VANDERBILT COMMODORES

1. It's Shan "Rhymes With Pain" Foster. Perhaps more peculiar than the spelling of his name is the form of his jump shot: Foster shoots the ball with his hands virtually behind his head. This causes trouble for almost every defender, as he is able to get off any shot with a defender in his face. He recently went 9-for-9 on 3's in the 2nd half in a career-high 42-points peformance (and a game winner) against Mississippi State. That game helped the Commodores to finish the season 18-0 at home. The 6'6" Senior from Kenner, La. is averaging 21 points and 5 rebounds this season. Foster has recently become the school's all-time scoring leader and is 42 points shy of the 2,000 mark for his career (this is before the SEC Tournament). After Derrick Byars won the award last season, Vanderbilt has the chance to pick up back-to-back SEC Player of the Year awards for the first time in school history.

2. The Big Man From Down Under. Much of Vanderbilt's success this season is due to former Utah (and now Gonzaga assistant) Ray Giacoletti. After bringing Andrew Bogut to Utah in 2004, Giacoletti had become familiar with the talent in Australia - specifically at the Australia Institute of Sport - a school setup by the government to train people for the Olympics. After using their last scholarship on a Juco transfer, Giacoletti recommended to Vanderbilt's staff that they go down and check out the latest Australian talent: a 6'11" big man named A.J. Ogilvy. Although he was under the radar at that time, A.J. Ogilvy exploded onto the scene at the FIBA U-19 World Championships where he averaged 22 and 10 while shooting 70 percent from the field and 79 percent from the stripe. Ogilvy has averaged 17 points and 7 boards this year and provided a steady force in the paint - something that Vanderbilt teams of the past have sorely missed. There are some strange connections between Ogilvy and Vanderbilt's Last dominant big man: Ogilvy is from Syndey, Australia, while Will Purdue grew up in Melbourne, Florida. Other players to watch out for include a British rugby player named Alan Metcalfe, Jamie Graham, a cornerback on the football team who joined the basketball squad after the football season ended, and 5th year senior Ross Neltner whose 8 points and 6 rebounds a game are overshadowed by his near-Kordell-esque affinity for hugging players in moments of drama.

3. Who Ya With?! While a lot of the talk the past two seasons has been about Florida winning back to back titles in basketball, Vanderbilt has picked up back to back titles themselves, in an endeavor slightly more noble than basketball. Both the 2006 and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winners were affiliated with Vanderbilt. Mohammad Yunus, an Indian Economist who popularized microlending, picked up the prize in '06 and Al Gore (who enrolled several times, but never graduated) won it last year. And while Kentucky gets lots of attention for famous fans (read: Ashley Judd), Vanderbilt is no slouch themselves: country stars Amy Grant and Vince Gill are easily spotted on the sidelines of any Vanderbilt home game. — Mark Bashuk

SIENA SAINTS

1. Fun facts Siena is a Catholic college established in 1937 by the Franciscan order, named after Saint Bernardine of Siena. (Who's the patron saint of gambling addicts, actually.) The campus was built on an old asparagus farm.

2. "We love our Saints." That is the slogan the college uses to promote their men's and women's basketball teams. But until 1988 Siena's athletic teams were known as the Indians, not Saints. The name was changed out of respect for Native Americans, and to honor St. Bernadine who the school was named after. (Ed. Note: It happens.) This explains why Siena uses a St. Bernard dog as their mascot; Bernardine is Italian for Bernard. This is Siena fourth NCAA appearance. In 1989, they defeated No. 3 seed Stanford, and the team's big win this season also came against Stanford.

3. Senior leadership......literally. Siena guard Tay Fisher is the only senior on this years team. With practically the whole team returning next season, one has to believe Siena will be favored to repeat as MAAC champs. — Upstate Underdog

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1 Kansas vs. 16 Portland State (Omaha)
Kansas is one of the most experienced and well-rounded teams in this entire tournament, so it should the Jayhawks should be damn thankful that they landed perhaps the easiest regional of the No. 1 seeds. The Jayhawks should have absolutely no problem disposing of Portland State.
The Pick: Kansas

8 UNLV vs. 9 Kent State (Omaha)
This game right here is the ultimate 8-9 first round matchup. Why? Because it's nearly impossible to pick. UNLV is coming off a huge upset of BYU in its conference tournament, while Kent State picked up some big wins this season against George Mason and at St. Mary's. In the end, the coin toss went the Rebels' way.
The Pick: UNLV

5 Clemson vs. 12 Villanova (Tampa)
Anybody who witnessed Sunday's gem of a game between North Carolina and Clemson has got to agree - Clemson is for real. This is a team that has somehow, someway battled with North Carolina all season long and even defeated Duke in the ACC Tourney. Look for the Tigers to make a lot of noise in the early going of the tournament.
The Pick: Clemson

4 Vanderbilt vs. 13 Siena (Tampa)
Siena provides one of the lone, true upsets of this regional. They've got a win against Stanford under their belts this season and should take advantage of a Vanderbilt team that dropped three of its final five games of the season - including two to Arkansas (Hoosiers beware!).
The Pick: Siena

6 USC vs. 11 Kansas State (Omaha)
Ahh, yes - the battle of the two best freshmen in all of college basketball, O.J. Mayo and Michael Beas(t)ley. Put that aside for a moment though. The more interesting matchup may come between Mayo and K. State's Bill Walker, who are former high school teammates. In the end, Beasley will undoubtedly turn in yet another huge performance and lead his team to victory.
The Pick: Kansas State

3 Wisconsin vs. 14 CS Fullerton (Omaha)
Like Davidson, who I'll get to in a moment, momentum will be the ultimate key for the Badgers. Wisconsin played well during the Big Ten Tournament, despite a quasi-injury to Trevon Hughes who is still struggling to find his shot. As long as Brian Butch and Michael Flowers are playing well though - and Joe Krabbenhoft is up to his usual garbage-cleaning ways - the Badgers should advance to Round 2 without breaking a sweat.
The Pick: Wisconsin

7 Gonzaga vs. 10 Davidson (Raleigh)
Forget the Houston Rockets. Nobody cares about the NBA anyway, right? Well as everybody knows by now, the Wildcats have won 22 straight. Davidson played at UCLA, at Duke and at North Carolina early in the season, and lost all three...however, they lost by just six to Duke and just four to the Tar Heels. There's no question that Gonzaga is a formidable foe, but Davidson has all the momentum they need heading into this one.
The Pick: Davidson - the streak stays alive

2 Georgetown vs. 15 UMBC (Raleigh)
Everybody keeps talking about Roy Hibbert, the difference maker - and rightfully so. But Hoyas' guard Jessie Sapp - as well as the other G-Town guards - deserve some attention. Sapp and his backcourt mates will be the ultimate difference makers for the Hoyas in the tournament and could provide the extra push Georgetown needs to make a title run.
The Pick: Georgetown

Some Midwest Region Superlatives...
Dark Horse for Final Four: Clemson
Dark Horse for Sweet 16: Davidson
Best First Round Upset: Siena over Vanderbilt
Best Opening Round Game: Mayo-Beasley
Best Potential Game: Clemson-Villanova
Round of 32: Kansas over UNLV, Clemson over Siena, Wisconsin over Kansas State, Georgetown over Davidson
Sweet 16: Kansas over Clemson, Georgetown over Wisconsin
Elite Eight: Kansas over Georgetown
Regional Champ: Kansas

2. The Big Man From Down Under. Much of Vanderbilt's success this season is due to former Utah (and now Gonzaga assistant) Ray Giacoletti. After bringing Andrew Bogut to Utah in 2004, Giacoletti had become familiar with the talent in Australia - specifically at the Australia Institute of Sport - a school setup by the government to train people for the Olympics. After using their last scholarship on a Juco transfer, Giacoletti recommended to Vanderbilt's staff that they go down and check out the latest Australian talent: a 6'11" big man named A.J. Ogilvy. Although he was under the radar at that time, A.J. Ogilvy exploded onto the scene at the FIBA U-19 World Championships where he averaged 22 and 10 while shooting 70 percent from the field and 79 percent from the stripe. Ogilvy has averaged 17 points and 7 boards this year and provided a steady force in the paint - something that Vanderbilt teams of the past have sorely missed. There are some strange connections between Ogilvy and Vanderbilt's Last dominant big man: Ogilvy is from Syndey, Australia, while Will Purdue grew up in Melbourne, Florida. Other players to watch out for include a British rugby player named Alan Metcalfe, Jamie Graham, a cornerback on the football team who joined the basketball squad after the football season ended, and 5th year senior Ross Neltner whose 8 points and 6 rebounds a game are overshadowed by his near-Kordell-esque affinity for hugging players in moments of drama.

3. Who Ya With?! While a lot of the talk the past two seasons has been about Florida winning back to back titles in basketball, Vanderbilt has picked up back to back titles themselves, in an endeavor slightly more noble than basketball. Both the 2006 and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winners were affiliated with Vanderbilt. Mohammad Yunus, an Indian Economist who popularized microlending, picked up the prize in '06 and Al Gore (who enrolled several times, but never graduated) won it last year. And while Kentucky gets lots of attention for famous fans (read: Ashley Judd), Vanderbilt is no slouch themselves: country stars Amy Grant and Vince Gill are easily spotted on the sidelines of any Vanderbilt home game. — Mark Bashuk

GEORGETOWN

1. Patrick Ewing Jr. will dunk on you. The kid teammates call "Trixie" (ask Wikipedia, not me) plays above the rim, as evidenced by his reverse and-one jam in the final minute of Georgetown's win over BC. Hoya heavy Ted Leonsis was hip to this as early as last week, as was anyone in attendance at Indiana Midnight Madness 2003.

2. Roy Hibbert is no Ostertag Przybilla. Last week I wrote "that NBADraft.net still has Greg Ostertag as Hibbert's player comparison, which is a crime to draftniks everywhere." Well, they've updated it since then, perhaps taking the 7'2", 278-lb. center's 17-and-12 vs. BC into account. The new comparison? Joel "The Vanilla Gorilla" Przybilla. No wonder DraftExpress.com is on the rise.

3. JT III has the starting lineup of a champ. Hibbert is one of the nation's best big men. Jeff Green is the Big East's Player of the Year. DaJuan Summers is a 6'8" freshman forward who the aforementioned NBADraft.net has going No. 10 overall in '08 (grain of salt). Guard Jonathan Wallace shoots 50 percent from the floor, 48 percent from three and 87 percent from the line, and backcourt mate Jessie Sapp averaged 14 points through the first two rounds of the Tournament. Hoya Saxa! — Jamie Mottram

VANDERBILT

1. Basset Hounds! Officially the mascot of Vanderbilt is the Commodores, named after Cornelius Vanderbilt's alleged exploits at sea. Unofficially, however, the true mascot of Vanderbilt will always be George the basset hound. Brought to campus by student Toby Wilt in the early 1960s, George gained fame when, at a Vanderbilt-Tennessee football tilt on November 28, 1964, he chased UT's mascot horse out of the stadium, sending the crowd into a frenzy, and Vanderbilt to a 7-0 victory. From that point on, George had front row seats at all basketball and football games. He was later evicted from the Sigma Chi house, leading to a groundswell movement across campus to build a split-level doghouse for George. Sadly, plans for a $2,000 doggie duplex became a lightning rod issue across after the student press deemed it excessive, until it was settled when an anonymous donor gave George a new home gratis. George passed away in 1966 after chasing an ice delivery truck and was given a hero's funeral and burial. To date, he remains interred just north of Dudley Field.

2. They Stole From Duke. Until Jay Cutler's meteoric success as Broncos QB and object of Mel Kiper's undying affection, and with apologies to Will Perdue, Joey Cora and Corey Chavous, possibly the most famous Vandy athlete was the legendary Billy McCaffrey, whose 3-pointers catapulted Duke to its national title in 1991, before leaving for the greener pastures of Vandy, where he lead the team in scoring for two seasons. After playing professionally in Italy, Germany and South East Melbourne, McCaffrey joined his former Vanderbilt coach Jan van Brenda Kolff at St. Bonaventure as an assistant coach in 2001, and was named interim head coach following van Brenda Kolff's resignation in 2003 ... but never coached a game. McCaffrey, who now is an assistant at Maine, has a record of 0-0 as a college head coach, exactly the same as everyone reading this site.

3. More Dixie Stuff. Controversy abounded on the Vanderbilt campus in 2002, when in a showing of sensitivity and common sense, the University decided to rename the dorm Confederate Memorial Hall to simply Memorial Hall. What seemed like a straightforward enough change became immensely more complicated when the United Daughters of the Confederacy launched a vigorous protest to the change, as they had paid for the initial construction as a tribute to fallen rebels. The UDC sued to stop the name change, and though the action was dismissed initially, on appeal, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that the name had to stay on the building's stone fa ade or damages were owed to the UDC, which seem rather difficult to calculate. The UDC reacted by noting "it's a victory for the entire South." To date, the name has been changed everywhere but the stone enscription on the building. — Angelo Grasso

First Three Georgetown Tidbits [Deadspin]
First Three Vanderbilt Tidbits [Deadspin]

We're gonna end this lull day with an easy, not-all-that funny video involving Vanderbilt center Ted Skuchas in some mock instructional video they shot on campus or something. (We're gonna keep this page easy to load, because we hear there's a Up All Night! fantasy draft going on tonight.) We would love to see this guy against Greg Oden, who's about to make so much money he can hire short people to change his lightbulbs.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES

1.How It Got Here. Founded in 1873, Vanderbilt University was originally to be known as Central University in Nashville, on the hope that founding a university in Graceland could heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. It was renamed Vanderbilt, however, after Cornelius Vanderbilt abandoned his original two plans to erect an enormous statue of himself, or to build a university in Staten Island named after his mother. Instead, the Commodore chose Plan C, and donated to found a school in Tennessee that he would never visit. The tradition of Gilded Age aristocracy is apparent in many aspects of modern campus life, ranging from the students wearing jackets and ties to football games, to not observing Labor Day due to the Commodore's disdain for the working class, to denying a living wage to school employees, causing a labor uprising on campus and raising the ire of John Edwards and Sergeant Roger Murtagh.

2. Travelin' Man. Speaking of aristocrats, Vanderbilt is headed by Gordon Gee, who can best be described as the Larry Brown of university presidents. Gee has the steward of an amazing five universities: Colorado, West Virginia, Ohio State, Brown and now Vanderbilt. Gee's signature move has been, somewhat oddly, spending lavish sums of money on building or revamping the president's residence at all universities, spending over $10 million in total on repeatedly giving him an acceptable place to call home. However, given that Gee's wife Constance reportedly smokes pot at the president's quarters (until filing for divorce last week), perhaps the constant renovations and moving may be necessary to clean the residue. Gee has also come under criticism for throwing extravagant parties, cronyism in the board of directors, taking a lavish salary and eliminating the athletic department to put Vanderbilt's athletics under the umbrella of student affairs. The moral? Beware of presidents in bow ties.

3. Tenacious D. The Commodores are coached by Kyle Gass look-alike Kevin Stallings, who just completed his eighth season as skipper of the men's basketball team. After seven years of relative benign leadership and being excruciatingly anonymous for a major conference coach, Stallings mixed it up a bit this year by speaking his mind on his SEC brethren. In their home tilt against Florida this year, Stallings grabbed the game ball and refused to give it back to Joakim Noah, forcing the refs to intervene when Stallings started slapping the foot-taller Noah. Stallings professional comment afterwards was "Noah is a competitor, and so am I," apparently hoping he could post up Al Horford. He later referred to Bruce Pearl as an "idiot asshole" for showing up shirtless and draped in orange paint at a Lady Vols game this January. His reaction to this flare up was much more on point: "Who would want to see me without my shirt on anyway?" For this, we defer to Mrs. Stallings. — Angelo Grasso

GEORGE WASHINGTON COLONIALS

1. Hip....Hip-op....Hip-op-anatamus. He get all da easy ones!
The champs of the A-10 Tournament are the fightin' Colonials from the George Washington University. Thank god they don't call it that, like some teams I know. In the Big Ten. Who wear red and gray. While the Gdubs are called The Colonials for purposes of a mascot, they actually have three mascots present at each game: Little George (a person wearing a Revolutionary War costume with a giant George Washington head), Big George (a 10-ft. tall inflatable George Washington) and the Hippo (an inflatable Hippo). Emily Yoffe (of slate.com) has an hilarious article about her experience being inside Big George (not a euphemism). She also shares her story of the last time she attended a GW basketball game where her daughter was so scared by Little George that later that night Yoffe and her husband heard the two-year-old over the baby monitor going, "Giant head, no! No, George Washington giant head! Very scary! Very scary! No, George!" In case you were wondering, the Hippo is due to GW's secret society, The Order of the Hippo. According to the GW Wikipedia entry, "it is unknown what this secret society does on a daily basis." I can only speculate as to whether or not the Order's activities include using Big George's cell phone to send pictures of Little George to unsuspecting GW co-eds.

2. Yinka Dinka Doo. Probably the most famous basketball alumni of GW is Yinka Dare (not to be confused with Deadspin commenter Yinka Double Dare). Yinka had a lot of success as a Colonial and then went on to become one of the biggest underachievers in NBA history. In his rookie season, he played for three minutes before getting a season-ending knee injury. Each minute he played was worth $300,000. I wish my time were considered that valuable. In his four-year career, Dare recorded 96 turnovers and four assists, which is one of the worst A/TO ratio in NBA history. I was all set to really lay into what a doof this guy was, and then I read that he died of a heart attack three years ago at the age of 32 and felt like shit.

3. So, Who Shelled Out $38,000 per Year for this Place? Notable Alums who Did Not Play Basketball and Also Make Me Feel Guilty for Being Mean include: Kenneth Starr, L. Ron Hubbard, Red Auerbach, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace (and three former CotJCs Vessey, Shalikashvili and Powell), Allen Dulles (former CIA director), J. Edgar Hoover, W. Mark Felt (Deep Throat) and Charles W. Colson and Leon Jaworski, who were on opposite sides of the Watergate scandal. Those hearings must've been like an Order of the Hippo reunion barbecue. Finally, we now know who to thank for our WWL Overlords. Founder of ESPN Chet Simmons (I will not debate this. Period.) is a graduate of the George Washington University. Bonus tidbit: I read that in 1999 GW "acquired" the Mount Vernon College for Women. It does not specify what they did with it. I like to think the students were for the Order of the Hippo members, and it was all very hush-hush. — Andrea Reiher

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2. Travelin' Man. Speaking of aristocrats, Vanderbilt is headed by Gordon Gee, who can best be described as the Larry Brown of university presidents. Gee has the steward of an amazing five universities: Colorado, West Virginia, Ohio State, Brown and now Vanderbilt. Gee's signature move has been, somewhat oddly, spending lavish sums of money on building or revamping the president's residence at all universities, spending over $10 million in total on repeatedly giving him an acceptable place to call home. However, given that Gee's wife Constance reportedly smokes pot at the president's quarters (until filing for divorce last week), perhaps the constant renovations and moving may be necessary to clean the residue. Gee has also come under criticism for throwing extravagant parties, cronyism in the board of directors, taking a lavish salary and eliminating the athletic department to put Vanderbilt's athletics under the umbrella of student affairs. The moral? Beware of presidents in bow ties.

3. Tenacious D. The Commodores are coached by Kyle Gass look-alike Kevin Stallings, who just completed his eighth season as skipper of the men's basketball team. After seven years of relative benign leadership and being excruciatingly anonymous for a major conference coach, Stallings mixed it up a bit this year by speaking his mind on his SEC brethren. In their home tilt against Florida this year, Stallings grabbed the game ball and refused to give it back to Joakim Noah, forcing the refs to intervene when Stallings started slapping the foot-taller Noah. Stallings professional comment afterwards was "Noah is a competitor, and so am I," apparently hoping he could post up Al Horford. He later referred to Bruce Pearl as an "idiot asshole" for showing up shirtless and draped in orange paint at a Lady Vols game this January. His reaction to this flare up was much more on point: "Who would want to see me without my shirt on anyway?" For this, we defer to Mrs. Stallings. — Angelo Grasso

Ah, the halcyon days of yesteryear, when life consisted mostly of lying around in your pajamas all day, playing Sega, pretending to study and mostly mastering the art of Nerf basketball. These dorm room kids from Vanderbilt have mastered this art, and the whole enterprise is making us feel extremely old this Wednesday morning.

Even though it's Vanderbilt that's being fined for their fans running on the court, this video shows that the real bad guy might have been the Florida player who punch a fan in the face.

We advocate a hands-off approach to this; don't fine the school for fans rushing the court ... and don't get mad at players who punch fans afterwards. It's fun for everyone.

Gator Anger [Freelance Dogs]
An Open Letter To SEC Commissioner Mike Slive [The Big Picture]

(Loser With Socks had a nice riff on this too ...)

Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings isn't like most coaches. A lot of guys will tell their team to protect the ball, but won't practice what they preach. Kevin Stallings not only will protect the ball, but he'll put a body on Joakim Noah, too.

During the early-morning hours of Dec. 1, Keown began striking his ex-girlfriend, Sarah Treichel, in the Elliston Place apartment occupied by him and Commodores backup quarterback Richard Kovalcheck. When Kovalcheck intervened, Keown began hitting him. After the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Kovalcheck struck Keown in self-defense, the 6-foot, 195-pound Keown "then grabbed the victim by the groin, and began squeezing and pulling very intensely."

Keown eventually released Kovalcheck, and the two went to separate bedrooms in the apartment. Keown then entered Kovalcheck's bedroom through a balcony entrance "holding a large knife above his head. The victim stated that the defendant told him that he was going to kill him." ... Kovalcheck had some dried blood in his nose after being struck by Keown, and "also appeared to be in pain from his groin injury."

Yes, we can understand where Kovalcheck was coming from there. We find it disturbing that punters are becoming so violent. If you can't count on punters to be docile, placid leg stretchers, jeez, it's almost like you'd have to just accept that all football players are malevolent cretins or something.

Arrested Vandy Player Allegedly Assaulted Teammate [The Tennessean]
It's Like Tonya Harding, But Less Manly [Deadspin]

And after checking out Jay Cutler's official Web site, jeez, we have to say, we can kind of see why. We're not sure about his mobility, his 40-yard dash time or his ability to throw the deep ball, but, well, Jay Cutler, the dude is cut. We're not sure what kind of weight training regimen they have down there in Nashville, but holy crap, it appears to be working.

JayCutler.com [Official Site]

(For the record — and we really shouldn't have to say this — we are aware this is not the same Jay Cutler who played for Vanderbilt. Sheesh.)