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Home > SECWB News & More! > NCAA Tournament > Vanderbilt First SEC Team Ousted From NCAA's
Vanderbilt First SEC Team Ousted From NCAA's
by LeAnne Harrington
Posted: March 22nd, 2007 @ 2:36pm
My dream of an all-SEC Final Four will have to wait another year. The #2 seed Vanderbilt Commodores, the only SEC representative in the Greensboro region, made an early exit from the 2007 NCAA Tournament, falling to #7 seed Bowling Green 59-56 in the second round played at East Lansing, MI. This year’s tournament has been especially unkind to #2 seeds, with Vanderbilt being the third #2 knocked out in the second round. #2 Stanford fell on their home court to #10 seed Florida State 68-61 Monday night, and #2 seed and defending National Champ Maryland was ousted by #7 Ole Miss 89-78 on Tuesday night. Only #2 Purdue advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after beating #7 seed Georgia Tech 76-63.
Playing against a team that looked eerily like their own proved to be Vanderbilt’s undoing. Bowling Green coach Curt Miller had Vanderbilt scouted to perfection, and did an excellent job of preparing his team for their showdown with the Commodores. No wonder -- Coach Miller and Vanderbilt’s coach Melanie Balcomb are good friends, and have shared many Xs and Os over the past several years. Maybe too many.
Vanderbilt had played sluggishly in their first round win over Delaware State on Sunday, but had managed to pull away for the win. What should have served as a wake-up call proved to be just a foretaste of things to come in this game. Vanderbilt came out slowly and never seemed to get on track, falling behind early. They trailed the Falcons by 13 at the half. Meanwhile, Bowling Green played the way Vandy had all year. They made the extra pass, moved the ball well, and had good looks at the basket. In sharp contrast, Vandy looked a step slow, rushed their shots and did not take care of the ball, committing 20 turnovers. Vanderbilt finally came alive in the second half, when they went to a pressing/trapping defense, but it seemed to be a case of too little, too late. The Commodores cut the lead to 3 several times in the game’s final 2 minutes, but were unable to pull the trigger.
The 3-point shot, which had been Vandy’s signature all season, was sadly absent in this game. Give Bowling Green credit for that; they extended their defense well beyond the arc and never let Vanderbilt get open looks. Coach Miller said, “We didn't want to give up any easy 3-point shots to the best 3-point shooting team in the country." Vanderbilt shot only 20% from long range, connecting on 2-of-10. Vanderbilt senior Caroline Williams, second in the nation in 3-point percentage, was 1-for-4 in this game. Senior Dee Davis, who was seen on camera throwing up during a time out, finished with no points, but had 6 assists. Senior Carla Thomas finished her collegiate career with a double-double, scoring 12 points to go along with 10 boards.
Vanderbilt was led in scoring by Liz Sherwood, who came off the bench to score 18 in only 21 minutes of play. In fact, the play of Sherwood is a bone of contention for me. This game was one of the best she has played since transferring from Connecticut, and she was the only Commodore who was effective in the paint. So why was she only on the court for 21 minutes? If Sherwood is to be the “go-to” player they need her to be next year, her off-season conditioning needs to be a point of emphasis. Sherwood must be able to give the Commodores a good solid 30 minutes of play each game if she is to be the impact player in the middle next year.
Bowling Green is the first team from the Mid-American Conference to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in NCAA history. They will face #3 seed Arizona State Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.
Vanderbilt finishes their season 28-6. Although this is a tough loss to swallow, seniors Dee Davis, Carla Thomas and Caroline Williams end their careers at Vanderbilt with each having scored over 1,000 points. They were also 2-time SEC Tournament Champions and participated in the NCAA tournament all 4 years. Each of these young ladies has made an impact in the record books and in the hearts of all Vanderbilt fans.
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