Q & A with A.J. Ogilvy

After finishing his freshman campaign at Vanderbilt, center A.J. Ogilvy returned home to Australia, where he kindly answered some questions from the Sports VU about a number of topics, including his summer plans, Festus Ezeli and the weirdest thing about Americans.

SV: Some Websites say that you could have been a first-round pick in the NBA Draft. What factors led to you to come back for your sophomore season?
AO: To tell you the truth it wasn't even really a decision I made, I didn't even think about leaving Vanderbilt. So I will definitely be back next year!

SV: What are your plans for the summer in terms of basketball? Excited to go back home? I'm sure it's been tough at times being so far away.
AO: Coming back home was amazing, it was awesome to see my family and friends again. Basketball-wise im working out with the Australian National team and trialing for a spot on the Olympic team, so thats really exciting. (Read more about this in his Q & A with The Nashville City Paper.)

SV: How would you evaluate your first SEC season? What do you think were your strengths and weaknesses?
AO: Obviously I wasn't as consistent as I would have liked to have been through the SEC season but I thought I had some good games. My strength is definitely my ability to play off the dribble and take bigger post guys outside and work them, weakness at the moment my post defence it's something that I really need to work on.

SV: Who was the toughest player to guard? What was the toughest place to play? What was the season highlight?
AO: Toughest player to guard was probably Patrick Patterson, he is a great player. Rupp Arena was the hardest place to play in and the one thing from the season that stands out to me in Shan dropping 42 on Senior Night. Pick any of his shots from that game and you have a season highlight

SV: What areas of your game are you working on most this off-season?
AO: Im really working on my jump shot and trying to extend my range, also working a lot on my fitness.

SV: I know that you and Keegan are really close. What was your reaction when he told you he was transferring?
AO: Yeah me and Keegan were really close. I was disappointed when I found out but not surprised. Obviously it has been announced now that he is going to UTC and I wish him all the best.

SV: How would you rate your first-year at Vanderbilt -- the classes, the city, the fans, parties, etc.? What's the biggest difference between here and Australia? What's the weirdest thing about the U.S.?
AO: I had a great first fear, it was amazing fun... the people, the games, teammates, fans, parties, all of it i just loved it. I can't wait for next year. The biggest difference is that the legal drinking age in Australia is 18, so that took some adjustment and the weirdest thing about the US is that you guys drive on the wrong side of the road.

SV: Vanderbilt just signed two more recruits in Jeff Taylor and Brad Tinsley. Did you say anything to convince them to come to Vandy?
AO: They are going to be valuable contributors to our team next year. I told them what everybody already know, we have a great program with great coaches and even better players. We truly are a family and it makes the transition process a lot easier.

SV:Have you gotten to play with them at all on their visits, and if so, what are their games like?
AO: I played with Brad for a little while, he is a sort of do it all point guard. He is a great passer, he is athletic and has good vision. He is also a prolific scorer with a great stroke. I didn't get the chance to play with Jeff though.

SV:You guys already have a couple of great guys coming in in Lance and Steve. How excited are you for them to get here?
AO: I cant wait for the guys to get in and for us to start building towards another great year! Lance and Steve are both excellent players and are gonna improve our team.

SV: Most Vanderbilt fans don't know much about the guy who guarded you in practice every day, Festus. What's he like as a player and how much are you looking forward to seeing him out on the court next year?
AO: Festus was very raw at the beginning of the year but he got better every single day! Vanderbilt fans should be really excited because Festus is long and athletic and is bound to make some highlights on both ends of the floor! I can't wait for Fes to get out there with us, I've seen all the work he put in this year and I can't wait to be there when it begins to pay off.

SV: How much has the way the season ended motivated you to be an even better team next fall?
AO: As a team we havent talked about it much, but i know as individuals we have all thought about it. For me it's what I've been using as motivation when working out since the end of the season, I don't want another great year to end the way last year did so once we get together as a team that will be one of the first things we discuss, how we can make up for last year.

Thanks so much for your time, A.J. Best of luck in your Olympic Trials and we'll see you back here in the fall.

Commodore Banter (3/18)

Join our Facebook group and our Facebook tournament bracket.

Tim Corbin commented on one of Vandy's top recruits for next year, who we hope won't be entering the MLB draft.

Bruce Pearl gives props to the SEC in an interview with Stan Crawley.

The RPI should be RIP, writes Steve Phillips.

Shan Foster wins AP Player of the Year and Ogilvy earns an Honorable Mention.

Don't forget about women's basketball in the state of Tennessee. There are four pretty darn good teams in the NCAA women's tournament.

Nick Calathes was picked as the Freshman of the Year in the SEC, think Billy Donovan knows?

Martin Fennelly offers a nice little profile of Siena. It's funny how the Commodores' recent success in the tournament changes the dynamics in such a way that the Vanderbilt has suddenly become a powerhouse basketball school.

"Even if they get by Siena in the first round...," writes Seth Davis. Give me a break.

Five of five experts agree, Siena over Vanderbilt in the first round according to SI's latest mock brackets.

Alex Gordon has changed the face of the Commodores, and has helped make it a winning program, writes Maurice Patton.

Vanderbilt has a difficult road ahead, first playing a team of extremes in Siena, and then potentially facing one of the nation's most underrated teams in Clemson, writes Paul Rugani.

Women's lacrosse gets back on track against Cornell.

Ogilvy will be guarded by the "three headed monster," writes Mike MacAdam.

Did you know that Siena students are on spring break this week? Not sure if that will help or hurt them.

For Siena, "fear is not in the vocabulary."

6'7'' Josh Duell, who has guarded Stanford's Robin Lopez and Rider's Jason Thompson three times this season, has another big challenge in Ogilvy.

Siena's fans are old.

One Indiana blog wants no part of Kevin Stallings in the Hoosiers' search for a coach.

In case you missed our...

• Q&A's with Jamont Gordon, Caleb Cotham, Curt Casali
• Ask a 'Dore with Parker Hanks and Josie Earnest.
• Billy Donovan has gone mad: Exhibit A, Exhibit B.

Foster named AP Player of the Year

Unlike last year, the Associated Press got it right Monday, naming Vandy senior Shan Foster the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.



Here are some more videos you should check out:

• Foster's 2007 and 2008 highlight reel
• Foster's spotlight feature
  

Foster, who received the same honor from the league's coaches last week, joins Dan Langhi as the only Commodore in school history to win the award from both the media and coaches. Byars received the award from the coaches, but not the AP in 2007.

The choice was really a no-brainer, as Foster leads the SEC in scoring, 3-point field goals made, and 3-point field goal percentage, and he's been named a first- or second-team All-American by a number of publications.

"The Truth" will undoubtedly go down as one of Vandy's all-time greats and he will leave as the school's all-time leading scorer, as well the leader in 3-point field goals made and attempted. He is also two points shy of becoming only the 22nd player to reach the 2,000-point barrier in SEC history.

Click here for the rest of the first and second teams. Freshman center A.J. Ogilvy was named as an honorable mention selection.

Know Your Saints: Previewing Siena

The seedings are done, the brackets are set, and now it's time to play some basketball. As always, the top teams in the tourney are household favorites such as UCLA, North Carolina, and Duke. But at the same time, there are a bunch of scrappy, lovable underdogs who burst onto the national scene by virtue of winning hallowed league tournaments such as the Big Sky or the MEAC.

Anyways, our Commodores have drawn one of those mysterious underdogs in the Siena Saints, who went 13-5 in the MAAC (no, that's not a typo, that's the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), and 22-10 overall. So, who are these Saints? And where the hell is Siena? Read on, my friends, read on...

For starters, Siena is located in Loudonville, New York, which is just outside of Albany (interesting fact: I have been going to Loudonville for Thanksgiving since I was about 5 years old. It's a pretty nice place). It is home to about 3,000 undergraduate students and, according to their website, "admission to the college is competitive." A bad omen for Vanderbilt: Siena is affiliated with the Catholic church, so they will have God on their side. Then again, we have Shan Foster.

Alright, now to the basketball. The regular season MAAC co-champs clinched a tourney seed by blowing out Rider in the championship game by 21 points. Key wins include a shocking 79-67 victory over Stanford in November, and... that's really it. The only other big-time opponents that Siena has played are Syracuse, St. Joseph's, and Memphis, and the Saints lost those contests by a combined 58 points.

Siena is young- only one senior is on the roster- and have a trio of high scoring players who average over 15 points a game. Sophomore Edwin Ubiles leads the squad with 17.3 points a contest and classmate Alex Franklin is tops on the team with 8.0 boards a game.

What Siena lacks is size, as their resident big man, junior Josh Duell, stands at a "mere" 6'7'', the same height as Andre Walker. They do have three guys that are 6'9'', but none of them are significant contributors. And Franklin, their top rebounder, is shorter than Shan Foster at 6'5''. As long as A.J. Ogilvy gets plenty of touches, we should be fine.

People on the Siena bandwagon (including that stupid guy on CBS) may point to their excellent guards when arguing for an upset. I have one thing to say to these foolish people: Please. Do they really think that Jermaine Beal, Alex Gordon, Shan Foster, and Keegan Bell can't handle anything that Siena will throw at them? As an added bonus, the emergence of Jamie Graham as a super lock-down defender and energy guy will certainly help to stifle Ubiles and company.

Siena has a pretty good basketball tradition. This is their fourth dance in program history, the last coming on 2002, where they beat Alcorn State in the play-in game. They also placed third in the NIT tournament in '94.

So, now you know everything you ever wanted to about this quaint little college in upstate New York.

Preview: Auburn vs. Vanderbilt

This time a year ago, things looked at least somewhat promising for the Auburn basketball program. Finishing 7-9 in the SEC (the West division co-champs were 8-8) and returning all five starters, maybe things were looking up. Fast forward, and the Tigers have the appearance of a team who wants the season to be over. They’ve lost their last four conference games and five of the last six. Just 4-12 in the SEC, the message boards are beginning to question coach Jeff Lebo. Since Auburn is, quite frankly, a football school, Lebo seems safe, but it does show the tenuous state of Auburn basketball. How does all that play out tomorrow against Vanderbilt? Here’s a look at the keys for each team.

Auburn

Get off to a good start: Arkansas jumped on Auburn early last Saturday, building a 22-point lead and cruising to a double-digit victory. If their heads aren’t in it early, a few Shan Foster threes could build a similar deficit for Auburn.

Rebound: Leading rebounder Kavourtney Barber broke his hand early in the season. Barber probably would have presented a match-up problem for Vanderbilt, as well as several other teams in the SEC had he been able to play. He was also leading the nation in field goal percentage at the time of his injury at 72 percent.

The rest of the team has struggled filling in his shoes, and Arkansas outrebounded them 39-25 on Saturday. They average just 32.7 rebounds a game, last in the SEC. And while Vanderbilt is not a great rebounding team, giving A.J. Ogilvy extra opportunities to score could cost Auburn.

Shoot better: This seems obvious enough. The Tigers have shot just 39.4 percent from the field in their current losing streak. Still, Vanderbilt has allowed teams who were previously struggling with their shooting to find their stroke…

Vanderbilt

Defend better: …which leads to this point. Previously struggling Patrick Beverly found his stroke against Vanderbilt three games ago. Alabama shot 50 percent in the first half of Saturday’s 78-73 loss and was lights out in overtime. There were several defensive lapses against Mississippi State, which led to Charles Rhodes and Jarvis Varnardo getting easy dunks. Shoring up the defense is key. Frank Tolbert also scored 32 points in Vanderbilt's previous 78-71 victory over Auburn in February, so he is someone to watch out for.

Guard play: Jermaine Beal is 4-23 in his last three games. Alex Gordon is 5-26 in the same three games. Nine of 49 from your two starting guards, even if you have Shan Foster, won’t cut it in March. Simple as that. Beal and Gordon spent more time than usual on the bench in the second half on Saturday, and the reasons were pretty clear as to why.

Attitude: In his radio interviews after Saturday’s loss to Alabama, Coach Kevin Stallings spoke of players pouting on the bench about playing time and having their own agendas. This isn’t a good tone heading into the postseason, but Stallings also said he was ready to turn things around in practice, which makes Thursday particularly interesting. For the past two seasons, Vanderbilt has had remarkable chemistry, and it would be a shame to see it unravel at the climax of the season. But anyone who knows this team and Stallings knows that it’s fully capable of regrouping.

Bottom line: A lot of what happens Thursday depends on whether Auburn shows up. Do they want to keep playing or do they want to pack it up for the year? If their listless performance against Arkansas is any indication, the Commodores should be fine. Eric already put a score up, and I’ll just say I have no reason to disagree with it.

Kevin Stallings should try stand up

In preparation for its first-round matchup with Auburn, Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings spoke to the media today in Atlanta. The press conference was pretty standard and you can read the transcript here but one thing that made me laugh out loud was Stallings' take on A.J. Ogilvy's recent foul trouble.

Exhibit A:

The concern has been are the decisions he makes when he has fouls. I mean, some of his fourth fouls have just been ‑‑ they have defied any ability to logic that I have. I've searched my brain for a space in there that can justify how that happened, and they've been beyond me a little bit.

Exhibit B:

He got a third foul in a recent game where the guy tried to spin and go on him, and he was just there, and the guy just ran into his chest, and I mean, it was bad. Bad, bad.
But the fourth foul against Alabama was a moving screen that God and everybody saw, and the fourth foul in our last Auburn game was an attempt to take a charge where he fell this way. So yeah, we've had some bad decisions.

Exhibit C (my personal favorite):

He's a bright kid except for when he gets three fouls. I'm just kidding. He's an awesome guy.

We know Stallings can coach, but perhaps he should try stand up. He's hilarious...

Congrats, Shan

The Southeastern Conference released its men's basketball coaches awards today and Vanderbilt's Shan Foster was honored as the league's Most Valuable Player, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has seen him play this season.

I handed out some awards yesterday and of the 10 players I included on my first and second teams, nine were named to the coaches' first team, which brings me to my real point: Why on earth are there nine players on the first team to begin with? This isn't T-ball where you need to worry about everyone's feelings. Put the best five on the first team, the next best five on the second team, and get over it. If you want to include more players, add a third team. Anyways, here's a look at the awards (I don't have any complaints with the picks)...

FIRST TEAM
Richard Hendrix (Alabama)
Sonny Weems (Arkansas)
Ramel Bradley (Kentucky)
Jamont Gordon (Miss. State)
Charles Rhodes (Miss. State)
Devan Downey (South Carolina)
Chris Lofton (Tennessee)
Tyler Smith (Tennessee)
Shan Foster (Vanderbilt)

SECOND TEAM
Nick Calathes (Florida)
Sundiata Gaines (Georgia)
Joe Crawford (Kentucky)
Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
Marcus Thornton (LSU)
Dwayne Curtis (Ole Miss)
JaJuan Smith (Tennessee)
A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Nick Calathes (Florida)
Jai Lucas (Florida)
Chandler Parsons (Florida)
Jeremy Price (Georgia)
Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
Anthony Randolph (LSU)
Trevor Gaskins (Ole Miss)
Chris Warren (Ole Miss)
Mike Holmes (South Carolina)
A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Foster
SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jarvis Varnado (Miss. State)
SEC SIXTH MAN THE YEAR: J.P. Prince (Tennessee)
SEC CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR: Billy Gillespie (Kentucky) and Bruce Pearl (Tennessee)
SEC CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR: Patterson and Calathes

Tournament time

Now the real fun begins.

After matching its best regular season ever with 25 wins, Vanderbilt (25-6, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) opens its postseason Thursday in Atlanta at the SEC tournament against Auburn.

“This is obviously the exciting time of year,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings.

Vanderbilt is a lock for March Madness, but a strong performance in the SEC tournament is important so the Commodores can improve their seeding.

The Commodores, after rolling through February undefeated, lost two of their last three regular season games, with those coming at Arkansas and then in the season closer at Alabama on March 8. Kentucky took the No. 2 seed in the SEC East and earned a first-round bye in the SEC tournament.

Freshman A.J. Ogilvy, while disappointed, is looking to the future rather than the past.

“Tournament play is what it’s all about,” Ogilvy said. “We know that we can get it done in the tournament.”

The losses were sandwiched around a thrilling overtime win over Mississippi State at Memorial Gym on March 5, where senior Shan Foster scored a career-high 42 points and hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left. The 86-85 win capped a 19-0 record at Memorial Gym for the season.

Away from Memorial Gym has been a different story. Vanderbilt finished 4-6 in true road games for the season, 2-6 in SEC road games. All four of Vanderbilt’s road wins came against teams that wound up with losing records.

That leads some to question Vanderbilt’s ability to play good basketball outside of Nashville.

“I don’t know that we’ve been that bad outside of our own gym,” Stallings said. “I think that gets distorted because we were undefeated inside of it.”

As the No. 3 seed out of the SEC East, Vanderbilt draws Auburn (14-15, 4-12 SEC), who finished in last place in the SEC West. The Commodores defeated Auburn in a closely contested game at Memorial Gym on Feb. 2, 78-71, in their only match-up this season.

“We had a tough game against Auburn the first time,” Stallings said. “As everybody knows, they present match-up problems because of their size and quickness.”

Auburn coach Jeff Lebo and his squad won’t be intimidated against Vanderbilt in Atlanta.

“I think we go in with a little bit of confidence,” Lebo said. “At least we don’t have to play them at their place.”

Don’t count on Ogilvy and his teammates minding not playing in the friendly confines of Memorial Gym, though.

“We know that we’re not playing at home, but we’re not playing at anyone else’s home either,” Ogilvy said. “We know that although we’ve had some trouble on the road we’re confident that we’ll be able to get it done.”

Regular season odds and ends

Vanderbilt finishes the regular season with a 25-6 overall record, a perfect 19-0 at Memorial Gym, 6-6 at road or neutral sites. In the SEC, Vanderbilt went 8-0 at home and 2-6 on the road, finishing 10-6 in the conference for a second straight season. The 25 total wins tied the most in a regular season in school history. Vanderbilt's 16-0 start was the best in school history.

1. The victory over then-No. 1 Tennessee on Feb. 26 was Vanderbilt's only win over a ranked opponent this season.
2. Vanderbilt went 21-0 when it scored at least 74 points, 4-6 when it scored less than 74.
3. The Commodores were 0-3 in games when they scored exactly 73 points, dropping those to Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama.
4. Vanderbilt finishes as the second-highest scoring team with 80.4 points per game and the best 3-point shooting team in the SEC.
5. The Commodores were the worst in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 73.9 points per game.
6. In January and March, Vanderbilt went 5-6. In February, Vanderbilt went 7-0.
7. Vanderbilt has beaten every team in the SEC at least once over the past two seasons except Arkansas.
8. Shan Foster finished as the SEC scoring champion with 20.6 points per game and a league-leading 125 3-pointers.
9. In Vanderbilt's 10 conference wins, Foster averaged 22.3 points per game. In Vanderbilt's six conference losses, he averaged 16.3.
10. A.J. Ogilvy finished fourth in the conference in free throw shooting percentage and field goal shooting percentage, and ninth in the conference in scoring.
11. Alex Gordon hit 30 three-pointers in 67 tries in the 10 conference wins for a 44.7 percent shooting clip from beyond the arc. In six losses, he was eight for 33, shooting 24.2 percent.
12. Jermaine Beal had 75 assists against just 23 turnovers in 16 SEC games, a better than 3:1 assists-to-turnovers ratio. After turning the ball over seven times in the season opener against Austin Peay, Beal never turned it over more than four times again. He led the SEC in overall assist-to-turnover ratio with 2.86:1.