If the NCAA Tournament were a college, and Vanderbilt was a student trying desperately to get in, it would be on the waitlist. With a long way to go.
Luckily, there's a remedy for that and that's a strong performance in tournament play.
As the 5th seed from the Southeastern Conference Eastern division, the Commdores (19-11, 8-8) have a chance this weekend to impress the NCAA selection committee as they begin postseason play Thursday night against the Alabama Crimson Tide (17-13, 7-9), the No. 4 seed from the West in the first round of the SEC Tournament. The game begins at 6:30 CT and will be televised on Raycom Sports.
The Commodores enter the postseason on a winning note for the first time ever under coach Kevin Stallings, having won their last three games, including a road upset of then-No. 11 LSU on March 4.
"I think that a lot of what's made us better is that our team needed time to figure itself out," Stallings said. "We would have liked to figured it out a month before we did, maybe, but we didn't."
Part of that self-revelation has been a newfound offensive aggression that has manifested itself in strong shooting performances, including a sensational 62 percent performance in a 96-83 win over South Carolina on Feb. 28. Over their final 10 games, the Commodores went 7-0 when scoring more than 70 points and 0-3 when they didn't.
Sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy, recently named to the All-SEC 2nd team, has been a major part of that offensve resurgence. He had consecutive career highs of 28 and 33 points against South Carolina and LSU and notched a double-double in the season finale victory against Arkansas. Fully healthy after struggling with illness and injury in the first half of conference play, Ogilvy said he and the team are not nearly as tight on offense as they were before.
"I feel like we're playing a little more loose offensively as a team," Ogilvy said. "A lot more confident. Everyone's getting out there and doing their thing as opposed to before (when) we were a bit rigid."
Stallings agreed.
"I think we've hit a little bit of a stride offensively which has made us better," he said. "Your defense loses energy when you go through major scoring droughts. Hopefully our offense will be consistent this weekend and it will continue to give our defense energy."
The Commodores will need that energy as they will be fighting for their NCAA Tournament life every step of the way this weekend. With an RPI of 85 according to the most recent rankings, Vanderbilt's only way in to the NCAAs might be an SEC tournament title, which merits an automatic bid, and no less. That would mean four wins in four days, a tall order for a team that has made the finals of the SEC tournament once in its history, back in 1951. They have advanced as far as the semifinals just once under Stallings, and overall Vanderbilt has a 29-46 record in tournament play, a 38.7 winning percentage.
Then again, for the first time since 2006, the Commodores have a necessity to perform well if they want to make the Big Dance. Stallings was asked Wednesday how he prepares the team for that kind of challenge.
"You can't really look at it as a four-day proposition," he said. "The big thing, I think, as you enter a tournament is as you try to break it down into small parts for your team. And in this particular instance, we just have focused all of our energy on what we need to do to be ready to play Alabama. Then hopefully we advance and we play Friday."
The Commodores defeated the Crimson Tide in their only meeting this season, a 79-74 decision at Memorial Gym on Feb. 5. Like Vanderbilt, however, Alabama has been playing its strongest basketball as of late, winning four of its last five, including a dramatic last-second road win over Tennessee on March 8.
"They're just shooting the ball so much better from the perimeter," Stallings said. "When we played the first time, I didn't think that either team was playing well at that particular time. I think both teams are much better than they were then. They've developed their depth in a nice way."
A possible bad omen for the Commodores: the game's being played at St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, the site of their rout at the hands of Siena in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Junior guard Jermaine Beal dismissed that notion.
"We have a new team," he said. "We're just looking forward to Alabama, that's all."
