Vandy thread

[rfc17]

Yea, this board definitely needs a Vanderbilt basketball thread.

Vandy moved to 5-1 last night with a 20 point victory over Tulane. I thought this was going to be a tough game before the season started. Tulane beat Vandy last year and was well on their way to making the tourney before losing 10 of their final 13 games. Still, they were returning all 5 starters including Brandon Brown who isnt half bad. Yet for whatever reason, they havent been all that good this year. Too many turnovers is what their coach always complains about.

Vandy didnt play great last night. Really didnt shoot well until the last part of the 2nd half. But Vandy was too big inside and they played really aggressive defense. Tulane couldnt handle the pressure.

5 non-conference games left.
@Indiana
High Point
@Michigan
@Notre Dame
College of Charleston

Not the easiest of schedules. Indiana obviously playing well and so is Notre Dame. College of Charleston has a lot of people on their bandwagon after winning the Alaska Shootout. High Point and Michigan should be wins.

[rfc17]

At Indiana is tomorrow night - the 9th. I was going to roadtrip but as you can imagine, too much school to be able to make it. Figures.....

Vandy is going to have to play flawless to win.

Outside of Leach and Newton, they dont have much size. Freshman Kline provides some height off the bench but he doesnt play much. Vandy must pound it inside with their big players Thornton, Pryz, Frejie, and Terrell.

Also, Indiana relys on the 3 more than almost anybody. Bracey Wright, Tom Coverdale, and Kyle Hornsby all share something in common. Over half their points this year have come from shooting the 3. Vandy plays aggressive defense and are going to have to be in the face of those three all night long. Cant give them any open shots.

Vandy is also going to need to shoot well from outside. If they had done that against UCONN, they may have won. Seems like they go hot or cold every other game. Cold last night so they are due to be hot against IU.

Vandy generally isnt a good road team so theyll probably lose by like 20. Plus after watching that Maryland-IU game, ive got a feeling Indiana is going to get some nice home cooking when it comes to fouls being called. But at least its on tv.

[BPBlueSox]

Hell yeah. A good game to watch tomorrow night. No class at all tomorrow. Maybe I'll have to study while watching this...:hmm:

[imgreat95]

I didn't know Vandy had a men's team....

[rfc17]

Well Vandy was out of their league tonight. Cant say im all that surprised. Now moving to a record of 5-2.

Lost the game in the first 10 minutes of the game. Played Indiana even for the rest of the 30 minutes. Not sure why Stallings had them start off in a zone. Forcing a 3 point shooting team to stay outside. Real brilliant. 21 of Indiana's first 29 points were from 3's. All wide open looks thanks to the zone. Only until Vandy changed to a man-to-man did they contain Indiana's outside shooting and stopped their lead from growing.

Bracey Wright is one heckuva a player. Thank God thats the only time theyll see him this year. 5-9 from 3 point range, shooting NBA range threes. Could create his own shot. Always found the open man. Was cutting towards the basket. Pretty good player.

Only two who played well for Vandy was Frejie and Pryz. Frejie getting 18 points and 9 boards. Pryz coming off the bench with 14 and 7 boards. I was most impressed with him. Wouldnt be surprised if he gets the next few starts instead of Thornton.

Thornton looked totally overmatched. Cant just rely on your size against good centers. That weak move to the left and soft hook was getting swatted back in his face all night. He was bigger than everyone he posted up. Should have thrown his weight around and gone up strong. And if not, at least learn a ball fake or a head fake. Terrible game for him.

Lakey and Moore did a good job guarding Coverdale. He is a lousy ball handler and cant create his own shot. Ive never completely understood why everyone is on his bandwagon. Vandys two guards put a lot of pressure on him and he got real frustrated. Was pushing off at least 4 or 5 times trying to get some space.

The thing that killed them was terrible outside shooting. Cant believe a strength has gone to a complete weakness. They really need Holwerda to shoot when he is open but he never does. Probably the best shooter on the team but everytime he catches a pass, he is in position to immediately dish the ball away. Never catches the ball with his feet set and shoulders square looking to shoot. He had over 3000 points in high school. Not sure why he is scared to shoot now.

Overall a pretty lousy game from a Vandy standpoint. Sloppy play on offense. No motion from players without the ball. Couldnt hit the outside shot. Getting out-hustled. And the zone defense was just getting picked apart. Still have no clue why any team would run a zone against Indiana.

I guess games like this are better for Vandy in the long run than cupcake non-conferences. Indiana is a pretty good team. Probably a bigtime inside scorer away from being the best team in the country.

Next game against High Point. Should be an easy win.

[BPBlueSox]

Boy, Indiana sure was shooting the lights out early on in the game...

And how about their ball movement? Damn.

You have to give credit to the Dores for not falling apart after Indiana came out of the gates on fire...things look promising for them...

Mario Moore did not impress me the way he did against UConn...

Frieje didn't look horrible, he made some impressive shots.

You guys really need to hit some 3's. If this team had a consistent 3 point shooter, yall would definitely be a NCAA tourney calibur team...

[rfc17]

Indiana is a pretty good team. Part of me was thinking they were ranked that high just because they got hot at the end of last year and made it to the championship game. But even if you defend the 3 well, theyll space you out and pick you apart underneath. Good defensive team as well. Dont make many stupid mistakes. And can shoot free throws well. well coached.

Yea i was glad Vandy didnt fall apart and lose by 30. Looked like it was gonna get out of hand.

Frejie played pretty well. Only complaint was that he was invisible to start the game. Whole team was though. He didnt shoot very well but i think he was forcing a lot of shots because nobody else on the team was shooting well and he was trying to carry them.

I didnt think Moore had that bad of a game. Didnt shoot well though - nobody did. But i dont think he had a turnover. and he had a couple of assists and a steal or two. I think by the end of the year though, he'll be the starting PG instead of Lakey. Lakey is a good defender but no offense. Lot of careless turnovers as well.

Yea, some freshman left the team before the season started so Vandy has one scholarship to offer even though no seniors are leaving. Definitely need to recruit a sharpshooter.

[BPBlueSox]

I thought you were going to walk-on as their sharpshooter...:umm

[rfc17]

my eligibility is probably over. a little too late for me to light up the SEC.

[rfc17]

5-2 Vandy's next game is sunday against 2-3 High Point. The game is in Nashville.

High Point has beaten Northern Arizona and Central Connecticut St while losing to Clemson, Kentucky, and The Citadel. Their last game against Averett was postponed or cancelled because of the lousy weather last week.

They are predicted to finish near the bottom of the Big South Conference. Last year they had the rookie of the year and the leading scorer in the conference. Both players have returned; Joe Knight and Dustin Van Weerdhuizen. But so far, statistically their best player is Danny Gathings; averaging 16 points and 6 boards a game. He is listed as a forward but kinda small at 6-6, 200 pounds. First year with High Point; he came in as a transfer from VaTech.

This should be a win for Vandy. Hopefully they wont be looking ahead to Michigan and Notre Dame.

[rfc17]

Vandy moves to 6-2 beating High Point 81-75. that was probably Vandy's worse game. Didnt shoot very well nor did they play well. Took a lot of foolish shots and made a lot of stupid turnovers. And it didnt help that Joe Knight, the conference rookie of the year last year, had 40 points. 14-22 overall and 7-11 from 3 point range. Vandy had this game wrapped up midway through the 2nd half. Up by like 16 or 18 points and starting to pull away. And then this kid started raining threes. Apparently he is from Columbia Tennessee which is just down the road and he was spouting off about how this was his biggest game of the year. Vandy needs to learn how to stop the opponents best guard. Last two games thats been killing them. First Bracey Wright and now this kid.

Frejie had a lousy game shooting. Corey Smith played really well. Had a foolish turnover at the end but the game was pretty much wrapped up by then. Thornton played well but was lousy from the line.

next game is against Michigan who is all of a sudden playing well. figures.

[BPBlueSox]

Yeah, I saw yall were barely up at the half...squeaking out a win over High Point...nice.

Oh, I got tix for the game against the Magic by the way...

[rfc17]

well the game wasnt really as close as the score. never got the feeling theyd lose.

vandy was up by 10 with less than a minute to go at half and high point got 5 quick points to end the half. which included some 35 foot three with 2 seconds left. and they were up by 11 with a minute to go in the game but that knight kid got like 9 points in the last minute by raining long threes. it was kinda gay cuz they called a goaltending with .9 seconds left on a ball that was clearly short..... game shoulda/coulda been a 10-15 point win. which sux cuz if they end up close to the bubble of the tourney, games like this will hurt them because the score looks a lot closer than the game.


sweet... how many tickets did you get for the magic game? oh wait... i forgot, renee got fired so it doesnt matter.

[BPBlueSox]

Is High Point some Tennessee school or something? I've never heard of em before...

I don't think this kind of game would hurt too much if they are on the bubble...if it was a loss, I would think that would be a much different story...

Three or Four, I think...you know, I need to get Renee to divorce that f@g husband of hers...that guy was such a tool...:D

[rfc17]

6-2 Vandy playing at 2-6 Michigan saturday at 2:30 ET.

Too bad for Vandy this game wasnt played earlier in the season when Michigan was playing like ass. But theyve played a lot better the past week beating Bowling Green 83-57 and Charleston Southern 84-53.

Their best player is Lavell Blanchard who is getting 17 points and 7 boards a game. Horton and Robinson are the only other players Vandy needs to worry about. Michigan only has two players over 6'7 that play and both are freshman. The best one averages 6 points and 5 boards a game.

On paper, this is a game Vandy should win. But they always blow on the road. That shouldnt be as much of a problem having just played at Indiana but it always is with this team. Vandy will need to pound the ball inside with Thornton, Pryz, and Frejie. And theyll need someone to step up and shoot from the outside. Whether it be Holwerda, Smith, or Lakey. Somebody needs to make a few threes. There is two things this team is missing and one is some shooting guard who will average 12-15 points a game. Holwerda is shooting over 40% from 3 but has only thrown up 17 of them on the year. Thats barely 2 a game. Thats about 3 less than he should.

im predicting a vandy loss.

btw, Billy Richmond, a vandy transfer, played well for Memphis last night. 14 points, 3 boards, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. The kid is a thug and was kicked off the team but he is the other type of player Vandy is missing besides that shooting guard. This guy can penetrate the lane with the best of them and is great around the basket. Really good finisher and he can draw defenders and pass to the big man for an easy 2.

[rfc17]

well that was typical. Michigan 70 Vandy 66. You mean to tell me a Vanderbilt sports team lost to an inferior team? gee, ive never seen that before.

Bad:

Stallings switching to a 1-1-3 zone late in the first half with Vandy up by 9. Michigan gets two quick 3's to cut the lead to 3 at halftime. Not sure why Stallings decided to switch up what they had been doing. Michigan hadnt been shooting well at all since they were being forced to go down low with smaller players than Vandy. But I guess Stallings felt like giving them a chance to get back in the game. Good job.

once again, lousy start to the halves. Down 10-1 to begin the game and allowed michigan to start the 2nd half on a 19-5 run. Lousy coaching. Team never seems prepared.

Michigan shot 37 free throws... Vandy 16.

Lakey needs to be benched in favor of Moore. Lakey just cant guard players in big conferences. Moore is faster and isnt scared out there. Plus, he actually drives the lane and has the ability to finish or dish. Lakey can do neither. Moore is one of the few SEC caliber players on the team. He needs to be starting.

Michigan had 15 offensive boards. And they have smaller insider players. Seems like Michigan got all the loose balls and actually hustled. Again, not sure why Stallings doesnt have them ready to play hard every game.

Holwerda only took 3 shots. Its starting to seem like he did Billy Donovan and the Gators a favor by choosing Vandy over them. Not sure Holwerda would get any playing time on the Gators if he would refuse to shoot. Probably the best shooter on the team yet never throws up a shot.

Frejie was nowhere to be found in a big game... again.

Once again, no motion to the motion offense. How can a Roy Williams assistant be so bland in his offense?

Good:

Moore played well again. He seems to play a lot better than Lakey in big games. He needs to start and get a lot more minutes. He still makes a few freshman mistakes but so does Lakey who is a junior.

hrm... Thornton had a good game. i guess thats about it for good things.

They probably woulda won if this was in nashville but you cant play every non-conference game at home. gotta beat inferior teams even on the road.

So now Vandy is at 6-3. Next game is at Notre Dame which will be a loss. Final nonconference is gonna be home against College of Charleston who is playing lousy all of a sudden.

Im afraid if Vandy keeps playing like this they may only win 5 or 6 conference games... if that. There are probably 2 SEC teams worse than Michigan which doesnt bode well for Vandy. Gonna have to play better than they did today. I knew Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Miss St would be tough. But now I just watched LSU beating Arizona. Cant wait to see Vandy play them.... which is at LSU of course. Vandy plays 9 games against those teams.... which means 9 ass kickings.


btw, almost a clean sweep for the SEC today. Only the Tennessee teams blew it. UT blowing a double digit halftime lead and Vandy blowing their own halftime lead. Big wins though.... Kentucky over Indiana and the LSU win.

[BPBlueSox]

Way to go Vandy. I'm sure that loss'll look real good come tourney time...

[rfc17]

forget the tourney. with notre dame and college charleston on their schedule and then SEC conference play, itll be an accomplishment to finish 500 and go to the NIT.

[BPBlueSox]

Whoops. Looks like another loss for Vandy. Losing to Notre Dame ain't bad though...

[rfc17]

yea vandy lost at notre dame 76-63. as usual they started off very slowly. notre dame built an 18 point halftime lead after shooting the light out in the first half. but that scrappy vandy team cut the lead to 6 with about 8 minutes to go. then notre dame went on a run to put the game away. i have to admit after watching the game, i didnt think notre dame looked as good as their #6 ranking. but they are definitely a good team.

vandy needs a win against charleston on thursday or whenver the game is. if you had told me before the season started that vandy would be 7-4 in non-conference, i might have taken it cuz the schedule looked pretty hard. just too bad that vandy seems to play badly in all the "big" games. i wouldnt feel as lousy about the team if they were playing well and losing but they make so many stupid mistakes.

[rfc17]

Vandy 70 Charleston 53. as usual, vandy gets off to a super slow start and play a pretty lousy first half. blew charleston away in the 2nd half.

big edge in free throws and finally its in vandys favor. 19-23 from the line while charleston was 8-16.

so they finish 7-4 out of conference. that isnt that bad considering the difficulty of the schedule. only real dissappointing loss was the michigan one. unfortunately they have the SEC schedule to look forward to now. first game is at Auburn on the 8th. Auburn is 11-2 but theyve played quite possibly the easiest nonconference you will ever see.

[BPBlueSox]

I guess that's kind of impressive since Charleston won or was in the finals of that Great Alaskan shootout thing....

[rfc17]

Charleston won that Alaskan shootout. beat wyoming, oklahoma st, and villanova. not great teams but not creampuffs.

charleston hasnt been as playing well recently though. but the RPIs dont know that!

[BPBlueSox]

Go Vandy!!!!!

[rfc17]

Vandy 70, #4 Alabams 69!

WHOOOO!!!

Vandy is now (8-5, 1-1). WHOO!!!!!

[BPBlueSox]

At least one team in Nashville won a game today fairly...

[awefullspellare]

Originally posted by rfc17
Vandy 70, #4 Alabams 69!

WHOOOO!!!

Vandy is now (8-5, 1-1). WHOO!!!!!

NICEEE!!!! what did Alabama do to lose that game, sounds like a major choking by somebody :devillook

[rfc17]

alabama played a pretty good game and shot better than they normally do. but vandy had a couple people play their best game of the season. scott hundley was possessed. would drive the lane with three bama players and somehow scoop it off the glass. and lakey made some big shots.

if vandy can shoot well from outside, they can beat a lot of teams. and they actually hustled and played hard. against michigan and auburn they looked listless. like they didnt care. really odd.

[BPBlueSox]

Jesus, Vandy.

I watched this game up until halftime and figured they were going to win.

Left with them up by eight or something at the half.

I get home and they lost by 20 something? What the F?

They had like 25 points with still ten minutes left in the first half or something and they ended up with around 50 for the game?

I don't know what the hell UK did but they must have pulled something out of their asses...

Or maybe Vandy stopped sinking every shot they took...