Vermont @ Binghamton, tonight at 7

UVM scares me.

Of all the teams in the league, Vermont is the one team that truly intimidates me on paper. This may be slightly homer-ish, but on any given day, I'll take Laz and Mike against any other duo in the league -- except Trimboli/Blakely.

Trimboli is simply phenomenal, and I think he'll display that tonight. Mike Gordon's a better defensive player, but Trimboli's scoring ability separates him from all the other PG's in the league. He's a truly special player in this league, among the likes of Jose Juan Barea, T.J. Sorrentine, Andre Heard before him.

Between Blakely and Laz, you could make the argument for a push. But I'm still stuck giving the edge to the UVM pair because I really think Trimboli is the league's top guard.

However, let's not hand UVM the league quite yet. The reason they have not separated themselves, as a team, from the rest of the league is because their role players are simply not that good. Of course they have Kyle Cieplicki, a carryover from the Tom Brennan era. But UVM's role players pale in comparison to Binghamton's Reggie Fuller/Richie Forbes/Dwayne Jackson, and those are the guys who could make the difference tonight.

All that said, I'm sticking to UVM by 10; and I hope the Zoo brings the house down despite Saturday's loss (which I think will take a big toll on the student support, no matter what Brian Moritz and bubearcats.com say).