Tip off: 7 PM EST
Spread: VAN -1
o/u: 148
m/l: VAN -120, DAV EVEN
VANDERBILT
Last season Vandy went 23-11 with a 9-7 record in the SEC. They lost to Richmond in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, which was a disappointment for fans who had much higher hopes for the loaded squad.
They lost AJ Ogilvy and Jermaine Beal, but kept a strong core of talent moving forward. Jeffrey Taylor was a second team all SEC player in 2010 and he became a very good three point shooter. John Jenkins and Festus Ezeli came into their own, too. The 6’10” Ezeli is raw, but very good. Like many young African bigs, he is immediately a good rebounder and shot blocker, but lacks the coordination and know how to be adept offensively. Time may or may not develop Ezeli into an NBA caliber player; that remains to be seen.
John Jenkins and Ezeli, combined with Jeffrey Taylor, made the Commodores a potent team, and they got the #5 seed in March, but as mentioned they fell to the #12 ranked Richmond, and many bettors were upset, and rightfully so.
After winning four straight, they have went on to drop their last two games to #11 ranked Xavier and #6 ranked Louisville. Both games went into over time. It shows that Vanderbilt has what it takes to hang with the big dogs, but they need to learn to close games out. Jenkins went bonkers, scoring 27 points on 9 of 15 shooting, while dialing up 5 of 11 from behind the arc. Jeffrey Taylor and Lance Goulbourne both reached double figures with 11 points a piece, but no one else made a significant contribution. They are going to need Taylor to have bigger nights, because Jenkins can’t do it all.
The Commodores are seeking to improve to 6-3, and should be able to do so against a non-ranked opponent after falling to the aforementioned squads.
DAVIDSON
Davidson is off to a hot start. They are 6-1 and are coming off an 18-15 season last year, in which they finished 10-8 in conference games, but lost to Creighton in the CBI quarterfinals. They beat Nebraska and the Southern Conference co champions College of Charleston.
As with most near .500 clubs, most of their stats were very mediocre. They ranked 4th in conference offense and 5th in defense. They hit only 47% of their two point shots, which was the worst in the conference, and they committed far too many fouls defensively. It will take vast improvement in both areas, shooting and fundamental defense, for the Wildcats to significantly improve. They haven’t been relevant since losing Stephen Curry, and small programs don’t often get such big time talents, so Davidson fans and alumni have had to re-adjust to the status quo.
Davidson’s only real test so far resulted in a loss. They faced the #6 ranked Blue Devils on November 18th and lost by 13. All of their other games, except a 3 point victory over UNC Wilmington and a 3 piont win over Wofford, have been double digit victories. They rank 40th in the country in points per game, mainly aided by their 111 point outburst against GUI in their season opener.
Their starters do almost all of their damage and that group is led by the play of De’Mon Brooks. Brooks, a 6’7″ sophomore from Davidson is averaging 16.7 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. He went 4 of 11 from the floor in the loss to Duke but played only 16 minutes.
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