleton State, hope there's some truth to the saying about good things coming in small packages.
Montana's biggest player is Rui Carmo at 6-foot-5. Likewise, Castleton does not have much of a post presence.
There's a little more length on the court at College of St. Joseph where coach Phil Bartlett has 6-foot-7 Mike Neufville, 6-foot-6 Brad Drysdale and returning senior Tyler Herrington at 6-foot-6.
"We'll be a little smaller than we've been and a little more up-tempo," Montana said.
Montana's Eagles and Culpo's Spartans play in the North Atlantic Conference where the other teams are Maine schools Husson University, Thomas College, Maine Maritime and Maine-Farmington, along with Vermont schools Lyndon and Johnson.
Montana said defending champion Husson has the look of the favorite as it returns its three leading scorers. He also sees Maine-Farmington and a Thomas team that brings back five of its top seven scorers as being in the top tier.
"I think that the rest of us are all trying to figure ourselves out," Montana said.
GREEN MOUNTAIN
Green Mountain returns Gerard Johnson who was a second team All-NAC selection and Carmo, a NAC honorable mention selection. That's a good place from which to start.
Abraham Saccoh, a 6-foot-1 guard, and Eddie Asieduo, a 6-foot-2 wing player, are also returning.
The other five players are all freshmen. They are 5-foot-10 guard Aaron Gonzalez, 5-foot-11 guard Kenneth Williams, 5-foot-10 guard Daniel Kimatarale, 5-foot-11 guard Justin Ceri and 6-foot-2 forward Vladimyr Sibera.
The Eagles open the season Monday night at College of St. Joseph in Rutland at 7 p.m.
They will play in the Chuck Resler Tournament in Rochester, N.Y., on Nov. 20 where their first-round opponent is the University of Rochester. The next day at 1 p.m. they clash with Brockport State.
The Eagles are also in Norwich University's Hockenbury Tournament for the first time in Montana's five years on the Poultney campus. The Eagles open play in that tourney Dec. 5 against Wesleyan.
Castleton
Culpo gets his first look at his team in action on Tuesday night when it hosts New England College.
Small? "We'll be starting five guards," Culpo said. "It's not something I want to do long-term, but right now I think it's the best thing for us."
The biggest player is 6-foot-9 Zachary Briggs of Randolph, but he'll be coming off the bench.
"I think we are capable of making a lot of 3s," Culpo said.
"When I was at Hartwick, I never had shooters. The other team would make 12 and we would make two. That's a 36-6 difference. That shot is a weapon. I think we have a lot of kids who can make them.
"But on nights they aren't going in, it could be ugly."
The Spartans weathered a tough season last year, winning two games. But Culpo thinks people might be pleasantly surprised with this unit as he begins his first season as the Castleton coach.
"I think we are a lot better than what the public's perception probably is, but we still have to go out and prove it," he said.
The Spartans will be inexperienced with no players who have played an appreciable amount of Division III basketball.
There is an area flavor on the team with former Marble Valley League products like Mount Anthony's Seth Harrington, Hartford's Logan White, Bellows Falls' Dammy Mustapha, Fair Haven's Keith Schneider and West Rutland's Greg Hughes.
Hughes, a transfer from Division I Vermont, is the all-time leading scorer at West Rutland.
Rounding out the squad are Matt Roulier, Kevin Eisenberg, Mike Knight, Jared Paul, Derrick Faragon, Michael Carrier, Ian Hepalsingh, David Cochrane, Patrick Winn, Andrew Rosemer and Kyle Hall.
College of St. Joseph
There is also an MVL flavor to the Fighting Saints roster with the likes of Poultney's Jeff Hiser, West Rutland's Jamie Rajda, Rutland's Tyler Madison and Proctor's Kyle McQuarrie.
CSJ coach Bartlett coached at West Rutland when McQuarrie played at Proctor and is finding that it's better to be with him than against him.
"Now, I see why we lost to them," Bartlett said.
Joining big men Drysdale, Neufville and Herrington are Rahiem Smalls, Doug Childs, Jamaal Thomas, Nate Small and Evan Jobst.
The game Monday against Green Mountain will be the home opener.
The Fighting Saints play in the Sunrise Conference where the other teams are Maine-Machias, Fisher, Maine-Fort Kent, Paul Smith's. SUNY Canton, Maine-Presque Isle and Vermont Tech.
Bartlett sees Fisher and Maine-Fort Kent as the teams to beat.
Fisher won the Sunrise title last year and fell 115-74 to Oklahoma Wesleyan in the NAIA National Tournament.
NAC Preseason Poll
The North Atlantic Conference men's basketball coaches gave all eight first-place votes to Husson. The Eagles from Bangor, Maine, return six players, including the all-conference senior duo of Brock Bradford and Matt MacKenzie.
The Thomas Terriers are second in the poll and return the NAC Player of the Year in Andrew Duncanson, who led the league by averaging 21.6 points in conference games.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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