Looking ahead to Alabama

The men's basketball team will close out their regular season on the road tomorrow at 1 PM in Tuscaloosa taking on the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. A couple things immediately come to mind:
1. Crap, we're playing on the road.
2. The Crimson Tide is the most overtly menstrual mascot in college athletics. I mean, come on.

All that aside, Vandy really needs to win this game. This is a 15-15 Alabama team with losses to Belmont and South Carolina. The Tide also suffered losses to Texas A&M, Georgetown (Go to Hell!), and Clemson, all in all not a terrible way to go into SEC play. The bottom kinda dropped out for them as they've gone on to win 4 of their last 15 games, and beating Vandy at their own game by going an astonishingly bad 1-9 on the road. Alabama did play Tennessee close in T-town, but, they ended up losing that game. Alabama has virtually nothing left to play for, so I'm hoping they'll just Roll Over and die (Clever...I know).
Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are zilch, and I'm sure Alabama would love nothing more than to goose Vandy in their final regular season game. It'll be good for A.J. to get one last test against a quality big man in Bama's Richard Hendrix. Alonzo Gee and Mykal Riley both contribute around 14 a game. After that the scoring drops off significantly for the Tide.
If Vandy can come out and play with significant defensive intensity and someone besides Shan decides that scoring some points might be beneficial we should cruise to victory. This is the type of game where the dominant team needs to come out in the first 5 minutes and make a statement. If the 'Dores can do that they'll be good to go.

I think if Vandy can focus they'll win easily, if they don't focus, they will still be in the game, but it'll be a lot closer than it should be. Look for the 'Dores to hit the gas early and try to run the Tide out of the gym so the starters can rest the second half.

In other news:

Women's basketball takes on Auburn at 9 PM tonight at The Sommet Center in Nashville. The 3rd seeded Lady 'Dores are attempting to repeat as SEC Tournament Champs.

The Baseball team dropped a game 2-1 to Illinois-Chicago on Thursday afternoon. Mike Minor pitched his first career complete game, giving up 2 runs, 5 hits, and 2 walks. Minor struck out 6 in his second loss in his last 13 decisions.

Vanderbilt Athletics put together an awesome new intro for their website. Check it out.
Also, check out Ryan Flaherty's 2008 journal here.

And finally, if you're into SEC fight songs, go here.

In the words of our forefathers,
Go 'Dores!