New lineup after the weekend. I won’t comment on it because I don’t think I can use safe for work words to describe my feelings.
Austin Nye on the bump again.
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As I mentioned in another thread, Dare to Grow will be coming to Boston on 4/1. A lot of the Vanderbilt brass will be there. Are there any topics or questions you would like to have me try to get information on?

I’m sure @ChesterCopperpot1 and others will have some bangers that I will be unable to ask 😂 and would result in me getting blackballed. Within reason, I’ll do my best to get you all some intel.

One topic that comes to mind for me is a new football weight room. I’d put that high on the list of priorities.

-Basketball Season Recap
-Perpetual Free Agency
-Swept at Home
-The Tough Questions

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No Holcomb, of course. He'll probably hit the portal as soon as it opens.

Let’s go!!!!

That sweep erases Miller Green’s bad pitch at Auburn.

4-2 in the SEC is great to see after @WorldsStrongestVANDYFAN and @Trevor Hulan pushed the PANIC BUTTON just a few days prior to that 🧹 🧹 🧹!

Yes, @Trevor Hulan , it’s true. I know about your feelings on Corbin after listening to Episode 307 on the way up to Cleveland.

We got some bats and Tim Corbin is fighting like hell to evolve and adapt because he’s the GOAT.

Enjoy, fellas. This isn’t an I told you so, this is a celebration. Get on board while you can.

We have dealt with this in football forever with a few exceptions. In the last 10 years or so, we have dealt with it in basketball. And now it seems, baseball has joined the party. Yes, I am talking about opponent's fans taking over Vandy's venues. The Arkansas series is turning out to be hard to watch on the field and in the stands as well. Arkansas fans were in every section it seems. The game was supposedly sold out. There were plenty of empty seats, especially of course in the sections behind home plate between the dugouts. I sit in section B and there were lots of Razorback fans. Not much fun for a Vandy fan. When I started going to games years ago, I would stay to the very end, even in football. But for many years (last year and the CJF years being exceptions), I began to leave before the end of the game because I was sick and tired of watching the opponents celebrate in our stadium. Then, the same began to hold true for basketball. And now baseball? It looks like the football and basketball situation in the stands is improving but there is still a long way to go. It hurts to see what appears to be happening with baseball.

We currently have the #23 toughest SOS this season where our combined opponents winning percentage is .582
So I crunched a few numbers to get an idea of what the SOS will end up being.

Our remaining schedule has 3 games each with the RPI #2,3,7,8,9,25 and 46 teams. In SEC play we've already played RPI #1, 12, and 107.
Our OOC games remaining are with RPI #43, 66, 116, 172, 182, 188, and 254. We've previously played RPI #4, 14(3 times), 28, 47, 62, 68, 75, 102(3 times), 121, 183(2 times), 254, and 259.

Adding up all those remaining opponents records you get 579-192, a winning percentage of .748
The current #1 SOS team is Minnesota whose opponents winning percentage is .681

I'd estimate we'll end up a final opponents winning percentage of .659
This would currently put us at #3
Minnesota is a Big 10/16 school so they will almost assuredly drop down. #2 Xavier will fall after conference play.
In fact, I'd say an SEC school will eventually win out. We are currently behind several SEC schools in rank but not much in percentage.

It's very likely we'll end up with the #1 SOS in the country.

Basketball season recap and of course off-season discussion

Not sure if we are recording tonight or tomorrow night yet

Let’s hear your thoughts, especially about the recent portal activity ⤵️

Purdue Fort Wayne Guard Jalen Jackson is announcing his decision today, per Joe Tipton.

The 6'2 guard was a first team all horizon league PG last year with averages of 19.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, and 3.1 asp on 48/26/75 splits.

His final choice will apparently come between Vandy, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Xavier, Nebraska, Michigan, and TCU
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by Alex Kurbegov (@Anchordown0714)

I am not giving up on the VandyBoys yet, not at all. But I read with interest the posts of those who felt that the series with Arkansas was close and but for a hit here or a strikeout there, the outcome may have been quite different. So therefore, Vandy did not perform that poorly against the number 2 team in the country. I was there for all three games. Friday of course, no chance. Saturday and Sunday, Vandy certainly challenged the Razorbacks, and I was hoping Vandy could find a way to win, but never really had any strong feeling that they would. Not like I used to have when I knew that Vanderbilt would find a way to win a close game. From what I have seen so far, I would say that it is possible for Vandy to win the series every weekend from now on but as the saying goes---anything is possible. The VandyBoys have shown that at times they can play SEC baseball but is at times enough to win games? I don't know. We'll see. Anchor Down.

Meechie Johnson, former Ohio State and South Carolina point guard, is on campus today per his snapchat story.

Word on the street is that Vandy was trying to keep this one quiet but guess he went and spoiled it.

He averaged 9 ppg on 35% shooting (35% from 3) this last year for Ohio State before sitting for the rest of the year with an injury. The year prior he averaged 14 ppg, 4 rpg, and 3 apg on 40-32-79 splits.

He is a score-first point guard which is a departure from most of the others we’ve seen on campus thus far.

Is it football season yet?

Everything about this team is bad. Can’t hit. Can’t pitch. Can’t run bases properly. It’s over.

Nothing like trying to sell a car and hyping your women's program at the same time. Talk about efficiency!

They scored 15 points in the first half, which is the fewest points EVER scored in a half by a 1 or 2 seed!!

Congratulations, mouth breathers!!

As expected, we dropped a bit. Now #20 in the Coaches Poll and #21 with d1baseball.
We still have numbers #1, #2, #3, #8, #9, and #10 on our remaining SEC schedule, 5 of the final 7 series.

Our RPI remains good #21, as does our SOS of #24. (I'd guess an SOS of #1 at season's end; RPI just a matter of how we do going forward.)
We have 6 Quad 1 wins, more that anyone except Tennessee (11), Clemson, Auburn, and Ga Tech (all with 7.)

According to Aria Gerson (I still think she should have been an opera singer with that first name) our pitching ranks as follow (national/SEC):
RA/9: 5th / 3rd
Batting average allowed: 1st / 1st
OPS allowed: 10th / 5th
Strikeout percentage: 2nd / 2nd
K-BB%: 3rd / 3rd
WHIP: 3rd / 2nd

The season is still salvageable.

Vandy played their first scrimmage of spring ball yesterday as you all know we still do not have credentials but I caught up with 2 of the players who told me about it.

On the offense:

- MK Young was out with a concussion, Newberry is still out after tearing his ACL last November, and Johann Cardenas got injured on one of the first plays of the game.

- I continue to hear great things about Young but he obviously didn’t get to play today, sounds like the running back room was worse off for it. Seddy was said to be solid in the snaps he got but he barely played.

- O line: Jordan White sounds like the real deal. He brings an element of athleticism that wasn’t there last year and can get up to the second level with blocking. Sterling Porcher still isn’t with the rest of the team and Bryce Henderson is just now getting integrated but it sounds like there are some bruisers. Didn’t get detailed breakdowns on any of them but Henderson is a bruiser and “nobody is worse than who played their position last year” which is encouraging.

- WRs. The biggest movement here has been that Martel Hight is pulling a Travis Hunter and splitting time between CB and WR. When I asked how he’s looked there I got a shake of the head and a “man that dude’s hard to guard”. Apparently he had a very big reception today on top of a few more intermediate catches. He’s got both a quickness and burst that makes him really, really hard to stay with (asc we’ve seen with him at PR) despite his relative rawness at the position. Junior Sherrill apparently didn’t do much today but has been looking solid throughout spring. It was a notable step up from last year’s spring performance according to a CB. Boski Barrett is also a guy who he said is making some progress, although if I’m being fully transparent I really don’t know what that means. Joe McVay has apparently been missing a bunch of practices (very unfortunate, he’s a breakout candidate and needs this time to develop). Tried to give it a go today but didn’t do much. When I asked about Chance Fitzgerald I was told “he’s nice” but didn’t do much today. Apparently has a knack for hauling in some tough catches. Trent Hudson doesn’t arrive until the spring.

- TEs: Here’s another big storyline to monitor. Stowers has been out injured and it sounds like Brycen Coleman has been making the absolute most of it. When I asked about him this was the answer verbatim: “That dude don’t look like it but he nice as f***, literally had a 75 yard touchdown where nobody could get him.” Apparently that TD was called back for holding but I think yall get the point. He also had a 20-25 yard TD reception that counted, too. Apparently he’s just a matchup nightmare: way too fast for any LB to cover but then he’s 6’5-6’6 and corners really struggle if the ball is thrown up to him. Cole Spence has been playing but again is mostly used as a blocker. Kam Johnson hasn’t done much which I was disappointed to hear. I honestly have no clue how Coleman will be used this year once Stowers comes back (I don’t think he’d be lined up as a receiver, who knows though) but it sounds like he’s just too talented to be kept off the field.

Defense:

This will be a good bit more vague as I didn’t get a lot of individual info aside from the secondary.

- D Line: They’ve been disruptive and apparently the RBs have had a helluva time trying to get past them in practice (not sure how that bodes for the O-line). Khordae Syndor has been out but I’m not aware of any other significant injuries. Again, doesn’t necessarily sound like there will be many “stars” on the line this year but there are a lot of quality players and some decent depth.

- LBs: This is where I got the least info. I was just told that they’ve been “alright, nothing bad” without any big standouts either positively or negatively.

CBs: Hight is unquestionably CB1, he’s really, really good. We’ll see how splitting time affects his play, though. Behind Hight it sounds like there is some quality depth if not another star. Mark Davis, Jordan Matthews, Jaylin Lackey, and Marlon Jones Jr all bring slightly different looks but are all solid options. Jones Jr is still working himself back to full form after beating cancer last year. This is just me guessing here but given that there isn’t a ton of separation between those CBs but they all have different looks and skill sets I think they could be rotated a lot and used situationally, the CB I was talking to agreed. Kolbey Taylor is still with the team, but I did not inquire about his play.

- Safeties: There really isn’t a lot of depth in this room and that’s pretty scary. I was told Dontae Carter made a few nice plays in the scrimmage including an INT, he’s apparently made some strides this spring which was very needed. CJ Heard was described to me as “solid” and a “hard hitter”. They also said he might be the pound-for-pound strongest guy on the team. Marlen Sewell is cut from a similar cloth- isn’t the fastest or best in coverage but he’ll lay a bone crunching hit on you if he gets the chance. I didn’t hear many specifics on him and I think we already know what he’s going to give. Freshman Carson Lawrence was described as having a “high ceiling” and “making some nice plays” through spring practice, although they didn’t recall him doing much in the scrimmage. Jalen Gilbert has been in and out with an injury. I forgot about Tate Hamby when talking to them but given that they didn’t even mention him when breaking down that might say enough on its own.

Now I'm upset. I refuse to wave the White Flag. We are talking about Coach Tim Corbin and the VandyBoys. They will not sink to the bottom without putting up one hell of a fight to survive. Call me naive. Call me silly. Call me a fool. I don't care. The VandyBoys are my guys and I'm sticking with them.

Any idea what kind of guys Vandy can get in the portal ? If starters are going at a minimum 1m what kind of NIL fund do you think they will have at their disposal this year ?

Corbin needs to make a few calls to secure some money. Then identify 10 guys or so from Tennessee’s commit list and offer them each $100k more than they’ve negotiated with UTjr.

If we flip a few, great. If we don’t flip any, UTjr will at a minimum have to match our offer or top it. This would drain their war chest by at least $1 million. Every little bit helps.

Vandy's Kumar Rocker gets the start for the Rangers against the Reds today.
Starting for the Reds is Brady Singer from Florida. He led the Gators to their national championship in 2017, just like Rocker did for the Dores in 2019.
Their college careers did not overlap so they never faced off against one another.
Still, it seems like old times in SEC baseball --Gators versus the Dores.
Speaking of which, Vandy goes to Gainesville this weekend.
Hopefully, Rocker can get the week off to a good start with a good performance today and our Vandy Boys can finish the job Friday through Sunday.

As the baseball season continues to unfold, I get the sense that I am seeing something I don't think I can remember ever seeing before with Vandy baseball. This team does not have a single player that would be called a "star". I don't think any player, so far at least, would be considered an outstanding All-SEC type player. A couple pitchers might be, but an outstanding starter goes more than 5 or 6 innings. I feel like Sawyer Hawks is our best player right now, but it is hard to think of a long relief guy as a "star". Anyone feel differently or have any thoughts which might make me feel better?

I've been noticing this all during the tournament, but it really hit home when watching the Bama/Duke game yesterday, and the studio panel discussion after it.

The on-site and studio people want to talk about everything EXCEPT the biggest factor affecting the competition - NIL. It got to be comical when they were talking about the improvement that Duke has made in the last year, how much tougher they are mentally, blah blah blah, how their coach addressed that their supposed lack of mental toughness by instituting meditation, etc..

HELLO - the biggest difference between last year's team and this year's Duke team isn't due to meditation sessions - it's because they have Flagg, Knueppel, Maluach, etc., all freshman, and all receiving significant NIL $'s, no doubt. Duh.

Then after the game they go to the studio, and after continuing to avoid the NIL topic with respect to Duke, they discuss how the state of Alabama has become a center of basketball excellence, how incredible it is that Bama and Auburn are as good as they are, especially when the biggest airport in Alabama is in Birmingham, not particularly convenient to Auburn or Tuscaloosa. Gee - I wonder how those schools attract talent, then? What could it be? How mysterious. I guess it's the magnetic personalities of their coaches, right? That must be it.

Hello - NIL, you idiots. Are you avoiding this topic on purpose? Or are you that stupid?

Not sure if I am stepping on a thread that already exists, with the Tennessee-Houston game going on right now, figured we could use a thread