Sunday, March 16, 2008

Vandy garners No. 4 seed

Despite an early exit from the SEC tournament, Vanderbilt was recognized as the No. 4 seed in the Midwest bracket. The Dores (26-7) open up the tournament in Tampa, Florida against the No. 13 seeded Siena Saints (22-10). Siena finished the season strong winning its final six games, but suffered a horrible loss to Memphis (101-58) and other losses to schools like James Madison, Cornell, and St. Joseph's. That said, they beat Stanford in November and have some thinking of an upset over Vanderbilt.

The Midwest Regional features powerhouse teams like Kansas and Georgetown. A win against Siena would put the Commodores against the winner of Clemson-Villanova game. Clemson could be a team to watch with his most recent upset over Duke in the ACC tournament, and its close match-up with No. 1 overall seed North Carolina.

I don't think there's any doubt Vanderbilt was a bit lucky to earn a No. 4 seed. Its road woes and utter dependence on the Foster-Ogilvy duo were not unknown to the tournament committee. However, the team is led by three experienced seniors in the starting lineup. What do you all think?

Check back later tonight for a report from Coach Stallings' press conference.

3 comments:

Aram Hanessian said...

It's Siena, 1 n, and I obviously agree that we got lucky to get a 4 and I think that luck extends to the matchups which are pretty good, and I actually like the chances of this team getting to the sweet 16, which is not something i woulda said 6 hours ago.

David Rutz said...

I don't think Siena presents too tough a match-up. Yes, they beat Stanford, but that was in November and the Cardinal didn't have their best player in Brook Lopez that day. There's no other noteworthy win on their schedule, after all they play in the MAAC.

Like Vanderbilt recently showed against Auburn, they don't have a problem with undersized teams; I think Siena's biggest player is 6-9 so Ogilvy could be in for a big day.

Clemson meanwhile is a whole different story...but let's cross that bridge when we reach it.

Chip Robie said...

Sorry about the spelling mistake, thanks. All corrected.