Rebuilding Mode in Full Swing for Vandy Basketball

Although the college basketball season is still very young, the Vanderbilt Commodores look anything but an NCAA Tournament team at the moment.

It was pretty apparent that this would be a rough season as Vandy (2-3) lost virtually all of their scoring from last season.

Both Jeffery Taylor and Festus Ezeli are currently regular starters for their respective NBA teams.

They also lost Brad Tinsley, John Jenkins, Lance Goulbourne and Steve Tchiengang.

That void that was left behind was illustrated at the fullest when Vandy put up just 33 points against Marist this past week.

So now the question is how long will the Commodores be off the radar?

Right now the Commodores have some nice talent that's lead by point guard Kedren Johnson. Outside of Johnson, the Commodores are still in search of some scorers.

Kyle Fuller has also played much better than last season as he's averaging nearly 13 points per game, but his assists numbers have to improve.

It's still somewhat probable that the Commodores figure out a way to sneak into the NCAA Tournament. After all, the SEC isn't the guantlent of a conference like it is in football.

The recent additions of No.16 Missouri and Texas A&M will certainly pose new challenges to this year's schedule, but don't be surprised if the Commodores get ran out of the gym when they face Middle Tennessee State in a few weeks.

Up next for the Commodores is Villanova in the SEC/Big East challenge. Villanova is also having issues as they've started with losses to La Salle and Columbia.

A win over Villanova at home would do wonders for this team's confidence that is clearly lacking at the moment.

If Kevin Stallings can figure out a way to turn this rebuilding year into another NCAA Tournament appearence, then he deserves a nice extension to his contract.

Vandy's Recent Results

 

(11/10) W vs. Nicholls St., 80-65

(11/16) L vs. Oregon, 74-48

(11/22) L vs. Davidson, 75-62

(11/23) L vs. Marist, 50-33

(11/25) W vs. UTEP, 73-49

Next 3 Up: Villanova, Xavier, Alabama A&M



Extending the Olive Branch to LeBron James

No other star athlete has ever been publicly disliked more than LeBron James.

It could've been said that Barry Bonds held that title, or maybe Alex Rodriguez, but now that title is firmly in LeBron's hands.

Despite the way LeBron buried himself even deeper by mocking Dirk Nowitzki's sickness, making excuses for his poor play in the fourth quarter, and seemingly saying he was superior to the rest of us, I'm going to extend the olive branch to him.

I've never been a fan of James. Not because I think he's a bad player, but because of his attitude. He showed it again in the 2011 NBA Finals.

However, James finally came out and said the right thing. Whether it was scripted or not, he came out and said "I'm not superior to anyone".

He also went on to basically say that his comments may have been misunderstood about saying that at the end of the day fans have to go back to their everyday lives.


Hands down, if James plays the game he's capable of playing, then the Miami Heat win in five or six games.

Instead, the Mavericks win in six claiming their first ever NBA championship.

I'm willing to wipe the slate clean with James and see how he carries himself next season.

His Miami Heat, or I should say Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat, will be back next year to make another run for the title.

The Eastern Conference is very watered down and the Heat's only real obstacles will be the Bulls and maybe the Knicks.

Although James will never be on Michael Jordan's level in my book, he can at least turn his public image around if he quits burying himself with egotistic remarks and lame excuses.

He has way too much talent to not eventually win an NBA championship, so let's wipe the slate clean and see how he acts next season.

Bracketology With A Tennessee Flavor

The college basketball season is already past the midway point, and March Madness is creeping up on us.

Teams are battling it out in the midst of their respective conferences, and the smaller conferences are bidding for that automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

It's been somewhat of a down year for school from Tennessee, but there are some mid-majors that people should be keeping an eye on.

Here's a look at the current standing of the schools fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee (14-7, 4-2 SEC): Meet your jekyll and hyde of the college basketball season. The same team that knocked out Villanova and Pittsburgh also has losses to the likes of Charlotte, Oakland, and College of Charleston. Take out those mysterious losses and you've got yourself a top ten ranking right now. Bruce Pearl is almost through his suspension and it looks like the Vols will make the NCAA Tournament with a respectable seed.
Big Wins: Villanova, Pitt. Big Losses: Charlotte, Charleston, Oakland

Projected Seed: 7


Vanderbilt (15-5, 3-3 SEC): The Achilles heel for the Commodores has been protecting leads, blowing late leads to the likes of South Carolina and Tennessee. What really helps Vandy right now is the fact that they really don't have an ugly loss outside of Arkansas this past weekend. They also are 3-1 against the AP Top 25 this season. Vandy really needs to get Andre Walker back to finish this season out strong, but they should be in the mix come March.
Big Wins: Marquette, St. Mary's. Big Losses: Arkansas, South Carolina

Projected Seed: 6


Memphis (16-5, 5-2 CUSA): The Tigers might have been the biggest frauds to start the season ranked. Their overall record might look solid, but they lack a quality win on their schedule. They've also struggled to beat the likes of Tennessee State, Austin Peay, and Arkansas State. This team is flirting with the possibility of missing the tournament all together if they don't start winning games in an impressive fashion. A big date with Gonzaga looms in the near future.
Big Wins: UAB. Big Losses: SMU, Marshall

Projected Seed: 12


Belmont (20-4, 12-1 A-Sun): If there's going to be a 2010 Butler team in this year's tournament, Belmont has to at least be mentioned in the conversation. To put it into perspective, Belmost beat Arkansas State by 33 points, the same Arkansas State team that had single-digit losses to Ole Miss and Memphis. There's no reason that Belmont couldn't run the table the rest of the way. They're four losses are to Tennessee twice, Vanderbilt, and arch-rival Lipscomb in a tough environment on the road. This team is dangerous.
Big Wins: None. Big Losses: Lipscomb

Projected seed: 14


Middle Tennessee (10-12, 5-4 Sun Belt): The Blue Raiders have to pretty much win their conference tournament to have any chance. Their overall record is abysmal, and they have too many bad losses to count on one hand. This team has potential, but they're still a few steps away from making the NCAA Tournament for the first team in 22 years.
Big Wins: North Texas. Big Losses: Evansville, Campbell, South Alabama

Projected Seed: None


Austin Peay (14-9, 8-3 OVC): Winning the OVC tournament is the only way the Governors will make the NCAA Tourney, but the probability of that happening is very high. The Governors don't really have any quality wins, but they took Memphis and Oakland to overtime. Remember, Oakland took down Tennessee in the early part of the season. I see the Governors winning their conference tournament only to get the honor of playing a team like Ohio State or Pittsburgh in the first round.
Big Wins: None. Big Losses: Tenn. State, Tenn. Tech

Projected Seed: 16




Take a minute to digest my take on the state of the Tennessee schools. There's still a lot of basketball to be played, and all of this could obviously change.

Out of all of these schools I see Vanderbilt having the potential to go the farthest. The reason I say this is because they've played everyone tough, and only have one ugly loss all season. I'm not counting out Tennessee from making some noise. They're pesky and have the ability to beat anyone in the country, but at the same time lose to almost anyone in the country.

The Titans Should Make Ryan Mallett QB of the Future

It was a rough season all the way around for the Tennessee Titans.

Jeff Fisher barely hung onto his job, Vince Young was shown the door, and the team finished an nasty 6-10.

Now it's time to look ahead three months to the NFL Draft, where it looks like the Titans will take a quarterback at some point.

Some people may be thinking, "wait, I thought we drafted Rusty Smith". Well, unfortunately Smith proved that he still has a great amount of work to do before he'll ever be ready to even be a No.2 quarterback, much less a starter.

There's a lot of potentially great NFL quarterbacks in this upcoming draft class, but Ryan Mallett seems to fit the Titans system the best. Here's some reasons why:

• He's got the great physical makeup of an NFL quarterback (6-foot-6, 238 lbs.)
• Great pocket passer, which is what the Titans have needed
• Prepped to play against tough defense after playing in the SEC
• Rarely makes mistakes: Nearly a career 4 to 1 TD-Interception ratio

Think about all of the issues the Titans have had at the quarterback position over the years. Turning the ball over was a recurring problems, and Vince Young always seemed to struggle with staying in the pocket.

Mallett will almost certainly be around when the Titans get the first pick at 8th overall.

They should take Mallett and let Kerry Collins start at least on more year. Collins has expressed his interest in helping young quarterbacks, and he's done that for both Young and Smith. He could do the same for Mallett.

They're both similar in their styles of play and Mallett could learn a lot about the NFL game from Collins.

Titans fans might have to come to grips with reality and accept that it might take a season or two before the Titans will be relevant again in the AFC.

Ryan Mallett's Collegiate Stats

• 69 passing touchdowns
• 8,388 passing yards
• 24 Interceptions
• 140.62 QB rating
• 18-8 record at Arkansas
  

Music City Bowl Looks To Be A Toss Up

The Music City Bowl, which annually pits the ACC against the SEC, looks to be one of the toughest games to figure out in this bowl season.

I'm excited to say I will be attending this game on Thursday evening and I expect to see a game that could come down to the final possession.

With the game being played at LP Field, it should be predominantly loaded with Tennessee fans.

Here's arguments for both teams on why they will win:

Tennessee's argument

Tennessee could have very easily finished the season 7-5 if not for getting hosed by the refs in the LSU game.

This team has finally hit its stride, winning four in row to end the season. Tyler Bray has also given the Vols some stability at quarterback.

The game may be technically on neutral field, but let's get real here. This will basically be like a home game for the Vols.

North Carolina's argument

One thing that leans heavily in North Carolina's favor is the inexperience in their opponent. A lot of these Freshman and Sophomore on Tennessee may come out skidish to start the game.

The Tar Heels will need to jump on them early, much like they did against Florida State back on November 6th.

The biggest weapon for the Tar Heels is easily T.J. Yates at quarterback. You take out his four-interception game against Virginia Tech, and Yates would be considered a quarterback who rarely turns the ball over.

All season long this team has been playing with a chip on their shoulder after dealing with the multiple suspensions. This season probably should've ended in a better bowl game than the Music City Bowl, but it's still impressive that they even got this far with all they had to deal with as a team.

Final Verdict

In the end I see the inexperience of the Vols ( over 50 Freshmen) will hurt them in this game.

The pro-UT crowd will give the Vols a lift that will keep the game interesting all the way to the end. However, North Carolina will find a way to get the win late in the game.

Look for Yates to carry the Tar Heels to a slim victory over Derek Dooley and the Vols.

Final Score: North Carolina 27, Tennessee 24

NFC Takes Over the NFL Power Rankings

Heading into this season the AFC looked like the dominant conference, but the NFC has narrowed the gap with the emergence of the Falcons and the Eagles.

The Patriots (11-2) still hands down have the number-one spot in the rankings. They've made it look easy over the past few weeks.

In fact, the Patriots haven't scored less than 31 points during their current five-game winning streak.

Coming in a distant second is the Steelers (10-3). These guys will be tough to beat in the playoffs whether they win the AFC North or not.

That defense makes this team a contender for the Super Bowl no matter how they look doing it. If the NFL counted for style points then the Steelers wouldn't be as high, but it doesn't.

In third sits the Eagles (9-4). Now I know what you're thinking. How can you put the Eagles ahead of the Falcons, who are 11-2? For the simple fact that the Falcons don't have Michael Vick. This guy single handily makes the Eagles a playoff team. That defense isn't so bad either.

They also lost to Philly head-to-head in Week 6.

As for the Falcons, who come in fourth on the list, they're a product of their schedule in my opinion. I need more from them.

Six wins over the likes of Carolina, San Francisco, Arizona, Cincy, and Cleveland just doesn't make me a believer of them being any higher that No. 4.

With that said, they will be tough to beat at home.

Rounding out the top five list is the Saints (10-3). They've quietly won six in a row after looking like another ordinary NFC team early in the season.

I don't think a 10-3 defending Super Bowl champion has ever received this little of attention, but they're not getting talked about as much.

A huge showdown with the Falcons in Atlanta comes next week. That game is sandwiched between Baltimore and Tampa Bay, which will be no picnic.

Will found out real quick through these final three games if New Orleans is capable of defending their Super Bowl title.

With the dominating win for the Chargers over the Niners tonight, they are as close as you can get to getting in the Top 5.

I still have trouble putting a team in the top five who needs help from other teams to get in the playoffs. If not for their horrible special teams play, they might be No.1 on this list.

The Ravens join them in knocking on the door of the Top 5 after losing a tough game to Steelers the previous week. They'll most likely finish with one of the AFC wildcards.

Bottom Five

28. Detroit (3-10): This team has played tough football all year and they're so much better than the record. They could easily be 5-8 if not for a questionable call in Week 1, and Ndamukong Suh being forced to kick an extra point. Godspeed Detroit.

29. Arizona (4-9): Decimated by injuries, but they have a manageable remaining schedule to try to save face.

30. Denver (3-10): A later coaching change means this team is going nowhere fast. The Broncos have one win since starting 2-2. Enough said.

31. Cincy (2-11): Really wanted to put this team dead last because they have zero heart at this point. However, I couldn't because they defeated Carolina head-to-head and managed to hang with the Steelers this past week. Still a horrible team, and T.O. needs his bottle now.

32. Carolina (1-12): We all seen this coming heading into the season. No experienced quarterbacks and no help for Steve Smith. This week against Arizona will probably be their last real opportunity to avoid a one-loss season. The other two come against Pittsburgh and Atlanta.

LeBron Makes His Epic Return to Cleveland Tonight

Possibly the most anticipated regular season game in NBA history occurs tonight in Cleveland at Quicken Loan Arena.

Cavaliers guard Mo Williams compared it to an ex-girlfriend coming to your wedding. In this case the ex-girlfriend ditched you for a super model that ended up not being so attractive. At least not so far.

Going into the season many expected the Heat to be better than their record (11-8), and for the Cavaliers to be worse than their record (7-10).

It's hard to imagine how the passionate Cavaliers fans feel heading into this game, and for a lot of them this will be the equivalent of the Cavs winning a championship if the they pull off the win.

Don't be surprise if that happens tonight. We've already seen a few ordinary teams rise up above their normal selves and get the win. The Grizzlies are the only team with a record below .500 to take down the Heat, which was just less than two weeks ago.

The Heat have gotten every team's best shot this season, and the Cavs are going to multiple that by a 100 to try to bring this win home to the Cleveland fans.

Security will be extremely high compared to a normal game and rightfully so.

I'm hoping to see LeBron fail miserably tonight for making a deal with the devil and doing it in the most classless way possible.

With that said, I hope no one does anything overboard tonight, like threatening LeBron's physical health. We all have to step back and remember this is just a game.

Cleveland fans need to focus all that rage into harming LeBron mentally, but certainly not physically in any way. I'm sure some bonehead will go overboard and I hope that person gets the punishment they will deserve by being an idiot.