:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57797699/usa_today_10437621.0.jpg)
When is brutality not an upset?
It’s a question that has plagued philosophers for generations (or like a year, really). On Wednesday, we got an example, when Vermont went into Richmond and came away with a win.
Vermont 71 Richmond 65
Richmond loses a buy game to Vermont. The epitome of brutality.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 30, 2017
Sure, Richmond paid Vermont to play this game, but the Catamounts are the better team. In fact, Vermont is one of the best mid-majors in the country and will probably be a trendy upset pick in a few months.
In this one, Ernie Duncan had 21 points to lead the way and went 5-8 from three, while Anthony Lamb had 14 of his own. As a team, Vermont shot better than 53 percent from the field.
Vermont is now 6-1 overall and concern has been slowly mounting in Richmond since the first game of the season. The Spiders are only 1-6 with three losses to sub-100 teams in KenPom. It doesn’t get easier from here, either, as Richmond has to visit Wake Forest and Old Dominion for its next two games.
Updated brutality leaderboard:
Brutality Leaderboard
| Conference | America East | Atlantic 10 | Atlantic Sun | Big Sky | Big South | Big West | Colonial | C-USA | Horizon | Ivy | MAAC | MAC | MEAC | Missouri Valley | Mountain West | NEC | Ohio Valley | Patriot | Southern | Southland | SWAC | Sun Belt | Summit | WCC | WAC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | America East | Atlantic 10 | Atlantic Sun | Big Sky | Big South | Big West | Colonial | C-USA | Horizon | Ivy | MAAC | MAC | MEAC | Missouri Valley | Mountain West | NEC | Ohio Valley | Patriot | Southern | Southland | SWAC | Sun Belt | Summit | WCC | WAC |
| Total Brutality | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Albany | Davidson | FGCU | E. Washington (1) | Campbell | Cal Poly | College of Charleston | UAB | Cleveland St. | Brown | Canisius | Akron | Coppin St. | Bradley | Air Force | Bryant | Austin Peay | American | Chattanooga | Abilene Christian | Alabama A&M | Appalachian St. | Denver | BYU | CSUB | |
| Binghamton | Dayton | Jackonsville | Idaho | Charleston Southern | Cal St. Fullerton | Delaware (1) | FAU | Detroit Mercy (1) | Columbia | Fairfield | Bowling Green | Delaware St. | Drake | Boise St. | Central Conn. St. (1) | Belmont | Army | Citadel | Central Arkansas | Alabam St. | Arkansas St. | Fort Wayne | Gonzaga | Chicago St. | |
| Hartford | Duquesne | Kennesaw St. | Idaho St. | Gardner-Webb | Cal St. Northridge | Drexel | FIU | Green Bay | Cornell | Iona | Buffalo | Hampton | Evansville | Fresno St. | Fairleigh Dickinson | Eastern Illinois | Boston | ETSU | Houston Baptist | Alcorn St. | Coastal Carolina | Nebraska Omaha | Loyola Marymount | Grand Canyon | |
| Maine | Fordham | Lipscomb | Montana (1) | High Point | Hawaii | Elon | Louisiana Tech | IUPUI | Dartmouth | Manhattan | Kent State | Howard | Illinois St. | Colorado St. | LIU Brooklyn | Eastern Kentucky | Bucknell | Furman | Incarnate Word | Jackson St. | Georgia Southern (1) | No. Dakota St. | Pacific | UMKC | |
| UMBC | George Mason | NJIT | Montana St. | Liberty (1) | Long Beach St. | Hofstra | Marshall | Milwaukee (1) | Harvard | Marist | Miami OH (1) | Maryland Eastern Shore | Indiana St. (1) | Nevada | Mount St. Mary's | Jacksonville St. (1) | Colgate | Mercer | Lamar (1) | Mississippi Valley St. | Georgia St. | Oral Roberts | Pepperdine | New Mexico St. | |
| UMass-Lowell | George Washington | North Florida | N. Dakota | Longwood | UC Davis (1) | James Madison | MTSU | No. Kentucky | Penn | Monmouth | Ohio | Morgan St. (1) | Loyola (IL) | UNLV | Robert Morris | Morehead St. | Holy Cross | Samford | McNeese St. | Arkansas Pine Bluff | Little Rock | South Dakota | Portland | Seattle | |
| New Hampshire | La Salle | So. Car. Upstate | N. Arizona | Presbyterian | UC Irvine | Northeastern | Charlotte | Oakland | Princeton | Niagara | Ball State | Norfolk St. | Missouri St. | New Mexico | Sacred Heart | Murray St. | Lafayette | UNC Greensboro | New Orleans | Grambling St. (1) | Louisiana Lafayette | S. Dakota St. (1) | St. Mary's | UTRGV | |
| Stony Brook | UMass | Stetson | N. Colorado | Radford (1) | UC Riverside (1) | Towson | North Texas | UIC | Yale | Quinnipiac | Central Michigan | Bethune-Cookman | Northern Iowa | San Diego St. | St. Francis Brooklyn | SE Missouri St. | Lehigh | VMI | Nicholls St. | Prairie View A&M | Lousiana Monroe | Western Illinois | San Diego (1) | Utah Valley | |
| Vermont (1) | Rhode Island | Portland St. | UNC Asheville | UC Santa Barbara | UNC Wilmington | Old Dominion | Wright St. | Rider (1) | Eastern Michigan | Florida A&M | So. Illinois | San Jose St. | St. Francis | SIUE | Loyola (Maryland) | W. Carolina | Northwestern St. | Southern | So. Alabama | San Francisco | |||||
| Richmond | Sacramento St. | Winthrop | William & Mary | Rice | Youngstown St. | St. Peter's | Northern Illinois | NC A&T (1) | Valparaiso | Utah St. | Wagner | Tennessee St. | Navy | Wofford | Sam Houston St. | Texas Southern | Texas St. | Santa Clara | |||||||
| St. Bonaventure | S. Utah | So. Miss | Siena | Toledo | Savannah St. | Wyoming | Tennessee Tech | SE Louisiana | UT Arlington | ||||||||||||||||
| St. Joseph's | Weber St. | UTEP | Western Michigan (1) | So. Carolina St. | UT Martin | Stephen F. Austin | Troy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Saint Louis | UTSA | TAMU Corpus Christi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| VCU | Western Kentucky |