2006–07 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team

2006–07 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball
NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, Beat George Washington 77–44, Beat No. 13 Washington State 78–74, Lost to No. 9 Georgetown 66–65
Conference Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches #19
AP #32
2006–07 record 22–12 (10–6, 2nd SEC East)
Head coach Kevin Stallings
Assistant coach Dan Muller
Assistant coach Tom Richardson
Assistant coach King Rice
Home arena Memorial Gymnasium
Seasons
« 2005–06 2007–08 »

The 2006–07 Vanderbilt Commodores men’s basketball team finished with a 22–12 record (SEC East: 10–6, 2nd) and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Commodores were ranked No. 19 in the final ESPN/USA Today (Coaches) poll.

The team was led by head coach Kevin Stallings and played its home games at Memorial Gymnasium.

Contents

Preseason outlook

Entering the season, Vanderbilt was picked by the media attending the SEC's media days in October to finish 4th in a strong SEC East, behind the defending national champion Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee.[1] They returned three starters: swingmen Shan Foster and Derrick Byars and point guard Alex Gordon. Foster was their leading scorer last season and was the third-leading returning scorer in the SEC. Vanderbilt lost two starters: Julian Terrell, their top rebounder (7.2 rpg), and rising-junior DeMarre Carroll, their second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg). Terrell graduated, while Carroll unexpectedly decided to transfer to Missouri shortly after the 2005–06 season ended, a decision influenced by the fact that Mizzou's new head coach Mike Anderson is his uncle.[2]

Junior Shan Foster was named by the league’s coaches to the preseason all-SEC first team.[3]

Regular season

The Commodores got off to a rocky 1–3 start that included an embarrassing home loss to Furman (15–16 final record, 8–10 Southern Conference). After that, Vanderbilt won 17 of their next 22 games, culminating in an 83–70 home win over then-No. 1 Florida (33–5, SEC East: 14–2, 1st). They entered the NCAA Tournament winning only 2 of their last 5 games, including two losses to Arkansas (21–14, SEC West: 7–9, 3rd), but one of the wins was a come-from-behind 67–65 home win over Kentucky (22–12, SEC East: 9–7, 4th), their fourth straight win over the Wildcats.

Vanderbilt finished the regular season tied for 2nd with Tennessee (24–11, SEC East: 10–6) in the SEC East, four games behind eventual national champion Florida (35–5, SEC East: 14–2, 1st).

NCAA tournament

The Commodores were the No. 6 seed in the East Regional and lost 66–65 to No. 2 seeded Georgetown (30–6, Big East: 13–3, 1st) at East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Commodores defeated No. 11 seeded George Washington (23–9, A-10: 11–5, 3rd) in the first round, 77–44, and No. 3 seeded Washington State (26–7, Pac-10: 13–5, 2nd), 78–74, in two overtimes, at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.

Awards

Following the end of the regular season, head coach Kevin Stallings was named SEC Coach of the Year by his fellow SEC coaches, while senior Derrick Byars was named SEC Player of the Year by the league coaches (the AP chose Chris Lofton of Tennessee). Stallings has now led the Commodores to 20 wins in three of the last four seasons. Byars led the Commodores in scoring with 17.0 points per game and was a unanimous selection to the All-SEC first team. Junior Shan Foster, who averaged 15.6 points per game, was named to the All-SEC second team.[4]

Including NCAA Tournament games, Vanderbilt finished the season 7–3 against teams ranked in the Top 25. Only North Carolina and UCLA had more wins against ranked opponents

Roster and individual statistics

Number Name Position Height Weight Year Hometown High School GP Min Ppg Rpg Apg
0 Jermaine Beal G 6–3 205 Freshman DeSoto, TX DeSoto 34 16.8 3.8 1.8 1.8
2 David Rodriguez G 6–2 180 Sophomore Sarasota, FL Out-of-Door Academy 2 2.0 0.5 0.0 0.5
3 Alex Gordon G 5’11 164 Junior Pensacola, FL Pensacola 34 24.0 7.8 2.4 3.3
4 Derrick Byars G-F 6–7 230 Senior Memphis, TN Ridgeway 34 31.4 17.0 4.9 3.4
11 Alan Metcalfe F 6–9 265 Junior St. Helens, England Notre Dame Academy (Va.) 21 7.5 2.6 1.9 0.1
14 Aubrey Hammond G 6–4 184 Junior Charlottesville, VA Woodberry Forest School 13 4.2 0.8 0.5 0.2
20 Dan Cage G 6–5 215 Senior Indianapolis, IN Bishop Chatard 34 28.9 11.2 3.3 2.2
31 JeJuan Brown F 6–7 226 Freshman Biloxi, MS Biloxi 34 13.3 3.1 2.5 0.6
32 Shan Foster G-F 6–6 200 Junior Kenner, LA Bonnabel 34 32.4 15.6 4.6 2.3
34 George Drake G 6–4 213 Freshman Calera, AL Calera 33 10.3 2.7 1.4 0.6
41 Ross Neltner F 6–9 247 Junior Fort Thomas, KY Highlands 34 25.0 9.2 5.7 2.2
54 Ted Skuchas C 6–11 242 Senior Audubon, PA Germantown Academy 34 15.5 4.0 2.6 0.4

2006–07 schedule and results

Date Opponent Location Time Result Overall Conf.
Exhibition Game
November 1, 2006 Northern State Nashville, TN W 98–94
Regular Season
November 15, 2006 #8 Georgetown Nashville, TN L 70–86 0–1 0–0
November 21, 2006 Wake Forest Winston-Salem, NC L 78–88 0–2 0–0
November 25, 2006 Elon Nashville, TN W 81–70 1–2 0–0
November 28, 2006 Furman Nashville, TN L 62–70 1–3 0–0
December 2, 2006 Toledo Nashville, TN W 98–93 (OT) 2–3 0–0
December 5, 2006 East Tennessee State Nashville, TN W 104–62 3–3 0–0
December 7, 2006 Lipscomb Nashville, TN W 59–50 4–3 0–0
December 9, 2006 #25 Georgia Tech Nashville, TN W 73–64 5–3 0–0
December 16, 2006 Nicholls State Nashville, TN W 76–40 6–3 0–0
December 19, 2006 UPR-Mayaquez1 San Juan, PR W 102–59 7–3 0–0
December 20, 2006 Tennessee Tech1 San Juan, PR W 75–62 8–3 0–0
December 21, 2006 Appalachian State1 San Juan, PR L 79–87 (OT) 8–4 0–0
December 29, 2006 Alabama A&M Nashville, TN W 86–47 9–4 0–0
January 2, 2007 Rice Houston, TX W 74–69 10–4 0–0
January 6, 2007 Auburn* Auburn, AL L 65–68 10–5 0–1
January 10, 2007 #16 Tennessee* Nashville, TN W 82–81 11–5 1–1
January 13, 2007 Georgia* Athens, GA L 73–85 11–6 1–2
January 17, 2007 #10 Alabama* Nashville, TN W 94–73 12–6 2–2
January 20, 2007 #25 Kentucky* Lexington, KY W 72–67 13–6 3–2
January 24, 2007 #21 LSU* Baton Rouge, LA W 64–53 14–6 4–2
January 27, 2007 Ole Miss* Nashville, TN W 85–80 15–6 5–2
January 31, 2007 #1 Florida* Gainesville, FL L 64–74 15–7 5–3
February 3, 2007 Georgia* Nashville, TN W 66–61 16–7 6–3
February 10, 2007 Tennessee* Knoxville, TN L 57–84 16–8 6–4
February 14, 2007 South Carolina* Nashville, TN W 78–68 17–8 7–4
February 17, 2007 #1 Florida* Nashville, TN W 83–70 18–8 8–4
February 21, 2007 Mississippi State* Starkville, MS L 70–83 18–9 8–5
February 25, 2007 Kentucky* Nashville, TN W 67–65 19–9 9–5
February 28, 2007 South Carolina* Columbia, S.C. W 99–90 (OT) 20–9 10–5
March 3, 2007 Arkansas* Nashville, TN L 67–82 20–10 10–6
SEC Tournament
March 9, 2007 Arkansas Atlanta, GA L 71–72 20–11 10–6
NCAA Tournament
March 15, 2007 George Washington Sacramento, CA W 77–44 21–11 10–6
March 17, 2007 #13 Washington State Sacramento, CA W 78–74 22–11 10–6
March 23, 2007 #9 Georgetown East Rutherford, NJ L 65–66 22–12 10–6
*Conference regular-season games. 1 San Juan Shoot-out.

* Opponent rankings were those of the Associated Press poll at the time the game was played.

References

  1. ^ "VU Makes Appearance at SEC Hoops Media Days". CSTV.com. http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102606aaa.html. Retrieved 2007-04-12. 
  2. ^ "DeMarre Carroll Leaving Vanderbilt". CSTV.com. http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041806aaa.html. Retrieved 2007-04-12. 
  3. ^ "Foster wins preseason honors". InsideVandy.com. http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/1440. Retrieved 2007-03-28. 
  4. ^ "Coaches say Byars SEC's best". Tennessean.com. http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070308/SPORTS0602/703080416/1002. Retrieved 2007-03-08.