Vanderbilt Commodores - Have to win it With D
by Ian James
isn't nearly the 3-point shooting team it was last season, but that's what happens when Shan Foster and Alex Gordon are no longer around.
They combined to make 211 3-pointers last season. On top of that, the Commodores don't really have a big man who can step out and shoot it, as they often have in recent seasons.
Without all the long-range fireworks, Vandy had some miserable shooting games this season when it hit the rugged start of SEC play. Sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy, a 6'11", 250-pound Australian who has All-America ability, found defenses collapsing around him because opponents didn't have to wear out their sneakers guarding the perimeter. Ogilvy, a true post who doesn't much wander outside the lane like many foreign big men, wasn't able to make a jump over his freshman numbers of 17.0 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Without the team's identity as a 3-point shooting team, coach Kevin Stallings transformed his young club -- Vandy has no seniors on the roster -- into one that specializes in defense and getting baskets in transition. The Commodores responded well enough; they led the nation in field goal percentage defense for part of the season.
This wasn't a seamless transition of styles, though. Part of the reason for that can simply be the youth, which included a pair of freshman starters -- forward Jeffery Taylor and guard Brad Tinsley. The Commodores had no choice but to turn loose their underclassmen, relying on them for leadership, along with junior point guard Jermaine Beal and guard George Drake. Beal and Tinsley are the team's long-range aces. Anybody else better think twice before launching.
Vandy isn't usually thought of as an athletic team, but you might be surprised. It's that improved athleticism -- thanks in part to last year's recruiting class that was billed as perhaps the school's finest ever -- that allows the Commodores to get after it on defense.
For now, that's what will have to carry the day for Vandy -- tough defense, physical play and grinding it out in the postseason. Brighter days are ahead ... especially if Ogilvy is back for 2009-10.
