Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Tuesday Turnaround

OK, so it was a rough weekend. Losing at Arkansas on Saturday and taking a hit in the ESPN Coaches' Poll stung pretty bad, especially for those of us who had visions of a 2-seed after the win over UT.

Add to that the baseball team losing preseason National Player of the Year Pedro Alvarez and stumbling against Iowa on Sunday, with Jacobson giving up 6 runs on 10 hits in 4 innings plus the hitters stranding 11 runners, and the weekend was pretty much a downer for Commies everywhere (golfer Jon Curran excepted).

But now that the dust has settled, things don't look all that bad. At 4pm CST today, the baseball team will have a chance to get back on track as they host #21 Louisville at Hawkins Field. Losing Pedro hurts, but what's clear about this team so far is that pitching, not hitting, will be the primary area of concern. Young guys like Chase Reid will have to prove they are ready to get it done if this team is going to have a realistic shot at Omaha. I'm hoping Alvarez will be back in the lineup for most of SEC play, but it will be interesting to see how this team responds to his absence.

As for basketball, we can take comfort in the fact that Arkansas played one of their best games of the season on Saturday and it still took a Ross Neltner mistaken timeout-call for them to win in Fayetteville. It's also worthy of celebration that Shan Foster became Vanderbilt's all-time leading scorer on Saturday in yet another clutch second-half performance. His 22 points marked the 16th time this season he's dropped over 20, the most among SEC players. If he doesn't get SEC Player of the Year then people just haven't been paying attention.

The big thing to get excited about basketball-wise is that we have an opportunity to defeat a ranked opponent tomorrow in #25 Mississippi State. They've won 6 of their last 7, but seeing as they've already clinched the SEC West crown, now would seem a good time for a let-down. If they can win this week's games against MSU and Alabama, Vanderbilt has an opportunity to be staring a 3- or 4-seed in the face. If you're in Nashville, tickets are still available for tomorrow. You should go, show your gold, and support the seniors -- Shan, Red, Ross, and Alan -- in their last game ever in Memorial.

Talk it up.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

will alan start tomorrow? i'm sure he will. that makes me a little nervous w/ the big line-up state has in gordon, rhodes, and varnado. i have been pretty angry about the arkansas game, but i guess stallings agrees w/ you o'toole. he mentioned that he's really proud and thinks they played a great game and that we are heading in the right direction. if we win tomorrow it'll help, but a sweep this week will show me that is actually true. lookin for a bye in the sec tourney. we gotta take care of business AND hope for a pattersonless uk to lay down against usc or uf

Anonymous said...

Why would Metcalfe start tomorrow? Is there something wrong with Ogilvy or Neltner? Surely, he wouldn't start over Red, Shan, or Beal.

Boyer in the District said...

I can think of something wrong with Neltner. He's lucky he got to sit in the luggage compartment on the flight back to BNA.

Boyer in the District

Bobby O'Shea said...

I think it's a mistake to celebrate senior night after the game. If they win, no biggie...but if they lose?!? Maybe they made the decision to make it less awkward when Metcalfe doesn't start.

Sol Blake said...

if two ranked opponents meet at memorial and no one is there to televise it, does it make any ripples in the polls?