Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Croc OG Getting Some Serious Press

If you go to ESPN.com and then click on the 'Men's BB' link in the menu bar about a third of the way down the page, the first thing you'll see when the men's home page opens is this:

"A Find From Down Under" (by Chris Low) and a picture of none other then Croc OG driving the lane.

The article is good, singing the praise of not only Oglivy, but Shan, Stallings, and the Vandy men's program as a whole.

A few tidbits from the article:

"It's no coincidence that the Commodores are one of only two SEC teams (two-time defending national champion Florida being the other) that have advanced to the Sweet 16 twice in the past four years. Stallings has quietly and without much fanfare elevated the program to elite status in the league."

Top freshman scorers:
Michael Beasley, K-State, 25.0 ppg
Eric Gordon, Indiana, 24.3 ppg
James Anderson, Ok. St., 20.8 ppg
O.J Mayo, USC, 20.4 ppg
Jerryd Bayless, Arizona, 19.9 ppg
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, 19.6 ppg

Top freshman FG shooters:
J.J. Hickson, NC State, .723
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, .701
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky, .639
Chris Wright, Dayton, .629
Malcolm Thomas, Pepperdine, .600


Don't be alarmed, but the article also calls out the NBA draft and the prospect of Oglivy leaving early. He's projected, at this point in the season, in the 14-20 range, according to the article but that range could sky-rocket if he continues his dominant playing well into SEC-play.

Stallings knows what he has:

"We've not had that inside-outside thing, and now we do," Stallings said. "Both A.J. and Shan are playing at a very high level. As good as A.J. has been, Shan has been even better. I like this team."

Enjoy.

14 comments:

August West said...

ESPN's Chad Ford has OG as "late first, searly second" due mostly to questionable NBA-caliber athelicism. The possible 2nd round part is HUGE becuase 2nd round picks don't get garaunteed contracts and rarely make it through camp (just ask Byars).

I hope Ford is right because it would be great to have OG around for a few more years!

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see someone besides Herbstreet at ESPN giving us some respect . Speaking of which, Skip Bayless is a terrible alum, we should repossess his degree.

Douglas James said...

Buster Olney is a great alum though. He talks about us in his blog all the time and does pieces about our alums quite often (Price, Sowers)

August West said...

• Buster is the man... he's gonna replace Gammons as ESPN's lead baseball man if he hasn't already.

• Skip Bayless is proof that test taking is not a guarantee that one can form their own opinion. However, I agree with him about eliminating the kicking game from football (an opinion I'm sure he cultivated watching VU over the years!)

Anonymous said...

Don't forget all the experts who projected DB in the #11-20 range this past summer.

If AJ dominates the NCAAs enroute to a Vandy Final Four berth, he has my blessing to go pro.

Anonymous said...

yes, if vandy can get to the final four for the first time ever, he can leave (though i wouldn't want him to).

i'm interested to see how we play against better competition. once into sec play and going to kentucky and UT will be big tests. does anyone think we could hang with the likes of UCLA, UNC, KU, texas?

Douglas James said...

1) Johnson just withdrew from Duke consideration
2) In B-ball news Stallings just got verbal commitment from John Jenkins for 2009 (rivals.com has him as the 95th best player in that class.

Seamus O'Toole said...

Jenkins is a very good get -- kid can shoot.

As for the Ogilvy article, not only is it incredibly good pub for the program, I think there's more to come. JB, MD commented that we always get overlooked, and I think in most years that's been true, but I think this season that's going to change. Never since I've been a Vanderbilt fan have we gotten this much recognition so early in the season. In 2004 we had to get to 12-0 or something before they put us in the Top 25 and started talking about Freije.

With that said, I can't wait until we start hearing about how the SEC is "down" this year...

Slimbo said...

http://vanderbilt.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=750113

At least the Demons are showing respect...I know of a couple guys that'll be in the stands but spread the word and see if we can't get a strong VU contingent in Chicago tonight.

Douglas James said...

No talk about Petrino going to Arkansas? Stanimal?

J.B., M.D. said...

There's a great quote from Shan Foster in that article that got me thinking. He said that the older guys are used to being predicted to finish low in the SEC (5th in the SEC EAST this year!) and that serves as a major motivator all year.

We have all complained a lot about a general lack of media coverage and how no one seems to notice us. To that I now say: Screw the attention. If we can rack up wins, play in the Sweet 16 as in years past, and succeed with Stallings' recruiting style, screw the attention. I just want to be sure I can watch us defy the predictors on TV.

And a higher ranking wouldn't bother me either.

Anonymous said...

holy hay zeus! was it just me or did those refs suck!?!? but it wasn't just the refs. our passing decisions were horrible. and when i heard joe fisher say we out rebounded them i was really surprised. maybe i watched a different game. either way we are damn lucky to come out w/ a win here. still, way to persevere and not give up. foster and ogilvy did not step up til the end when it counted. 10-0. that game was a reality check even if we didn't lose. lots of improvement is still needed

Unknown said...

wow, game was ridiculous. cannot believe we escaped, but then, maybe it is a testament to how far vandy basketball has come. i think a loss tonight would not of hurt as much (still very happy about the win though). it gave our young talent some adversity and realization that they wont be playing every game in memorial where there IS magic.

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