It was a week of ending winless droughts as Vanderbilt defeated Arkansas on the road for the first time in the Kevin Stallings era and also defeated the Gators for the first time in Gainesville since 2001.
Many had doubts that Vandy would be able to keep up its winning ways on Tuesday night.
Those thoughts quickly changed just shortly after the ball was tipped off tonight.
The Commodores jumped out to a 9-0 lead within the opening minutes to get the crowd out of it early. Even at that point I expected the Gators to make a run, and that they did.
The Gators actually had a three-point lead midway through the second half with all the momentum on their side, but apparently the Commodores took some that Memorial magic on the road with them tonight.
Vandy is just a couple wins away from possibly securing a No.3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, something that probably hasn't been done in a long time, if ever.
Once again Vanderbilt proved that they can beat you from so many different angles. Jeffrey Taylor was virtually a non-factor and Jermaine Beal was just average. But in came freshman John Jenkins who hit six three-pointers to propel Vandy to it's 23rd win of the season.
Jenkins may be the x-factor as to how far this squad can go in the tournament. If he shoots like that, then don't be surprised to see the Commodores in the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in the past decade. He averaged over 40 points a game in high school, so he's definitely capable of taking over basketball games.
Almost every player on this team is contributing to its success right now and that's the key factor to going deep into the NCAA tournament.
Another thing that tells me this team can go deep into the tournament is its impressive conference road record, which is 6-2. It's one thing to be a good team in the comfort of your own home, but when you're going on the road and winning tough conference games then that shows me that you're dangerous on a neutral court as well.
With the 64-60 win in Gainesville, Vanderbilt locked up a first-round bye in the SEC tournament and still has a shot at their first SEC regular season championship since 1992.
Kentucky would have to lose their final two games for that to happen, but anything is possible.
Even though an SEC regular season championship would be very nice, their shouldn't be too much stock put into it. Either way Vandy has already done the work to get themselves into a good spot in the field of 65.
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