Sunday, November 13, 2011

Vandy Gets Embarrassed by Cleveland State

I'm not sure that I have very much productive to say about Vanderbilt's abysmal performance today against Cleveland State. To me, it's not so much that we lost, or even that we lost by double-digits, or that we lost on our home court to a Horizon League opponent, but rather that a team led by seasoned veterans showed a conspicuous lack of heart, a lack of hustle, a lack of focus, and a lack of a sense of urgency.

Make no mistake: Cleveland State is a very good, well-coached good team that plays with a lot of tenacity -- but that doesn't excuse what we just saw. The team that just got completely outclassed on its home court is not a Final Four team, or an Elite Eight team, or even an NCAA Tournament team. If there is anything positive to take from this game, hopefully it will be a look-in-the-mirror, wake-up call type of situation where this team collectively decides that never again will it take an opponent lightly.

While I'm thinking of things:

1) As much as I love the Thunder, this team has virtually no post presence without Festus. As cold as we shot today, it was obvious that we sorely missed the big man.

2) If we can't handle pressure defense, we might want to go play intramurals brother. 21 turnovers? Really?

3) There was a total lack of energy in the gym, and while I get that there wasn't a lot for the fans to get jazzed about, the atmosphere did not come across well at all on national television. I shudder to think that any recruits might have been watching.

Floor is open.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Terrifying and depressing.

Douglas James said...

Ugh......turned the game off at halftime. Maybe the worst loss compared to how good a team they should be since I began following Vandy in 2001.

The Sienna game was bad but this is at home in Memorial.

Utterly depressing.

Stanimal said...

Completely unacceptable and pathetic performance. For the present, questions re: mental toughness, perimeter D and rebounding all remain. An inexcusable performance.

Bobby O'Shea said...

I was there. And it was bad. Very bad.

The gym was flat, as was the team that apparently thought they'd win simply by showing up. Cleveland State is a good, veteran team that will trip up a few more quality opponents as the season goes on.

With or without the injury, Festus was going to be unavailable in this one, but it was obvious how important he is to this offense. I thought Jenkins took some bad shots early, but more than anything, he was cold. That's going to happen. I thought JT was conspicuously uninvolved. I am sure some of that is due to CSU making a conscious effort to take him out of the game. Still, Jeffery's assertiveness, or lack thereof has been a source of much conversation on this site. He has to be willing to put this team on his back. He didn't do that today.

Vanderbilt continues to have trouble handling pressure. Certainly, Brad Tinsley will get the brunt of the criticism, but he wasn't alone. Kyle Fuller wasnt much better, and had his pocket picked twice that led to lay-ups on the other end. I would have liked to have seen more from Kendren Johnson, a guy I expect to be playing a lot more as the season progresses.

CJF said you can learn lessons in wins, and while he is right, all we can hope for is this game refocuses this team and forces them to disregard all the hype surrounding them.

I remember in the 2006-07 season, Vanderbilt was non-competitive in a 81-70 loss to Furman, a team decidedly less talented than Cleveland State, and then struggled to best Toledo in overtime the next game out. That team was a referee's whistle from an Elite Eight. All I'm saying is the sky is not falling. There are things this team needs to do better, but there's a lot of basketball to play. Better to learn these lessons in November than March.

KS-Dore said...

This group of players has shown us for three years they are not mentally tough, and cannot handle adversity very well or even being a favorite. After they got up by 20 on Oregon, they immediately let Oregon go on a 14-0 run. Remember all the blown leads last year? What is so frustrating is that individually each player seems pretty tough, but as a group the team just crumbles. Mental toughness is not something that changes with practice, I don't think. So I think we really should expect a season like last year's, because I don't see any reason to believe that after three years of being one way, this group of players magically transformed. Hopefully, I am wrong.

Owen said...

terrible playing against a tough team. i don't think comparing the blown lead in the oregon game to this loss is fair. the "2nd team" was playing when the lead was blown. not one person played really well today. completely flat, no heart. without festus, i honestly find brad tinsley to be the leader of this team. john jenkins and jeff taylor need to wake up and start acting like they are the talented veterans that they SHOULD be. i don't want to make too much of this early loss but it's really disappointing. hard to watch them today.

Owen said...

and another thing...i think henderson should have played a little more. i don't think he'll be dominate given his current frame but he seems to really be disruptive in the middle. he is long and gets his arms/hands in the middle of things. i've seen enough of tchiengang over 3+ years now and am ready to let henderson start in his place until festus comes back. perhaps odom could play the 4 and lance could play the 5 for when the matchups work.

oh...and taylor-6 of the 21 turnovers. horrible.

Anonymous said...

While playing horrible in an embarrassing loss (that luckily will be overshadowed by NFL recaps so most sports fans won't see it all over the U S of A...) this may be the wake-up call this bunch needs sooner than later. There may not always be 14,000 loud VU fans to pick them up (like vs. Oregon) so they need to find the motivation within themselves. That will start vs. a good Bucknell team in two days that went to the big dance and will probably go again this year.

While american idol will continue to blow, I feel certain that this basketball team will learn from today and stop the blow-fest.

AspenVU said...

This continues to be a team full of "tin men" from the wizard of oz - no heart. That in combination with no passion / effort is a losing formula. Not a leader on that team. We'll see how they respond in the next 3 games over this week. Our ticket money should be refunded for that showing today.

Anonymous said...

This team was ranked #7 because they returned almost everybody....

The problem today was they returned almost everybody....

Tinsley and Jenkins are the worst starting perimeter defending duo in the entire NCAA. They couldn't guard a parking garage.

Anonymous said...

Kentucky is going to destroy you.

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake, Vandy will be up for Kentucky when they come to Memorial Gym. Vandy is always up for Kentucky when they come to Memorial. Vandy obviously doesn't care about the other teams on their schedule, but when when the boys in blue arrive, Vandy suddenly gives a sh*t about playing with intensity and passion. Yes, Kentucky is a superior basketball team - and on a neutral court UK would win by 25+, but that won't matter come Feb. 11th.

Greg M said...

Can CJF coach basketball? Probably better than CKS I guess.

Anonymous said...

This was a hard game to watch. Same issues as last season; poor point guard play and a lack of overall mental toughness. Seems like they are all good individual players but don't play well as a "team" which is on the coaching staff. No more excuses, they need to find an answer quickly or they will continue to struggle.

Anything but Gatorade said...

Agree on the "toughness" issue. I was at the Oregon game on Friday night and the holes were there for anyone to see: poor effort on the glass by everyone but Lance Goulbourne, lack of cohesion and communication on offense, no aggression toward the basket. Vandy was very inefficient in their scoring and took a lot of bad shots. I presume it was more of the same yesterday; I didn't see the game. Cleveland State is a good team, but Vanderbilt should have been better.

It's almost scary how different this team is without a post presence. Those guys and the coaches are going to have to figure out how to adapt to that lack of a solid 5 quick or there will be more losses before the 6 week suspension runs out. Which begs the question: what on earth have they been doing for the entire preseason?

Greg M said...

My patience is wearing thin w CKS. If we don't go far this year in the tourney he needs to retire. IMO. We have given him along leash. Time for him to produce!!!!

Steven said...

I agree with Greg's sentiments. If CKS can't put together a great season with a team this talented, then it's probably time to move on.

Anything but Gatorade said...

Read this link. If they're right, Cleveland State provided a blueprint for how to stop Vanderbilt for the rest of the season: dedicate a defender to John Jenkins. That defender doesn't help defend a driving ballhandler or participate in a zone defense; he's on JJ the entire time, fighting over screens and keeping close on the perimeter. Is Vanderbilt really that one-dimensional? I hope not.

http://tlorc.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/cleveland-states-frustrates-john-jenkins-in-a-convincing-early-season-win/