Vanderbilt team capsule

By foxsports
Published

Vanderbilt (24-8)

COACH: Kevin Stallings, 11 years at Vanderbilt, four years in NCAA Tournament

HOW THEY GOT IN: At-large bid

MATCHUP TO WATCH: This is a dangerous first-round pairing for the fourth-seeded Commodores. Murray State comes into the postseason having won 22 of its last 23 games, mostly on the strength of its shooting. The Racers are hitting 50.3 percent from the floor, which ranks third in the country. Vandy is hitting 47.0 percent, which isn't all that bad, while holding opponents to 41.1. The Racers have five players averaging in double figures in the 10-11 range and a sixth that is just 17 points short of that for the year. A.J. Ogilvy, who at 6-feet-11 will have the advantage inside, needs to keep his game going again after scoring just 12 points in two SEC Tournament games for the Commodores.

GO-TO GUYS: Senior guard Jermaine Beal averaged better than 16 points and three assists a game in 16 SEC outings, boosting his scoring average by four points a game over the first two months of the season. He also shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in league play. Junior center A.J. Ogilvy had some problems with injuries that caused him to miss five starts, but he still produced 15 points and seven rebounds a game against SEC foes. Freshman G John Jenkins was the big new addition to the arsenal. He shot nearly 47 percent from 3-point range in the regular season (64-of-137) and 45.5 percent in SEC games (30-of-66), which would have led the league had he not come up short of the 2.5-made-per-game average to qualify. Sophomore F/G Jeffery Taylor also scored in double figures (13.9) and shot 51 percent from the floor in the regular season.

THEY'LL KEEP WINNING IF: They shoot a reasonable percentage. The Commodores shot under 40 percent in only four games and lost three of those contests, the lone win coming when they shot 39.2 percent and made 10 more free throws than Alabama. They have a leader in the backcourt in Beal (fifth in the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio), a big-man threat inside in Ogilvy, a double-digit scorer and solid defender in Taylor, and a top threat from the perimeter in Jenkins. Coach Kevin Stallings is 5-5 in NCAA Tournament play, including a 1-2 mark at Illinois State. Two of his three NCAA teams at Vandy have reached the regional semifinals.

STRENGTHS: Vandy was one of the top field-goal shooting teams in the conference (second in league games at 46.1) and the leading free-throw shooting team in the SEC (72.7 in all games in the regular season, 75.4 in the 16 SEC games). The Commodores also shot 36.5 percent from 3-point range in league play. Four players averaged in double figures for the season, giving the Commodores scoring threats inside and outside.

WEAKNESSES: The Commodores had the edge in rebounding in regular-season totals, but they were outrebounded in conference play by one board a game. They also had a tendency to fall behind early in games and had to rally to beat Georgia in overtime at home. Five of their 12 conference wins were by four points or fewer. Two of their four league losses were by double digits. The Commodores had 19 more turnovers than assists for the regular season.