2008 SEC Basketball Awards

For the second year in a row a 'Dore receives the SEC Player of the Year award. The Truth was the SEC's most efficient player and the catalyst for a 25-win season. He led the league in scoring with 20.6 points per game, shooting 52.5% from the field. From 3-point land, The Truth Shot shot at a stratospheric 47.2% pace.

The Truth saved his best for last. In the final 10 games, he averaged 23.5 points and 5 boards, while shooting 57% from the field, 48.4% from deep, and 84% from the charity stripe.

AJ Ogilvy was selected to the All-SEC Second Team as well as the SEC All-Freshman team. All SEC awards can be found here.

Scout: Foster, 1st Team All American

Frank Burlison: The Truth is the Senior of the Year.

Awards

The Truth is awarded SEC Player of the Week for the 4th time this year. No other player has won it more than once. Sounds like that should extend to Player of the Year.

The Truth is one of 24 finalists for the Wooden Player of the Year Award.

Rivals Names Foster SEC POY

The Truth's legendary performance against MSU sealed the deal for Rivals.

If not for UK's Patterson, Ogilvy would've nabbed Freshman of the Year.

Luke Winn's All-American Selections

Luke Winn of SI.com on the Dores:

Vanderbilt Commodores (25-4)

I turned in these two All-America teams for the SI vote last week:

First team:
G: D.J. Augustin, Texas
G: Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
F: Tyler Hansbrough, UNC
F: Mike Beasley, K-State
F: Kevin Love, UCLA

Second team:
G: A.J. Price, UConn
G: Stephen Curry, Davidson
G: Shan Foster, Vanderbilt
F: D.J. White, Indiana
F: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

That was before Foster's virtuoso performance against Mississippi State on Wednesday. He's a lock to win SEC Player of the Year, but does he now deserve a first-team spot? If we re-voted today, I'd at least consider swapping him in for Douglas-Roberts at the second guard slot.

Senior Night Shenanigans Part Deux

Enjoy these pics from the post-game melee. Come back, Shan!

VU Senior Night: Truth Sets VU Free

Enjoy these highly unprofessional and out-of-focus shots from before the game and into halftime. My favorite is the pic of Jamie Graham throwing down a monster dunk during pre-game.

Thursday's Stories

Biddle: Foster is SEC POY

Dores Go Perfect at Memorial

Foster's 42: One For the Ages

Foster Wows His Vandy Family

Around The Rim

Jason McCallum gives Shan the performance of the night in ATR:

The performance of the night easily goes to Vanderbilt senior Shan Foster. All he did was score a career-high 42 points in the Commodores' 86-85 overtime win over Mississippi State on Vandy's Senior Night. He hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining, finishing 9-for-15 from beyond the arc. The amazing thing is that he missed his first six attempts and then made his last nine. The win gives this senior class its 84th win -- the most by a class in Vanderbilt history.

Vanderbilt is now 6-0 this season in games decided by one possession. Last season, they were 2-2 in such games -- including a one-point loss to Georgetown in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. "

Memorial Magic

Memorial Magic spans Clyde, Perry, the F-Troop, the Bomb Squad, and the recent generations yet to be iconized (McCaffrey, Maddux, Langhi, Freije, Byars, The Truth). Today, it's never been more alive. The DD leaves it to jfgogold for the eloquence:

Strange things happen there. Things like a young man from Kenner, LA who loves his God and who loves his family making 9 threes in a row to steal victory from the jaws of defeat and a one-sided referee's whistle. Or like a young man from Pensacola, FL having his best night of the season against the short-lived #1 orange, scoring more than any other game in his career other than the 30 he hung on that same archrival in his freshman season. Or like another young man from Fort Thomas, KY who's been through a lot in his college career single-handedly outscoring the home-state school that overlooked him for an entire half of basketball.

Special things happen there. Buzzer-beating half-court shots, Perdunks, Bomb Squad 3s, long-range gunners before there was a 3-point line like Hagan, Wyenandt, Rhodes, Cox, Fosnes, Compton, and so on. Goheen beating UT single-handedly in the last minute his freshman year, or hitting long-range missiles at the half and at the final buzzer to beat Louisville. Or him stepping behind the line to beat Georgia when he had time for a layup because he "didn't think Coach Newton could take overtime". Special things like beating #1 North Carolina one season and #2 Indiana another. Or like a young man named Willie "Hutch" Jones capping off a special but otherwise unremarkable career by dropping 37 points on a great Alabama team on Senior Night.

Special players call it home. Young men with great character and great intelligence make the decision to wear the black and gold, always with an eye toward leaving the program in better shape than they found it. So many have left an indelible mark in our memories and some even on our hearts. Long-suffering fans have seen the program reach great heights only to see it torn down again and have to be rebuilt. Rarely has our Commodore team seen such a combination of skill, athleticism, character, and courage as this season's team possesses. We have once again attained a great height and the view looks very promising into the future.

How do you explain what goes on in this very special place? We have all seen things, both good and bad, occur there that just make us shake our heads in amazement. Tonight was one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen happen there. As I stood with my family after the game, I couldn't help but shed tears as I looked around at those old cinderblock corners and out onto that floor and remembered so many of these special moments as we basked in this most recent addition to Vanderbilt legend. The roar of the crowd bounces off those corners and walls and just reverberates to an amazing level. Anything is possible there. There's only one way to describe what takes place in this old building. It's called Memorial Magic. There is nothing like it anywhere, and I count it as a privilege to have been a part of it for so many years, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds in this very special place called Memorial Gym

In Shan, We Trust

A performance so transcendent that it left the nonpareil Joe Fisher at a loss for words.

JRRIII will provide his courtside recap tomorrow.

The Final Shot:

The Truth Mesmerizes Memorial in Grand Finale

For all the seniors, it was a great senior night, but for Shan it was a performance that Memorial and Vandy fans haven't seen since 1969, as he UNLOADS for 42 points. The Truth hit 9 straight 3 pointers and nails the final one with 3 seconds left in OT. A truly unbelievable individual performance...DD still cannot believe this game between two top 25 teams was not televised, but no one can call a game like Joe Fisher!

The Truth Knows No Bounds

The Truth drills his last nine 3-pointer of the game, including the winer in OT en route to a career-high 42-points. JR said it was arguably one of the best single-game performances in Vandy history. Much more to come. ESPN Recap.

The Tennessean recap.

What's in a Name

Gary Parrish on the Truth.

Foster, SI 3rd Team All-American

Link

Zeppos's First Speech as Chancellor

Here's a link to Chancellor Zeppos's first speech.

Courtesy, WPM.

National Piece on The Truth

Shan Foster is currently on the cover of CBS Sportsline's College Basketball Page.

Gary Parrish gives his propers to The Truth.

JR Weighs in on Senior Night

Courtesy of JR:

I'll be in Memorial tonight for Shan's farewell tour. JRI and JRII will be there as well, along w/ several other Tupelo Rams. I'll snap some photos and upload 'em to DailyDore tomorrow.

State is a tough matchup for us. They play excellent defense, rebound as well as any team in the conference, but they also shoot a high percentage (since they get a lot of easy buckets around the rim). However they're last in the league in FT%, and they don't shoot the 3-ball particularly well either.

I'm especially worried about how Nelter will match up with Rhodes, who's big and athletic. Beal also faces a stiff test in Jamont Gordon, who'll likely be playing in front of a lot of family and friends, since he grew up in Glencliff just outside of Nashville. I wonder if they'll put Gordon on Shan, as there other guards are shrimps. We'll need a big night from Red and AJ, and hopefully Metcalf has a big final game as well.

If the game is up-tempo, I like our chances. If they can force a grind-it-out defensive slugfest, we're in trouble. We have more depth, so if we can wear them down w/ the B team and keep the game close, we'll have an advantage down the stretch.

It sucks that Vandy's early spring break always ensures that our students miss Senior Night. CKS should file a petition to move it back so the students could hit up the SECT and/or Big Dance over the break.

I've seen that we're a 4.5 favorite, which I think is a bit generous. CKS is 1-7 career on Senior Night, which does not bode well. However, this year apparently they've moved the festivities to being after the game, so maybe that will help. State is 5-2 on the road in the SEC this year; we are 17-0 at home. Should be a good one.

Dores.

Polls

The Dores fall to #16 in both AP and ESPN/USA today polls and Lunardi gives them a 5 seed in Bracketology.

Shan Foster passed former VU great Matt Freije on Saturday to become Vandy's all-time leading scorer.

Neltner Pulls a Webber as Dores Break Winning Streak

With a one point game in play, Neltner calls a TO with none left and the Hogs pull away for the win. Tough loss and frustrating way to go down...Miss State Bulldogs up next at Memorial