Vanderbilt Commodores NCAA Basketball News

LITTLE ROCK a ' Southeastern Conference basketball coaches spent much of a summer teleconference talking about how the league will be better.

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury sounded close to annoyed Monday when he was asked about John Calipari.

Vanderbilt basketball??alumni at the professional level have well-stamped passports.

At least one team seems immune from the change in the SEC Eastern Division this offseason.

Two months ago the SEC was coming off a dismal men's basketball season, and as player after player declared for the draft, it looked like the league might have to wait to get stronger.

FINAL RECORD: 19-12, 8-8 SEC, tied for fourth in Eastern Division. WHAT WENT RIGHT: The Commodores got a solid year out of A.J. Ogilvy , and Jermaine Beal did a creditable job at point guard.

THE GOOD NEWS: Everybody is slated to return in 2009-10, which could make Vandy an early favorite in the division at least, and perhaps for conference honors as well.

SEC men's basketball is having a better off-season than post-season. Only three teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, and none made it past the second round.

I'm obviously no golf guru, but I know it's advantageous when nobody's chatting during your backswing.

UT's Tyler Smith goes for the layup while being guarded by Vanderbilt's Lance Goulbourne and George Drake at Thompson- Boling Arena.

The Vanderbilt basketball program is in search for a point guard. With three-year starter Jermaine Beal entering his final year, the Commodore staff is trying to find his potential replacement.

In case you haven't noticed the trend over the past few seasons, or the past decade for that matter, no Oregon-grown high school basketball stars will sign up to play college ball with an Oregon team.

Moreno Valley's Jennifer Risper, formerly a four-year starter at Canyon Springs High, was selected by the Chicago Sky with the 29th overall selection in the WNBA draft on Thursday.

Jeff Walz played a part in building the Maryland women's basketball team several years ago as an assistant coach who recruited much of the Terrapins' best talent.

The 5-foot-9 senior, pressed into post duty because of injuries, came up as big as ever Monday night - a fearless, relentless, career-high 27-point performance that led the fourth-seeded Commodores over Kansas State 74-61 at the Pit in NCAA Women's Tournament second-round play.

Painful as they may have been, an NCAA Tournament loss and a turned ankle aren't likely to keep Nicole Hester down for long.

The performance was for her family. The points and position were for her team. Vanderbilt couldn't ask for anything more from its senior, Jennifer Risper.

A band of tall ladies in gray athletic suits very conspicuously became "Wedding Crashers" Saturday night at an Albuquerque hotel.

Alabama interim coach Philip Pearson was asked after Thursday night's win over Vanderbilt if anyone from UA's administration has told him he would not be considered for the job full time.

That's why the John Carroll Catholic High School product left the state after helping the Cavaliers to back-to-back state championships to play at Vanderbilt , and why after two successful seasons at Vanderbilt he left Nashville to play for his uncle, former UAB head coach Mike Anderson, at Missouri .