Vermont sticks to successful strategy
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Vermont Frost Heaves forward Kevin Mickens works on his jump shot during Wednesday's practice at Memorial Auditorium in Burlington. The Frost Heaves will host the Texas Tycoons in tonight's ABA title game. Stefan Hard/Times Argus |
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By Anna Grearson Times Argus Staff - Published: March 29, 2007
BURLINGTON – The game plan won't change. It hasn't since the Vermont Frost Heaves' inaugural season's inaugural game on Nov. 10, and it is business as usual for the American Basketball Association's No. 1 team.
The Vermont Frost Heaves are confident heading into tonight's ABA championship game at the Barre Auditorium with No. 3 Texas, and Vermont coach Will Voigt feels his squad knows the recipe for a win by heart.
"We've been playing pretty well over these last couple games and the guys are confident and they should be," Voigt said before practice on Wednesday. "We're 20-1 at home, we play in front of the best fans in the league, and we're playing great basketball. They know it's going to be a tough game just like all of these playoff games. We're not like, 'Oh, how are we going to beat Texas?' We understand that if we defend, then we'll put ourselves in a great position to win."
There is one hitch, however, and it's a big one. If it is possible to have two teams that look dangerously similar on paper, nearly 1,800 miles apart, the Tycoons are the Frost Heaves of the Lone Star State.
"They're really similar to us – athletic, quick – they really want to get up and down the court," Voigt said. "They'll want to press, they'll want to push the tempo and look to score early in transition. It'll be an interesting game. They play a similar style to ours."
The Frost Heaves aren't worried, and they feel that if Texas wants to run the floor, that's fine because Vermont will run the floor faster.
"We're confident in what we do, we're confident playing at home because we know that a team like Texas has not played in front of a crowd like that, probably has not played a team that defends the way we do," Voigt said. "They're going to have to adjust to us. We're the No. 1 team, so we don't feel like we have to change our style just because they want to run also. We feel like we can do it better than they can."
The Heaves will have to apply the defensive pressure that has gotten this young team this far. Texas subs en masse, just like Vermont. The Tycoons put five shooters on the floor and the Heaves faithful have seen each Vermont player score big buckets all year.
"The biggest difference is that they've been doing it against weaker opponents than we've been playing," Voigt said. "That's what we're counting on. They haven't faced a team that's as good as we are defensively and hopefully that throws them off their rhythm a little bit. It's really an entirely different game than the Wilmington game. All of our focus was in taking away their bigs, and this is going to be opposite and be more like going back to Bellingham, where our focus was controlling their perimeter."
Vermont downed No. 13 Strong Island, No. 8 Bellingham and No. 10 Wilmington to arrive at the title game, and Texas followed a similar path. The Tycoons also enjoyed a first-round bye and went on to dispatch No. 14 Detroit, No. 9 Quad Cities and No. 7 Beijing, scoring over 250 points in the last two games combined.
Texas has been boosted recently by the sharp-shooting of five players: Josh Gonner (21 points, including a 12-of-12 effort from the free-throw line against Quad Cities), Brandon Lee and Jerome Rogers each had 19 in the Quad Cities win, and Benny West. All-Star Donnie Beacham was the main threat against the Riverhawks with a 23-point, 18-rebound double-double.
The Tycoons, who won 16 of their last 17 games for a 24-5 record, will have to find a way to crack a Vermont defense that has shut down two high-scoring teams in a row, holding Wilmington to 85 points and Bellingham to 103 points.
However, the competition up north has provided 33-6 Vermont with the experience Voigt feels has prepared his team for this type of game.
"We feel pretty confident that we play in the toughest division in the league," Voigt said. "We've gone up against good teams. I know Texas has beaten Arkansas, which was a very good team, but they beat up on a lot of weaker teams, too. We really need to jump on them early so that we're out to a big lead before they know what hit them."
Vermont's Issa Konare is still questionable for tonight's game, as the 6-foot-8 forward is was injured in a hard no-call foul in last week's Bellingham game in Burlington.
"That's been the story of the season. When one guy goes down another one steps up. In this case, Kevin Mickens has really filled the void," Voigt said. "We're really confident with the group we have. We don't feel like there's one guy who drives the whole thing. As much as we want Issa back and we feel like we're better with him back, we don't panic."
Today's contest tips off at 7:05 p.m. and will feature Dartmouth College women's basketball coach Chris Wielgus as the Northfield Savings Bank 110 percent Community All-Star. Current University of Vermont women's coach Sharon Dawley was on Wielgus' staff prior to taking the helm for the Catamounts.
The Northfield Savings Bank also announced it will double the amount donated from tonight's halftime shooting contest by the Community All-Star. Layups will now be worth $100, free throws $150 and three-point shots will be worth $200 for charity.
As of closing last night, the Flynn Regional Box Office sold over 1,300 tickets for tonight's game. Roughly 461 tickets remain and will be sold today starting at noon at the Barre Auditorium.