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.

Billy Donovan has lost it

Ripping his team following its SEC Tournament loss apparently wasn't enough for Billy Donovan. The Florida coach recently banned players from the school's $12 million facility and also said they couldn't wear any Florida attire as a motivational tool.

The two-time defending national champs lost eight of their last 11 and are headed to the NIT, which clearly did not sit well with Donovan.

"When you have great success like we've had," Donovan said. "I think it's very, very easy to become complacent and to lose sight of how good things are around here and to have an attitude of, 'I'm at Florida. This is just what's going to happen.'"

For the past four days, the Gators have been unable to get into the facility which contains the locker room, practice court, video room, weight room and both national championship trophies.

Football coach Urban Meyer employed similar motivational tactics in the summer of 2005, barring players from the locker room and preventing them from wearing anything with orange and blue or the Gators logo on it. Florida went on to win nine games for the first time in four years and took home the national title the following year.

Which brings me to my question: Is Donovan a moron or genius? Sometimes players need extreme tactics like this to reach their full potential. My feeling, however, is that Donovan has gone too far. I think he could have achieved the same result without publicly embarrassing his players.

I understand that a point needed to made, but to do it in this manner reflects poorly on Donovan, the wishy-washy prima dona who has clearly been spoiled by two national titles. It seems to me that Donovan cares more about himself than his players, which I find troubling.

Commodore Banter (3/14)

Rivals.com lists Shan Foster as the No. 1 shooting guard in America, ahead of players like Eric Gordon, O.J. Mayo, and Chris Douglas-Roberts.  

Vanderbilt may be one of the few SEC schools that doesn't get Martin Luther King Day off, but did you know that the first black varsity athlete in the SEC was a Commodore?

Shan Foster is a star on and off the court and finds himself on his teammates' iPods, writes Ray Glier.  

Billy Donovan didn't have very nice things to say about his team, writes Mark Schlabach.

Ross Neltner will try to avoid being the Chris Webber who fatefully called a time-out when his team didn't have one, explains Jerry Tipton.   

Vanderbilt has  all the ingredients to make a run in the NCAA tournament, writes Jim Mashek.

A look back at Day 1 of the SEC Tourney

Three things we learned from the first round of the SEC Tournament.

1. With their losses, Florida and Ole Miss can kiss the NCAA Tournament good bye.

2. South Carolina's Dave Odom (retiring) and Georgia's Dennis Felton (on the hot seat) lived to coach another day.

3. If George Drake hadn't missed a wide-open dunk in the closing minutes, Vanderbilt would have set the SEC Tournament record for field-goal percentage in a game.

Game 1: South Carolina 77 LSU 73

Game 2: Vanderbilt 93 Auburn 82

Game 3: Alabama 80, Florida 69

Game 4: Georgia 97 Ole Miss 95 (OT)

Top 3 Quotes of the Day

1) "I'm not necessarily really excited about these guys being sophomores to be honest." -- Florida coach Billy Donovan on his freshmen. Ouch.

2) "I already jumped him in the locker room and said I can't believe that you couldn't make all your shots. All you had to do was make one more dunk and you would have been 13 for 13 (laughter). He got a good laugh out of it, actually." -- Kevin Stallings on ribbing A.J. Ogilvy for his 12-for-13 performance. His lone miss came on a dunk attempt that was blocked by 6'4'' Frank Tolbert.

3) "But like I said earlier, I love LSU, I love playing with my team and my teammates, and as you can see I'm having fun out there. I love LSU." -- Freshman Anthony Randolph, who's a potential top-five in the NBA Draft on his plans for next year. He says he loves LSU, but the question is how much?

Day 2 Schedule

Game 5: South Carolina vs. Tennessee (12 CT)

Game 6: Vanderbilt vs. Arkansas (2:15 CT)

Game 7: Alabama vs. Miss. State (6:30 CT)

Game 8: Georgia vs. Kentucky (8:45 CT)

I'm heading to Atlanta in a few minutes, but I should have a bunch of good stuff for you guys this afternoon and throughout the tournament. Keep reading...

Time for "Billy the Kid" to grow up

For the Florida Gators, there will be no chance for a three-peat after losing to Alabama 80-69 in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Thursday. They've now lost four straight and eight of their last 11.

The game itself was not nearly as compelling as the post-game comments from Florida coach Billy Donovan, who absolutely laid into his young team. A couple that stood out:

You know, it's hard for me to be excited going forward because I don't see things getting fixed, you know?

I'm not necessarily really that excited about these guys being sophomores to be honest...I don't think people change a whole lot, and I don't think you've seen the basketball team change at all this year. So it's hard for me to get overly thrilled or excited.

While I understand Donovan's frustration, to publicly humiliate a group of young men the way he did is just uncalled for. If you want to rip your players, do it in private, not at a post-game press conference.

I used to be a big fan of Donovan, but it seems as though he's been spoiled. He's forgotten how he lucky he was to have had a once-in-a-lifetime group of players. Even worse, he's forgotten how to coach.

Donovan expected this team to play with the same fire and passion as Joakim Noah and the rest of them Gator Boys, which just wasn't fair. He needed to bring that out of them. Instead, he gave up on them. The fact that Florida did not improve over the course of the season says more about Donovan as a coach than it does about his players.

And I still can't believe those comments. "Billy the Kid," it's time you grow up.