Brett Hait's Post on Nashville Ballerz

The Man We Love to Hait's got a post on Nashville Ballerz highlighting just how important Saturday's game aganist Georgia is for the Commodores. I've linked to the post, which now includes a comment from me going into some detail about the road to a bye in the SEC Tournament. The meat and potatoes of that post appears below:

There is no doubt that Saturday's game is a huge one for the Commodores. Not only will it guarantee another .500 record in the SEC, but it will go a long way in Vanderbilt securing a first round bye in the SEC Tournament. Right now, UK is 8-3 in the SEC and .5 games up Vanderbilt, with Florida trailing UK by 1 game and the Commodores by .5 games at 7-5.

Based on the schedule down the stretch, I think Vanderbilt has the 2nd most difficult schedule of the three. Vanderbilt's got 3 of their last 5 at home, with road games alternating in difficulty between Arkansas and Alabama. With games aganist UGA, UT, and Mississippi State at home, and the 2 road games mentioned above, I hope hope Vanderbilt goes no worse than 3-2 which would make the team 10-6. The team could certainly do worse (especially in light of UT and State coming to Memorial), but winning our next two will put Kevin Stallings' squad in the drivers-seat for a Thursday off in Atlanta.

Florida as a week off and the easiest of the schedules as far as I can tell with games at home aganist UT and Mississippi State, and games at UGA and UK. Florida should do no worse that 2-2, but could as easily go 1-3 and 3-1 or 4-0. If that happens, Eddie Munster's rebuilding will earn him a first-round bye.

UK is 8-3 and controls their own destiny in for second the SEC East. With that said, games aganist Arkansas, Florida, and Ole Miss at home are no joke (although Ole Miss might be), not to mention traveling to South Carolina and Tennessee. Again 1-4 is just as likely as 3-2. If they go 4-1, they earned their round off.

Georiga hung in their aganist UK on Tuesday night, but could never get over the hump. (Currently knocking on wood) The Bulldogs don't really scare me. Although this game could certainly be a "trap" given the inevitable "look ahead" to Tuesday's match-up aganist a potentially #1 Volunteers, Vanderbilt has had no problem handling lesser opponents at home since they've gotten into SEC play.

Woody's going to get the Baseball season started with a preview of the Commodores showdown in the desert this weekend aganist Arizona State and last year's College World Series Champion Oregon State Beavers. Be sure to check that out. Also, for those of you in the Richmond, VA area, Bobby O'Shea, the elder O'Tooles, and some of your other favorite commenters will be at Mulligans in the Fan on Saturday for the Georgia game. The DC crowd will be at Buffalo Billiards as usual.