After a fantastic victory over Saint Mary's, Vanderbilt landed in the Aloha State to take part in the Maui Invitational. With Maryland waiting in the semifinal and Gonzaga/Arizona likely in the final, the Commodores first have to get through Cincinnati.
In a deep Big East conference, Cincinnati was picked 7th in the preseason coaches poll. Beyond that, many experts consider the Bearcats a darkhorse pick to win the conference. As of now, they have no national respect, not receiving any votes in the AP or Coaches polls. The buzz however is that growing, especially with the addition of highly touted/controversial recruit Lance Stephenson.
In a complicated recruiting trail, Lance had been linked to Kansas, St. John's, Maryland, Arizona, but somehow ended up at Cincinnati. The New York prep star has two major scandals hanging over his reputation. The all-time New York career scoring leader was arrested for groping a 17-year-old in school. Also, on a recruiting trip to Maryland, he was given a tour of Under Armour headquarters. Since the CEO was a Maryland grad/booster, the NCAA was non to happy. The underlying though seems to be that a lot of teams didn't want to have anything to do with him. Stephenson wasn't cleared to play by the NCAA until November. The team seems to have a general gag order on him, but he said all the right things in a statement.
“I am happy to be able to put this behind me,” he said. “Since I committed to the Bearcats in the summer, all I have wanted to do was get here and start playing ball with my teammates. I want to thank everyone that has given me encouragement and support during this, especially my family, coaches and teammates. They have been with me every step.”In their first two games, the Bearcats shot horribly from beyond the arc. The team shot 30% on a lot of shots (17-56). If you see a bunch a 3's go down quickly, Vandy may be in for a long night. The Bearcats seem to go about 8-9 deep, so hopefully the 'Dores can wear them down a bit. One of their guards Deonta Vaughn put up a nice line in their last game. He finished with 13 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds. The senior point guard seems to be the floor leader and should be the focus of Beal/Tinsley.
* As a quick side note/rant, the Cincy Athletics site doesn't have updated stats on the team. So when you click on the stats link, it takes you to the 08/09 numbers! Then when you finally find a link to this year's stats, it still says 08/9. How's an unpaid blogger supposed to get by on this?! Thanks for nothing Cincinnati athletic department.
In a fun story from Maui, if life imitates art, er electronics, then Vandy is in good shape in Hawaii. In an EA Sports XBOX 360 promo, Darshawn McClellan defeated a Gonzaga player to win the NCAA Tournament challenge. (Read the full story here) The 'Dores are truly hitting on all cylinders. I was hoping to see Coach Stallings calling plays behind Darshawn, but no such luck.
To be honest, I would be very disappointed with a loss against the Bearcats. This is very winnable, and a loss would cause the Dores to miss out on two addional quality games. A win tomorrow afternoon makes this team better prepared for March. A loss to Cincy results in loser bracket games against host Chaminade and either Colorado/Wisconsin. A win on the other hand means Maryland in the semi and either Arizona/Gonzaga in the Final or Consolation. Regardless of what happens, it will be nice to watch Vanderbilt on national television tomorrow afternoon.
My non-expert pick: Vandy takes care of business: 73-64
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