Vermont Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:23:41 PDT

Vermont hasn't won the past two America East titles, but, somehow, the road to that crown always seems to have to go through Burlington.

It also has to go through Marqus Blakely.

Yes, the 6-5 (and that may be a stretch) giant, is back, again. He's a two-time conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He will be missing sidekick Mike Trimboli and useful part Colin McIntosh, but this is a team that again has to be mentioned in the mix for the conference title.

Mike Lonergan begins his fifth season as the Catamounts' coach and he's 76-49 in the first four. Vermont went 24-9 last year, when the Cats lost to host Albany in the first round of the conference tournament and then went 1-1 in the inaugural CBI Tournament.

Vermont won at...