Save the Shield! A Vanderbilt sports blog

My life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately.  My job situation now allows me to live anywhere within a reasonable driving distance from Huntsville, and I’m evaluating whether I’d like to live in the Memphis/Southaven/Tunica area and become a regular at the poker tables.   That’s my biggest excuse for being such a passive VU spring sports follower.

But there’s lots to follow.   Baseball’s found itself with a glorious sweep in Knoxville.    Now the ‘Dores have a last-gasp series vs. Georgia, seeking to make up a 3-game deficit with 6 to play.    In Game 1 VU leads 6-3.

Women’s tennis won its first match and take on Kentucky tomorrow in Nashville.   Wish I didn’t have other plans; I’d love a tennis-baseball doubleheader.

Men’s tennis heads to Oxford for an NCAA first round match.

Women’s golf is in the NCAA’s in Athens, but doesn’t look likely to advance I would infer.

Lacrosse goes to Princeton for the NCAA’s.

See VUCommodores for more.

I’m tepidly following VU spring sports. Baseball had started to catch my imagination until yesterday, but now they’ve dropped two straight to a Kentucky team that frankly hasn’t been all that great in SEC play. It looks like the entire SEC East will make the conference and NCAA tournaments, and I still think the ‘Dores have a reasonable shot at hosting a regional if the two UK losses don’t send them over the cliff. (A couple of wins vs. Georgia in two weeks would help immensely.) But I really haven’t followed the team enough to have much sense of personnel, except that we need Saturday and Sunday pitching. So I’ll leave it at that.

As for the blog, I really don’t want to leave two weeks of dead air when I don’t have anything to say. I’m trying to recruit some “guest bloggers” or more likely to make this into a group blog. The fact of the matter is, I don’t have enough to say about VU sports to write about it 365 days a year. I think it makes sense to build a team of people who, whether they agree with me or not, approach sports in roughly the same terms. So we’ll see where that heads, and if you’d like to write occasionally, post a comment. (Yeah, I will compensate you in some form if you generate traffic — not that that’s what this is about, really, but fair’s fair.)

Also, as you can tell, I’m still playing with the themes. I like Yourblog 2.0 and it defaults to the right color scheme but apparently I need to upgrade Wordpress or something. For now I’ll keep this one and leave you wondering when I’ll switch out the header image. Also, somewhere along the line all my pages stopped showing up. I blame Clueless, although it may have been the victim of this problem rather than the perp.

Sorry for the outages and strange stuff showing up here.   It’s working now.

Here’s what I would have posted if it had saved:

For those of us who like to follow Commodore teams in a number of different sports, today is kinda fun:

I realize I’ve been giving the baseball team short shrift, and it’s really not intentional.   Just about the time that I was ready to stop brooding over hoops season and think about baseball, they hit their bad patch of recent form.   I guess that makes me a bit of a bandwagon fan, like all these Tennessee or Florida folks that have suddenly discovered bouncy-ball.

But last night they apparently found themselves, at least for one game, and they’re off to a 7-0 start in the top 5th in Starkville today.  WNSR wasn’t working for me but live stats are.

Bowling survived a bad first match in the double-elimination round, and won three more to be alive in the final four.   VU vs. Maryland-Eastern is becoming quite the bowling rivalry.   We beat them in last year’s final match, and we split yesterday.   We need to win one more against them today to make the final.

Vanderbilt golf alumnus Brandt Snedeker is now alone in the lead at the Masters.   That’s through five holes on today’s third round.   I’ve never watched a televised golf tournament that held my interest before!

So between score trackers for baseball and golf, like NCAA video for bowling, and maybe keeping CBS on in the background today’s an awfully busy sports day!

Before I mentally move on to VU baseball season, and while this it’s still marginally in-season, I have a few suggestions on how the NCAA’s crowning event and its feminine counterpart could be improved. Mind you, I still think the men’s tournament is the best event of most sports years, second only to the World Cup as my favorite event in the world. The women’s tournament, though not exactly as exciting, still has substantially the same format and much of the same fun, 30-point blowouts by its marquee programs notwithstanding. But these few changes would make them better.

Switch the schedules for the men and women. Jerry Tarkanian used to point out the NCAA’s hypocrisy by proposing that, if they really cared about the student-athletes, they’d move the men’s tournament’s first two weeks from Thursday-Sunday to Friday-Monday, reducing a day of missed class for half the team’s. (It’s half the teams because half as many would play the second round on Monday as presently play the first round on Thursday.) I say go one better and move the men’s tourney to where the women presently play. The best part of the whole event is the pair of 16-game orgies in the first round. Why bury them on Thursday and Friday, making people ask off work just to sit at home and watch? Why not play the smaller number of second round games on Monday and Tuesday nights? A dense evening of basketball is much better than CBS’s bizarre Sunday second round sched, where Villanova-Siena is the only game in its time slot. Better still, start the Eastern TZ games out at about 5 pm, so that half the country can take an hour off work and still not miss a play.

Obviously the women’s present schedule won’t serve its purpose of getting their games exposure on days when the men aren’t playing, so move them to the Thursday-Sunday schedule. Mind you, this switcheroo blunts Tarkanian’s argument, because now you’re burdening the women with the same schedule that the men presently have. Seen from this perspective, a switch would really be more fan-friendly than player-friendly, but the fan imbalance between men’s and women’s hoops makes it a no-brainer in my opinion.

I know this is like sacrilege, that the fundamental schedule for the men hasn’t changed since CBS bought the first two days in 1991. I know that CBS likes to lead into 60 Minutes on Sunday, not bracket it with more basketball. I know that CBS pays billions and doesn’t want to change what works. I don’t care. It would be good for the game.

Fewer semi-home games for the lower seed. I don’t complain much about North Carolina playing in Raleigh and Charlotte — though it’s uncanny how their state gets an NCAA site every damn year. But I do complain about Memphis getting sent to a virtual road regional three years in a row or Kansas State getting to play as an 11-seed in Omaha. The committee does have a tough job as it stands now, and it may be just impossible to avoid these. (I’m too lazy to think about specifics.) But in general semi-home games should be rewards for a high seeding, not left to chance. When in doubt, play the game on a neutral court, which means far from home for BOTH teams.

Obey the S-curve.   Sending Tennessee to the North Carolina regional in Charlotte was not a reward, period.   (Whether Tennessee was playing poorly at the end of the year was irrelevant, of course.)

Scrap the new womens format, both the 8- and 16-site incarnations.   I’ve read different explanations of the NCAA’s rationale for wanting to predetermine the pod sites.   I suppose it comes down to ESPN wanting to know where it’s going to be broadcasting games.    But the present system is absolutely moronic.  It takes the problem of semi-home games for the lower seed and makes it worse by guaranteeing two home games for any host team that makes the tournament and wins the first round, even a 12-seed like New Mexico.   I thought it was a dumb system when 8-seed Vanderbilt hosted 1-seed North Carolina at Memorial Gym.

If you don’t think the game can support true neutral sites, then go back to the old system where the top 4 seeds in each regional get to host.  Tennessee beating 9-seed Purdue by 26 in West Lafayette doesn’t do much more for the cause of parity than Tennessee winning by 50 in Knoxville!  If ESPN needs advance notice to get its trucks the right place, then announce the top-4 seeds a week before Selection Monday.    I mean, good grief, it’s not like we can’t guess 12 of 16 teams a year in advance!   I’ll just bet Connecticut will be a top-4 seed.   I’ll bet Tennessee will be a top-4 seed.    I’d imagine Carolina, Duke, and Maryland will be pretty good.   I’ll even go out on a limb and say that Vanderbilt repeats as a top-4 seed.   Point being, there’s not a lot of rationale for leaving 1-seed home sites like Storrs and Knoxville for 8- and 9-seed home sites in the name of site certainty.   You can have site certainty anyway.

The WBB team’s success reminds me that there is life after the end of MBB season and before I really get into baseball. In their honor, it’s time to review some of the other winter and spring sports that no one really cares about, so that I can elicit a groan from the one or two people reading this.

Women’s Bowling: Apparently the defending national champions bowlers are done with their regular season, having just missed winning their home event in Smyrna by two pins. The national championship is in Omaha in a couple of weeks and the ‘Dores got an invitation along with these teams:

Arkansas State University Wolfpack, I think, but their site still says Indians
University of Central Missouri Jennies (II)
University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
Minnesota State University, Mankato
University of Nebraska, Lincoln Cornhuskers (I)
New Jersey City University Gothic Knights (III)
Sacred Heart University Pioneers (I) <http://sacredheartpioneers.cstv.com/sports/w-bowl/saht-w-bowl-body.html>

This motley band of schools reminds us of just how far this sport has to go to be anything close to legitimate. I spy one that I would consider a major-conference sports program, Nebraska, and three more that have D-I basketball to my knowledge.

Here’s a pdf of the blank bracket; they won’t be seeded until they bowl a preliminary round, which seems like a format designed to let everyone get some action in before the double-elim phase.

Men’s tennis: Looks like a pretty bad conference season for the men, 2-5 in the SEC with four matches to play. At least our #1 Zach Preston beat national #16 Matthias Wellermann of Ole Miss in their last conference loss. They’ve really not gotten much accomplished save that one amazing season a few years back under Ken Flach, but I’m hopeful that Duvenhage’s experience at Florida means he knows how to build a program. We’ll see.

Women’s tennis: The women started a nice run by upsetting Top 25 Georgia Tech, and including that one they’re 7-1 in their last 8. Still it’s only good enough for 4-3 in the league, with Tennessee and Georgia looming, but they could be interesting to watch in the postseason.

Women’s Lacrosse: Apparently the team was ranked as high as 10 earlier, but now is 17th and 1-0 in the American Lacrosse Conference.

Well, early in this basketball game it’s 28-16 Maryland, so I might want to get emotionally prepared for the end of Vanderbilt hoops season.

I’m doing a lot of thinking about Stallings’ radio comments, discussed here. As I suggested on elsewhere on VS , I think you can make a reasonable argument that beating Tennessee was the worst thing to happen to us, and that beating Memphis was the worst thing to happen to them. At least someone from 104.5 (Mark Howard, maybe?) thought this was a salient enough point to repeat on their morning show. (The Vol fans didn’t buy it, really — they seem to think playing Memphis at all was more detrimental than beating them. Maybe their team isn’t as flaky as ours.)

Obviously, you never know how a team is going to react to a big win, so it’s not like we should have contrived to lose the Tennessee game. But Stallings’ remarks sure seem to indicate that he feels like he lost the team at that point, like the guys just decided that they could win games on offense alone. The Miss State win, which I will heretofore refer to as the Shán ex machina game, didn’t do much to help matters I’m sure. After those two, the team only won one more game, an 11-point one that seemed like more than that against Auburn. If you’re shooting just shy of an SEC Tournament record and still beating Auburn by only 11, well, you’re not playing defense. Of course that Auburn game also made me think we were a decent neutral-court team — which was true, provided we could shoot at a near-record percentage and hence didn’t need a lick of defense.

So I think you can make a case that Stallings believes the team stopped working on its D after the Tennessee win, and therefore I wish we’d never won that game. No way we would have been a 4-seed without that win, but that’s OK. Maybe we’d beat Alabama. We’d go into the NCAA as something like a 6 and take our chances. I’d rather be a 6-seed with a team that thought it had to work on its defense to win than a 4 with a team that’s happy to loaf around waiting for Shán to rescue it.

I still have a few thoughts about the men’s season and tournament rattling around, but I’m remiss not to spend more time talking about the 4th-seeded Vanderbilt that actually plays good defense and rebounds well.   To my embarrassment I bought a $25 season ticket for this season and then never went to any games, so I guess that was my donation to the program.

Congratulations to the women.   Jen Risper’s rebounding prowess from the guard spot is absolutely amazing.   In general the team seems to be “coming together at the right time,” which of course is the ultimate in results-oriented analysis.  From everything I’ve read — and I’m not well-informed here!   I’m mostly going on BigHatchie’s post here — it sounds like we match up better against Maryland than any other 1-seed.   They were considered a probable 2 behind Rutgers so I guess that’s not surprising.

So go ‘Dores!  Make it to Tampa!   And remember, Lady Commodores sounds like the JV and isn’t the team’s nickname, and the site is pronounced Spo-CAN, not Spo-CAIN.

plies: 28 Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Options Previous Topic | Next Topic | Back to Topics PhilipVU94 Post #9450 Tha HSV MyFanPage Find Buddy Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Edit | Reply Last year I squirreled some of those away (since Rivals doesn’t archive more than a few weeks), and it turned out to be fun to read different opinions. So let’s do it again.Post here and I can copy/paste, or if you prefer I can set you up with a user account on the blog. Also, this thread is on a similar topic, so please let me know if you’d like me to archive your comments on there.This post was edited on 3/22 9:53 AM by PhilipVU94 Save the Shield, the PhilipVU94 sports blog Combative as ever, but polite enough to keep it away from the VandySports cheerleading squad Posted on 3/22 9:51 AM | IP: Logged thepeo…pion13 Post #101 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply I’ll take the first shot and include the regular season record, SEC record, overall record, and postseason scenario:17-13, (6-10), 18-14, and NIT 2nd Round. Posted on 3/22 10:18 AM | IP: Logged Mike Rapp Post #10416 Franklin, Tennessee MyFanPage Add Buddy It may be too early to predict Reply If Stallings can somehow lure Taylor or Tinsley to Nashville, this could be a very different team next year. Too bad Jenkins is still in high school. Mike Rapp VandySports.com Publisher/Photographer Mike@VandySports.comPosted on 3/22 10:48 AM | IP: Logged Tommy Crockett ADMIN Post #6461 The Comstock, NV MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: It may be too early to predict Reply Festus and AJO with Steve and Lance joining them. Like the sounds of that. Give us a two another wing or both things could be solid. I tell ya though until we get a two that can consistently keep things honest in the (Lord Forbid) Lofton vein we’re not really going to take the next step. I’m thinking next year’s team could be very good for a youth oriented squad. Could very well get to the 20 win marker again. Lance and Steve should bring new energy to the court. Just hope they’re physical kids. “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Posted on 3/22 11:05 AM | IP: Logged Memorial40 Post #124 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: It may be too early to predict Reply AJO will be solid inside, but no real scoring threat outside will hurt us.Defense, as was the problem all year this year, will hurt us yet again. Unless one of the new freshmen can help us develop our defensive identity, we will continually get beat on the drive.There will be plenty of scoring going on in Memorial next year, but I have a feeling it wont be by Vanderbilt. Posted on 3/22 11:43 AM | IP: Logged SammySabs Post #184 Vandyland (by way of ATL, GA) MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: It may be too early to predict Reply Originally posted by Memorial40: AJO will be solid inside, but no real scoring threat outside will hurt us.Defense, as was the problem all year this year, will hurt us yet again. Unless one of the new freshmen can help us develop our defensive identity, we will continually get beat on the drive. I think that the freshmen will absolutely help us develop our defensive identity, especially if we land Taylor. That guy can be a stopper right away. And don’t forget about Festus, who will be our Landlord down low. With Lance, Steve, Festus, and potentially Taylor and Tinsley coming in, we will be on a completely different level athletically, and that will translate to defensive success. As far as predictions are concerned, I think it’s too early until we know about Tinsley/Taylor, so I’ll refrain until they’ve signed. Posted on 3/22 11:57 AM | IP: Logged Tommy Crockett ADMIN Post #6465 The Comstock, NV MyFanPage Add Buddy I hear you loud and clear Reply Originally posted by Memorial40: AJO will be solid inside, but no real scoring threat outside will hurt us.Defense, as was the problem all year this year, will hurt us yet again. Unless one of the new freshmen can help us develop our defensive identity, we will continually get beat on the drive. Walker has a lot of upside but if he shoots as he did yesterday consistently next year we’re in some trouble. Scoring well gosh I don’t really know where we’ll get it from next season. But the bigger worry is that dribble penetration reared its ugly head again yesterday when we effectively stopped their interior and wing threat. It that isn’t shored up somehow you’re correct in the assumption we’ll get tons of points piled up on us. One thing I think is a point for optimism is that CKS has been a top notch defensive coach during most of his tenure here. Unfortunately he was hampered by the range of the tools with which he had to work this season. I don’t really think that anybody forgot how to coach defense this year. Lance is the 13th ranked SF according to this net and lower on ESPN’s recruiting scale, but is supposed to a top notch defender with a three ball shooting range. That said his offensive numbers aren’t staggering by any means. Steve Tchiengang has pretty similar stats to Lance’s somewhere in the lower to mid teens in scoring and 8 or 9 RBs a game. But here again here’s a top twenty postion guy according to Rivals. It isn’t lost on me that Skkkkkkooooooooooooooooooch was around a 10 or 12 rated center out of prep school and gathered rebounds at a much greater rate. We’ll just have to wait until the year tips off to see how it flows. “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Posted on 3/22 12:10 PM | IP: Logged Cashville Sub-lieutenant Post #477 Charlotte, NC MyFanPage Add Buddy We will be better Reply Our record may not show it, but at the end of the year, we will be better.Despite what a lot of people think, Neltner and Gordon did not provide much to the team this year. They made a positive impact maybe a game here or there, but losing them will not hurt. I don’t buy the BS that Alex had “toughness” that kept the team together. He was jacking up stupid 3s and not making very many of them. Neltner absolutely cost us a few games with his poor decision-making and was very limited offensively. It’s funny how some would bring up the good things he did like every 3rd game - a SENIOR starter should have brought it EVERY game. Don’t point out that he was the only one boxing out - that’s his damn job. I fully expect Andre Walker, Darshawn McC, and our two freshman to produce more in Neltner’s spot. They need to have a good offseason, and now their is motivation. I am leaving Metcalfe out of the discussion because he did nothing outside of the Depaul game, and Festus will more than make up for his loss. Losing Foster will hurt, but we depended on him way too much this year (and more so as the season went by) and it cost us bigtime against Siena. I am hoping Hinkle can provide the consistent outside scoring that we need (really wish we had Jenkins this year and I think Tinsley is more important than Taylor). The most important factor is AJ will have a year of SEC play under his belt. He will get bigger and stronger, and will learn to play a little more under control on the defensive end. I expect AJ to absolutely dominate next year. It is very difficult for a foreigner to come in and play US college ball after playing the international game. We are much more physical here and AJ just wasn’t ready for it. He will be next year.Rebounding will be much improved - it can’t get worse. Festus is a big body who will move people. I don’t care if he averages 0.5 points a game if he gives us 6-8 boards (more than Ross). Foster was a below average rebounder for his size and just wasn’t interested in it (most of the time). Keys: 1. Beal must become more of a scorer. He is capable. 2. Festus must give us >6 boards a game (not much to ask). 3. Hinkle or someone else needs to be a consistent threat from outside. 4. Freshman must give us a good 15-20 minutes a game. 5 points 5 boards between the two of them would be more than enough. 5. Moving the 3 point line back will HELP us, not hurt us. We are not a good shooting team anymore. Trust me, it will hurt others more. I expect 21-23 wins, 9-7/10-6 in the SEC, a tourney invite, and at least one win in the Big Dance.This post was edited on 3/22 12:14 PM by Cashville This post was edited on 3/22 12:15 PM by Cashville Posted on 3/22 12:12 PM | IP: Logged Memorial40 Post #125 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: We will be better Reply Im looking for next year to be more of a “setting the table” year for the 09 season. That season, if Ogilvy sticks around, could have AJ a Junior inside, the freshman Jenkins (more than likely), Beal as a senior, Bell as a junior, who by then (I think) will be more like Dan Cage in his shooting reliance, and then a host of scrappy, board grabbing big men, in Walker, DMc, and the new guys Steve and Lance.I would be ok with going 8-8 or less in SEC play and going to the NIT if it meant being dominant in 09. Posted on 3/22 12:29 PM | IP: Logged 4timenatlchamps Post #97 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply Hate to say it, but I forsee a senior-less 2002-03 redux. To make matters worse, we’ll have te depend on untested froshes to shoot the ball.I hope to God I’m wrong, but I don’t think next season will be very much fun at all.This post was edited on 3/22 12:53 PM by 4timenatlchampsPosted on 3/22 12:51 PM | IP: Logged DoreVa Post #4 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply I certainly hope that Cashville’s view of the situation proves correct. The incoming freshmen are highly rated and hopefully can live up to their billing. I am hopeful we will sign one of the two recruiting targets on the radar. What are the chances? Posted on 3/22 1:07 PM | IP: Logged commodore72 Post #267 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply I think next year has potential to be an okay but not great year. High end-NCAA bid at 8-11 seed… low end NIT.Next year will be inconsistent because the youth of VU’s team, but by 09′ they should be back in the mix just like this years and last years team. I think good things are ahead.. just a waiting game now for Vandy’s young talent to develop.Posted on 3/22 1:37 PM | IP: Logged rEvUrB Lieutenant Post #1106 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply The core of underclassman, incoming (including potention incoming)freshman looks really good on paper.Not to be Debbie Downer but….who transfers out of the program? There’s no way to know but past history suggests there’s a good chance someone will unexpectedly leave the program.Posted on 3/22 3:28 PM | IP: Logged vandyfan12 Mate Post #320 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply We will be a bubble team next year, definitely NCAA the year after (if Ogilvy stays). Posted on 3/22 3:32 PM | IP: Logged Mike Rapp Post #10418 Franklin, Tennessee MyFanPage Add Buddy Much to be hopeful for, but… Reply The SEC is going to be much better next year across the board. I don’t see any team getting significantly worse next year. Vandy could be a little worse and have a lot worse record.I think we saw next year’s team last night. Without Foster pulling us out of our self-made fire, this team is at best a bubble team. We certainly would not have been anywhere near a four seed. Losing the other seniors will hurt, but losing Foster’s shooting under pressure would knock any team down a couple of notches.Ogilvy will be better, but someone has to get him the ball. Maybe that will be Bell. But the big problem will be outside shooting, which has been this program’s strength forever. VERY few freshmen come into this league and make an impact the way Foster did when he got here. Next year’s team may well depend on Goulbourne’s ability to fill those shoes from the get go. Tchiengang is a promising recruit, but he is quite thin for a four. He’s not had the greatest senior season. But he is 6-8, and has a more athletic build than Neltner. If he can take his time and grow next to McClellan, we should be okay at the four. Mike Rapp VandySports.com Publisher/Photographer Mike@VandySports.comPosted on 3/22 5:26 PM | IP: Logged Brad512 Ensign Post #236 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Much to be hopeful for, but… Reply I see where Tchiengang’s listed at 6′8″ 230 lbs. That’s a good size and build for a 4 if you ask me. What do you think his weight is if it isn’t 230?I’m feeling confident about our freshmen being able to fill in next year. We’ll be young, but I think we’ll be talented. I think defense and rebounding will be two areas we’ll improve upon next year. We’ll lose offensive firepower from the outside and of course the best player in the SEC, but I really think we could be surprised next year with how well the team will be. The big question I think will be who steps up on the offensive end next year. We have Ogilvy, but we need guys like Goulbourne and Tchiengang to contribute a good bit offensively. I know this is very premature, but right now, I’m banking on those two to get a LOT of minutes at the forward positions (probably both I’m thinking will start). Unless Jeff Taylor comes in, I don’t see anyone else that’s capable of taking much PT away from them. Again, I know I may be WAY premature, but that’s what I’m banking on next year. I’m hoping Brad Tinsley and/or Jeff Taylor come in, so we’ll have more possible offensive options. It looks like both of them could come in and get a lot of PT right away as well. Overall, I think we’ll be a lot more balanced offensively next year. I think a lot of that scoring will be coming from the freshmen class, as I’m not real confident in the offensive abilities of anyone else that played for Vandy this year. Posted on 3/22 6:14 PM | IP: Logged murphygold Post #30 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply I’m really hoping Keegan’s shooting woes were just a slump the last half of the year. He shot 43% from 3 during high school, so if folks have to sag down on AJ and our other big guys surely he can hit a few open looks from 3. Right??? Posted on 3/22 7:18 PM | IP: Logged Jason1994 Post #345 MyFanPage Add Buddy SEC teams next year… Reply Getting better: UF - everybody is back with another year under their belt. USC - Don’t lose much here either, though their coaching situation is up in the air at the moment. Ole Miss - Lose their top post guy, but a lot of returning talent. LSU - coaching should be better (cannot be worse) and talent is always there.Stays the same (in terms of record expectation): Auburn - not really good this year, but not much expected next year either. Bama - should lose Hendrix as well as couple of good seniors, but talent coming in - coaching situation is possibly up in the air. UGA? - Loses of Gaines and Bliss, but talent coming in and horrible season means that they won’t get worse and could possibly get better.Getting worse: Vanderbilt - No seniors and lots of losses in scoring, especially from perimeter. UT - will not go 14-2 in SEC again this year with top shooters gone - even worse is Tyler Smith leaves early - still a good team, but not 1st in SEC. MSU - loses Rhodes and Gordon (likely) from a thin team - will be relying on youth. UK - with losses of Crawford and Bradley, will rely exclusively on young talent - unlikely to be 12-4 in improved SEC. Ark - Loses 6 seniors - don’t know what they have coming in, but that’s a lot of talent and experience to replace. I can see the SEC getting better, but there should be several teams getting wose, and with Foster, Weems, Lofton, Gordon, Smith, Hendrix, Hill, Rhodes, Bradles and Crawford gone, that’s a good percentage of this year’s All-conference team. But we can improve tremendously on defense (and will have to or be a bad team). We will be adding athletic height - we just need to get an athletic wing/off guard. Posted on 3/22 7:32 PM | IP: Logged Chest_Rockwell Midshipman Post #2 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: SEC teams next year… Reply I just posted on the AJ thread something similar…but I would think if AJ could leave after next year as a 1st round pick, then that would hopefully also translate into a relatively successful season. If he were to improve that much, combined with incoming Frosh, Festus, an improved Beal, surely next year wont be that down if at all. Its so early to say…but it is therapeutic to talk about it. Posted on 3/22 7:52 PM | IP: Logged MJDore ADMIN Post #4949 Headed towards Center Hill, TN MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: SEC teams next year… Reply Welcome to the Board, Chest… “With Pat Summitt getting divorced, will UT change the name of their floor from ‘The Summitt’ to ‘The Head’?” - VandyJay Posted on 3/22 8:03 PM | IP: Logged Chest_Rockwell Midshipman Post #3 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: SEC teams next year… Reply Thanks MJDore. I’ve appreciated the board a long time; it was time to start posting. It is comforting at a disappointing time. Posted on 3/22 8:07 PM | IP: Logged hamboneVU91 Commander Post #2298 Franklin, TN MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply I think it is really hard to predict next year because there are so many unknowns. Hopefully Festus and Hinkle will be able to contribute significant minutes, but we haven’t seen them play at all. Same thing with Lance and Steve. Then we still don’t know if we’ll have any additional signees.Net net is that with the exception of Beal and AJ, our best players will be sophs and frosh/RS frosh next year. AJ’s a soph too but I don’t really consider him one given his intl experience. At some point, the frosh will hit a wall next year as I believe that this year’s frosh did.Some random predictions…Festus will show great promise, but it will be hard to keep him on the floor. Given his lack of experience, I just see a lot of games where he is sitting because of three (or four) early fouls. I think we’ll be similar to this years UF team - lot of promise, but too young to take advantage of all our skills. I see 8-8 in the SEC at best so probably an NIT berth. I also think the streak ends at some point next year. Our existing shooters, don’t have the range that other VU greats have had.Posted from wireless.rivals.com Posted on 3/22 9:19 PM | IP: Logged hamboneVU91 Commander Post #2299 Franklin, TN MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Please share your thoughts/predictions for next year Reply One more thought. We may have a team that struggles throughout the year, but finally be the type of team that could put it all together in the SEC tourney.Posted from wireless.rivals.com Posted on 3/22 9:23 PM | IP: Logged A32Win Passed Midshipman Post #163 MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: We will be better Reply I think that in many ways we will be a better team next year and certainly beyond. As much as I appreciate the contributions of our seniors, I have to confess that other than Shan I won’t miss them very much. Except on rare occasions I never felt comfortable in their play. Watching Ross this year was painfully frustrating for the most part. I will not miss Ross Neltner. At times it appeared that he just wasn’t mentally in the game, as if he was suffering from basketball Attention Deficit Disorder. The same could be said for Red, except for the occasional now and again hot-streak. I do remember their contributions from last year and at least Red would get hot at home, periodically. Also, he did convert from the line late in games. While I understand that Red did what he could do, I will never understand the stubborn insistance on making the soft, lazy passes that invariably went the other way, nor the redundantly fruitless, quick three’s. Objectivity compells me to say that although I will always remember Shan fondly, he was not what you would call a complete player by any means.If we are somehow able to secure both Jeff Taylor and Brad Tinsley then I would say that next season will be the beginning of a new era in Vanderbilt Men’s basketball. Not only will we have horses, we’ll have a whole stable of athletic players. We will be young but deep in the type of players that should be able to compete with just about anybody.AJ is going to play for the Aussie national team which should help him continue his developement. Hopefully, he’ll also get a chance to bulk up a bit and gain some endurance and aggressiveness along the way. Jermaine struggled some late in the year but overall, he was worlds better than he showed in his freshman year. If he improves again, as he undoubtedly will, then he will be a heckuva player next year. D’Mc and Andre will be improved and so will Keegan, although Keegan is going to have to prove to me that he is an SEC caliber player. I’m not sure that he is at this point but Dan Cage didn’t have the greatest freshman year either, so we’ll see. I have no illusions concerning George Drake anymore. It is possible that he gets it together during the offseason but I doubt that he ever will, in truth, be a significant contributor. If we do manage to acquire Tinsley and Taylor then we’ll have six freshmen next year; five of which were highly coveted by just about every big name school you can think of. Fetus and Hinkle will probably both still be about a year away from being able to give us a lot of quality minutes but they will contribute some next season; especially Festus on the boards and defensively. Otherwise, we will have our very own Fab Four plus AJ and Beal; with two decent soph’s in D’Mc and Andre to boot. So, if we sign Tinsley and Taylor I literally think that we will be a better team next year; at least by the end of the year. Keep in mind that the SEC schedule will be kinder to VANDY next season, much as it was for KY this year. If we only get one of those guys I say that we’ll be better. We’ll be a quicker, more athletic team and we’ll play some actual defense while finally being able to compete on the boards. It’ll be a blast to watch next year’s team…. Then we get Jenkins in ‘09. Dear Brad and Jeff, If you would like to start right away on a young team that is getting ready to make some noise . . . come to VANDY. Posted on 3/23 12:22 AM | IP: Logged Henry Nichols Commander Post #2183 Nashville, TN MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Much to be hopeful for, but… Reply Originally posted by Mike Rapp: Tchiengang is a promising recruit, but he is quite thin for a four. He’s not had the greatest senior season. But he is 6-8, and has a more athletic build than Neltner. If he can take his time and grow next to McClellan, we should be okay at the four. To play Devil’s Advocate here, I believe that even if are to sign Tinsley and Taylor to round out our roster, Tchiengang will still be our best overall freshman performer next year…the dude can rebound. Period. Think Freije crossed with DeMarre. Dude follows his shot, finishes well, and always secures the rebound…and he can jack a nice 3. And he’s 6′10. Wow. Posted on 3/23 2:14 AM | IP: Logged vandy34 Post #113 MyFanPage Add Buddy Vandy has no way of making NCAA next year unless Reply They get a change of DNA in the current players and the new ones want to play defense and are tough minded.I can not understand why there are so many posts talking about where the points will come from next year…and that AJ will dominate.Not to be a downer, but AJ will never dominate until he learns to play tough defense and block out under the boards. The team will not win more than 18 games unless they start playing tough on the ball defense. I do not see any players on current roster being lock down defenders…again Vandy will win a few at home but will have a tough time on road. Stallings is tough minded…let’s hope he gets some guys to buy into the message. Posted on 3/23 8:34 AM | IP: Logged Tommy Crockett ADMIN Post #6466 The Comstock, NV MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Much to be hopeful for, but… Reply Originally posted by Henry Nichols: Tchiengang will still be our best overall freshman performer next year…the dude can rebound. Period.Think Freije crossed with DeMarre. Dude follows his shot… Ton of potential there and his ranking is high, but as far as the shot mechanics go (the play DA to your DA) if you go back and look at Bell’s highlights you’d think he would have hit every three he took this year. We’ll just have to see what happens under fire against SEC competition. “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Posted on 3/23 10:32 AM | IP: Logged Cashville Sub-lieutenant Post #478 Charlotte, NC MyFanPage Add Buddy Re: Vandy has no way of making NCAA next year unless Reply AJ was only a freshman. He did dominate at times during this season. He had never played American basketball - he will get better quickly.Having another big man who can block shots and can maul people underneath will make our defense look much better (Festus).Moving the three point line out will make our defense look much better as well. I really think this will be a huge benefit to us. Despite what people say about Foster, I really think he was a below-average defender this year. Red was terrible at times. Ross played hard but was overmatched inside by SEC bigs. I hope that Bell’s minutes really decline next year because he was a freaking matador, and I hope Graham gets them. We will be a different defensive team next year. Posted on 3/23 11:22 AM | IP: Logged Previous Topic | Next Topic | Back to Topics

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Prediction: 20-11 (8-8), 10 seed

Few fairly insignificant notes, now that I’m back home after the lost weekend in Tampa:

* I went back to the default theme (in black and gold, natch) because the Clueless theme won’t link to pages properly. Hopefully I can hack that theme and get it back up here soon.

* The WYSIWYG editor in my Wordpress installation didn’t make it over 100% when I changed domains to savetheshield.com — all this means is, please bear with me that I’m posting ugly links and unformatted posts until I find an easy way to link and format properly. (EDIT: Mostly fixed now.)

* About the content — I’m hoping that a dialogue will emerge out of the wreckage of this season about what exactly we should and shouldn’t be doing with basketball luck metrics. In particular, although I think Joe Cribbs Car Wash makes some reasonable points that the — pick a metaphor: writing on the wall, danger signs, warning bells, pressure in your chest that precludes a heart attack — was there, I also consider it pretty irresponsible to conclude from 40 minutes of basketball that Vanderbilt really has been one of the luckiest teams in basketball the last two years. (For starters, you can play small-sample games all day. Is Tennessee really luckier than Vanderbilt? Subjectively there’s probably some grounds for saying yes, but they’re still winning. I think there’s more to “luck” than luck, but I don’t really have a good intuitive feel for that balance yet.) So yeah, I’m hoping that anyone interested in stats and college basketball will chime in if that discussion actually comes to fruition.

Perhaps one reason why the Vanderbilt-Siena upset was so jarring is that, quite literally, we are a fan base that doesn’t know how to deal with the role of favorites.   I knew this dynamic had changed in the back of my mind — and I knew on a cognitive level that Clemson and Villanova fans would be pulling for Siena — but I don’t think it really sank in until sitting there in Tampa.

We spend year after year struggling in the SEC’s prestige sport, against programs that are literally willing to do anything to win.   Even when our football team is a Vegas favorite, there’s always the sense that they could screw it up at any time (see Navy, Rutgers, and MTSU x 3).   Basketball and other sports are different, of course, but there’s still a huge resources imbalance between VU and Florida or Tennessee.    For us to even make it to 26-8 and a 4-seed seems like a huge upset in the cosmic sense.

Stallings wasn’t quite talking about the resources imbalance, but he captured some of this dynamic in the official postgame press conference.   He talked about how the team strives to succeed not on conventional win-loss measures, but to play the best it can.   Sappy, yes, but a necessary prophylactic to overly results-oriented thing.    I think he really meant it when he said they’d squeezed most of what they could get out of this team.  It played way above its talent level in some of the big wins.   A few people predicted 10-6 or 11-5, but I certainly thought they were just engaging in wishful thinking.

So in those senses, our team was and perhaps always will be huge underdogs.