Login to view embedded media
Mike Rapp and Chris Lee recount how they started VandySports.com, the struggles they faced and why Mike exited in 2014. Topics include covering Tim Corbin and the rise of the baseball program, covering Vanderbilt's Sweet 16 loss to Georgetown in the controversial NCAA tournament loss, the joys and challenges of covering James Franklin, the Marcus Dixon saga (and Bryant Gumbel's involvement with us on that story), mistakes we made and more. It's a can't-miss, two-hour episode!

First of all I fully recognize there is no such thing as a minimum record that gets a team an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Every season is unique. But I thought it might be interesting to look back at Vanderbilt's record the last time we made it to The Big Dance: Bryce Drew's first year here, of course, 2016-17.

The Commodores finished the regular season 10-8 in SEC play and 17-14 overall. Some pundits said that nothing short of an SEC Tournament title would relegate us to the NIT, because no team had ever lost 15 games and received an at-large bid. Not so fast my friend. The Commodores beat AM and Florida, before losing to Arkansas in the semi-finals for our 15th loss of the season. Not only did VU get into the NCAA Tournament with those 15 Ls, they made it comfortably as a 9 seed.

It was an interesting year which included getting our hats handed to us by MTSU in the Murphy Center, losing to UT here but beating them in Thompson-Bowling, and surviving a streak of five conference loses in six games in January.

Anyway, I digress. We are currently sitting at 2-2 in SEC play and 9-8 overall. If we go 8-6 the rest of the way in the SEC we would finish with a 17-14 record overall, 10-8 in the conference. Which we all know would guarantee us absoltely nothing. But, any chance we can go 8-6 the rest of the way to make things interesting?

Liked this tweet. Pretty funny.

Login to view embedded media

A lot of great Centers at Vanderbilt - - let’s keep this restricted to college performance not NBA

Needing one Ticket...

Anyone who has an unused......

Let me know please!!!

Anchor Down ⚓️

I watched a fair bit of Will Levis these last two years and I didn’t see anything that screamed NFL starter? Is this just the analytic nerds trying to show us how smart they are? And how the game is more than on the field results? I think he could be a good QB but he is a long way away from that. He is a project. Do you draft a project with the a top 3 pick? It’s honestly weird how elevated this guy is……

Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Man been stealing money.

This was a dirty game, and VU had some major bullshit go against them. To be down 10 in the second half and win this type of game against a ranked team, just wow!!


Proud as hell of these kids!!!!

Major props to Robbins, Wright, Stute, Lawrence, and TT for their second half performances!!


Anchor Down ⚓️👇

Says the women's team is down to 8 available players.

Check out this article from Tennessean:

Vanderbilt women's basketball center Amauri Williams dismissed from team

Now that the dust has settled from Arkansas game some thoughts on CJS.
1. I have always been up and down. Every year, at times seemed okay-progress being made. Then sometimes, not so good. Then sometimes, a mess. Saturday was certainly the highlight (actually a little bit of "Memorial Magic" in the mix as well). It appears that the team is well prepared and well coached. It seems the players like and respect CJS and will play hard for him. CJS seems like a good leader for this team. Of course, I realize my thoughts can change based on games to come.
2. It also seems that CJS right now is not the best leader for what is left of this fan base. It seems like CJS will not really help to grow fan support. This too can change if CJS realizes that most fans want a team they can be proud of, a team that can win a fair share of games, and a game experience at Memorial that is fun. Although it does not seem to exactly be CJS"s personality, it wouldn't hurt to lighten up a little bit and smile sometimes. Most Vandy fans want to like CJS and want CJS to succeed.

Finally, Vandy fans should get behind this team by buying tickets, showing up and making some noise. These players are doing their best, working hard and deserve our support.

My second post on this matter.

If there is any possible way to keep Smith, Dort, Shelby and Dia together.

We will like the result.

Alabama beats LSU by 40

South Carolina loses to TN at home by 40 last week, wins in Rupp in the middle of the week, then lose to Texas A&M by 40 today.

Kentucky gets obliterated by Alabama last week, lose to S Carolina at home in the middle of the week, then go on the road and beat TN.

The Aggies are 4-0 in the conference.

A little surprised (but don’t disagree with) their take

Was insanely bad today. I legit don’t think they knew Lawrence was a lefty. There were four possessions in a row in the second when they were pushing him left and he basically went in for a layup.

He also didn’t press us the entire game. Especially once Manjon was kicked out for a love tap on black. How you don’t know that Trey doesn’t have a good handle is beyond me. Could have forced so many turnovers if they’d run a simple trap.

Stack was tremendous with the rotation today. His best coaches game of the season. So many open shots.

Nm

That is the best half of basketball that Vandy has played in that gym in 10 years. 63 points.

A Vandy basketball team has not played with emotion like that in that gym since the Stallings Era. They were clearly pissed. Stack capitalized with a good plan in the second half to match the emotion.

Solid W.

I saw two men mentioned on this board last week that piqued my interest, prompting me to do a little research. The fact that both are at state schools should not eliminate them from serious consideration. They should be allowed to explain how their experience and ideas can "fit" at VU. It is possible that one of these men could have the answers that the Committee is searching for. These men aren't perfect and there are certainly others that are well qualified, but these two certainly seem like good candidates. Please check my research...I want to be accurate. I invite your comments or criticisms.

Rob Mullen, Oregon
The 47 yrs old has a background in finance and has served in athletic administration at Miami, Maryland, and UK before becoming AD at Oregon in 2008. His accomplishments include: record fundraising, averaging over 100 student athletes on academic honor roll each year and 32 academic AA while maintaining an overall 75% graduation rate. He oversees a 110 million budget and 500 SA. He has had his football team in a NC game and MBB in Final Four and top 10 finishes in the Directors Cup the last 2 years with multiple NCs in various sports. He seems to be well liked by most.




Danny White, UCF
38 yrs old...former AD at Buffalo...his dad is AD at Duke...brother Mike is HC at UF and has a brother and sister in athletic administration. He played guard at ND and has his Doctorate from Ole Miss. Very impressive press conference when hired at UCF where the football coaching search was already underway that hired Scott Frost. He had a mythical NC in football in 2017.

Honestly I think it was one of the best Vandy BBALL games I’ve seen - and I’ve been watching for more than 35 years. Just, WOW!!

With all of the wrangling and posturing about the state of the VU basketball program, it would be interesting to see what all of the keyboard jockeys here would have said about Roy Skinner and CM Newton if the internet was around back then. Many of you would have tried to run Skinner off, as there were many complaints about his coaching. It was said, with some truth to it, that Coach Skinner just rolled the ball out and told his kids to play basketball. His offense was not complicated, with only a few set plays, but he firmly believed in the run 'n gun style and he recruited kids that could run and shoot. This was obviously before the 3-point shot but he placed a premium on kids that could shoot the basketball. His teams were not strong defensively as they just tried to outscore the opponents, with average scores typically in the 80's and 90's, and this was without the shot clock. The complainers felt that he did not "coach" enough and that he lost games that he should win by being "outcoached". His teams in the late '60's were a drop off from the Clyde Lee days and the complaints were getting louder. The reality was that Coach Skinner was a highly competitive person, not afraid to give the referees a piece of his mind if they made a bad call, and was relentless in recruiting players that would fit his idea of how to play college basketball. He was small in stature and fairly quiet, but he was highly respected throughout the SEC as a great basketball coach, but many of you on this board would have been unhappy with his results. The critics quieted down once the VBK class and the F Troop were recruited and basketball was fun again in Memorial.

As far as CM Newton, many would have tried to call for his firing after his first 3-4 years. It was known that when he started at VU that he did not work at recruiting very hard (he even admitted this), as he felt that kids just wanted to come play ball at VU. His first teams were not good at all and the talent was just not up to par for the SEC. Frankly, if it were not for the 3-point shot coming into the game (which CM was instrumental in getting approved as he was head of the NCAA rules committee at the time along with the shot clock being approved), he would likely not have had the success he enjoyed while at VU. He finally began recruiting players that could shoot the "3" and Will Perdue developed into a star (thanks to Ed Martin) and basketball was fun again in Memorial. Prior to this, many fans felt that he was just going through the motions and not putting in the work to make VU competitive, and even though CM was a very likable guy, many wanted him gone and some of you would have been leading the charge.

I am not saying that Stack will enjoy the same success that Skinner or Newton had at VU if given more time (maybe, maybe not), but history shows that VU basketball has rebounded well when things have not looked so bright previously.

And here's my plan for tonight:
I was on the front row, very close to the Ezra incident. Tonight I will be watching my recording of the game and spending a couple of hours on Volnation reading the thread of the KY game. Days like this don't come along very often.

It has happened, so score one for the athletic department and for Candice Lee.