Monday, March 9, 2009

Not Even on the Bubble (Yet)

Neither SI.com nor ESPN.com's "bubble watch" has Vanderbilt in the mix. The consensus among the VSL staff is an appearance in the SEC Tournament finals might be enough to get the Commodores dancing, but that's still a big if. In the end, Vanderbilt's deep run might actually hurt the league and make the SEC a 2-bid league. That concern seems overblown and the SEC should be a 3 bid league, still I have a difficult time believing Vanderbilt could leap-frog Kentucky and Florida to earn a 4th spot.

Vanderbilt's road to the finals would include wins over UT and Florida/Auburn (1 tournament team, 1 team on ESPN's last four out, 1 team on ESPN's "work left to do" and not even mentioned as "in the mix" on SI.com). In that sense, Vanderbilt would be able to prove their moxie against a team that beat them, convincingly, twice this season (UT), as well as a team (UF or Auburn) who are ahead of the Commodores in the invite list to the dance. In that sense, Vanderbilt is, I think, better off in this half of the draw than the other. Still, I think both Florida and UK have to make an early exit, on top of a trip to the finals, for Vanderbilt to have any kind of chance to get an at-large bid.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Vandy can beat UT, and then HANDLE Florida, then I think an arguement can be made. Even then it is waterdown due to the body of work IE Non-conference sucked.

Anonymous said...

i'm not worried about anything except bama right now. they handled us pretty good in the first half this year on our home court and looked much more athletic than us. not only that, but they just beat UT in knoxville where we got slaughtered. let's beat bama, then we'll discuss UT. if we beat UT, then we'll discuss whomever we play to gain a trip to the finals and NCAA bubbles. i honestly predict a first round loss and an away NIT game.

Anonymous said...

As down as I am on our chances on getting an at-large bid (it's not going to happen, period), I'm confident in our ability to win our first SEC Championship.

Anonymous said...

The only way we can possibly get in is to win the SEC tournament. Outside the conference we beat no one and lost to GT and UIC. In the conference our only good wins are USC and LSU. Kentucky has dropped off and only have an RPI of 80 (ours is 85).

Anonymous said...

I may be one of the only people who believes that Vanderbilt can earn an at-large bid by beating Alabama and Tennessee in the SEC Conference Tournament. I believe in 2005, Vanderbilt finished the SEC regular season 8-8, and then won 2 games to finish (I think) with 21 or 22 wins overall. I know the SEC is viewed as one of the lesser Majors this year, but I believe that 4 teams will earn bids. LSU, TN are locks, but w/ 2 wins, I believe FL, SC, Auburn, or Vanderbilt would be well positioned.

Anonymous said...

problem is the other three teams are now in discussions if they can cause some trouble in the tourney. if florida loses to arkansas, they're out. if they win they play auburn. whoever wins that game i think is in and whoever loses that game is out. south carolina plays winner of georgia/miss state. if state wins carolina might have a hard time. if somehow state wins that game, south carolina might be out as well. if all that happens, vandy might have an open door. but that means beating alabama, UT, and most likely LSU. and i just don't see that happening.