Mark Emmert selected to head NCAA

From NCAA.com

INDIANAPOLIS --- University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert was named today by the NCAA Executive Committee as president of the organization. Emmert will become the fifth CEO of the Association and is expected to assume his duties on November 1, 2010.

Emmert fills a vacancy created by the passing of NCAA President Myles Brand in September 2009 and will take over duties of the office from interim President James L. Isch.

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NCAA Golf: A fond farewell

By Weinman - For seniors Jon Curran and Tyler Matthews, Saturday's final round at the NCAA Central Region was their last as collegiates. Curran (above, speaking with the Daily News Journal's Greg Pogue) finished the event in a tie for third, missing advancement to the NCAA National Championship by two strokes. Stay tuned later today for a photo gallery of today's events....

NCAA Golf: Down the stretch they come

By Weinman - The first group of scorecards are just coming into the clubhouse. The Commodores are on the front nine, all through at least three holes. Pictured above are the closing holes on the front side, the par-4 ninth in front of the par-3 eighth.

In scoring news, UCLA caught and passed Washington around the turn today. The Huskies had taken a 10-stroke lead after day one. Georgia Tech is currently three strokes ahead of Ole Miss for the fifth and final spot in the NCAA National Championship.

Jon Curran is one-under for the tournament after birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. Only one individual player will be taken on to Nationals, and at three-under for the day Curran is putting himself in the hunt.

NCAA Golf: God's mandatory lunch break

By Weinman - Another lightning delay was called just before 1 p.m. Sophomore Adam Hofmann (pictured above with family) was standing over an eagle putt from just off the 18th green when the horn sounded. Apparently, the delay was caused by lightning within an eight-mile radius of the course. Officials were hopeful to get players back out quickly, and most golfers did not come all the way back to the clubhouse during the break.

NCAA Golf: Round Two Scores

By Weinman - Here are the Commodores' scores through two rounds of play. Jon Curran went one-under for his second round, while Ryan Haselden was even. Vanderbilt remains in 10th place with 18 holes to play. Jon Curran was in a tie for eighth through the first two rounds. The top five teams, and one individual not on that team, advance to the NCAA National Championships.

Currently, the Commodores are on the back nine with the first group heading toward the 18th hole. Round three scores should start coming through on Golfstat very soon.

NCAA Golf: Day 3, Round ???

By Weinman - There is golf being played all over The Club at Olde Stone this morning. Play was delayed nearly two hours this morning due to an early storm, but the golfers resumed second round play at 9:12 a.m. Most of the golfers are now playing their third rounds, but not all scores have been reported for round two so the computer program controlling the live scoring site will not allow scores to be inputted for the third round yet. Stay tuned, as scores will jump from the end of round two to the middle of round three....

NCAA Golf: Day 2 ends

By Weinman - Day two is over. Play has been called for the day. A total of six players finished their second rounds. Play will resume tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.... See you tomorrow!

NCAA Golf: Gimme shelter

By Weinman - Holes 2-7 at Olde Stone are not easy to get to. More importantly, they're not easy to get away from. With all five Commodores on the remote front nine (picture above is path down from 1-2; graphic below show 2-7 in red), a deluge hit around 4 o'clock. The players were shuttled back to the clubhouse in vans, while about 50 spectators and coaches huddled around a small shelter trying to avoid the sideways rain. Officials are hoping to resume momentarily and go until darkness prohibits play.

A couple of notes from earlier on the front nine.... Jon Curran was standing in the fairway on No. 1 when the first weather delay occurred. Two hours later, the players were sent back out. Curran, one of the first to reach his ball as players were shuttled out, stood over his shot in the fairway for about 10 minutes before the horn blew to signal the restart.

Former Commodore great and 2007 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Brandt Snedeker was seen keeping up with his alma mater earlier. Also in attendance at today's round were 2008 grad Billy Whalen and former women's All-American Jacqui Concolino.

NCAA Golf: Get back out there

By Weinman - Players are scheduled to head back out onto the course between 3:15 and 3:30, so point your browser back over to the live scoring page in a little bit. Saw the team having lunch during the weather delay, so hopefully they'll hit the ground running on the front nine -- yesterday the team was a collective nine strokes better on holes 1-9 than on holes 10-18.

NCAA Golf: Leave it to the pros

By Weinman - Thanks to photographer John Russell for coming out this morning to shoot some action of the Commodores in the NCAA Central Region. John and I walked the back nine and he captured some great images of our guys. He also gave me some work to do during the current weather delay. While you're waiting for us to resume play, why not check out John's photo gallery.

NCAA Golf: Whether the weather

By Weinman - At 1:10 p.m., the horn went off to indicate lightning in the area. While storms have peppered the Nashville area this morning, Bowling Green has remained largely unscathed. During my lunch break (try the homemade chips!) with photographer John Russell, however, officials were forced to halt play. All of the Commodores are through at least eight holes (with Jon Curran almost done on 18, his ninth hole).

Groups are bunching up on the 14th hole, where a short par-4 (since these guys consider 331 yards a short par-4) is encouraging players to go for the green off the tee. A miss short or right puts the player in deep rough hitting to the short side of a fast green, while a shot to the left is likely to funnel into a deep pot bunker.

NCAA Golf: Day 2

By Weinman - Day 2 of the NCAA Central Region Championship is underway in Bowling Green, Ky. The Commodores opened the day in tenth place after shooting a 17-over 305 on Olde Stone's par-72, 7,372-yard layout yesterday.

Just a heads up... Live blogs from the event will be delayed for part of the day since I'm helping our official photographer around the course (check back for those images). You can follow live scoring here.

And remember, after Saturday's final round, only the top five teams will advance to the NCAA National Championship in Toledo, Ohio, at the end of May.

NCAA Golf: Day 1 recap, photos

By Weinman - About eight hours after the first group teed off this morning (following a 90-minute weather delay), the last threesome reported their scores. Vanderbilt sits in 10th place in the field of 14 teams. The Commodores will play with Middle Tennessee State and Cleveland State during the second of three rounds. That grouping is scheduled to tee off at 9:20 a.m. CT on Friday. Check out today's recap for complete results and a photo gallery from Thursday.

NCAA Golf: Day 1 winds down

By Weinman - Day one of three is coming to a close, with the Commodores moving up a few spots late in the day. With the first VU-MTSU-APSU group finishing 18 (above, around 4:35), Vanderbilt stood in 10th place. The top five teams after 54 holes advance to the NCAA National Championship. Washington holds a 10-stroke lead over the 14-team field as the Huskies finished the day at six-under.

NCAA Golf: Making the turn

By Weinman - All five Commodores have made the turn through the 18th hole (above, Hudson Johnson on the tee) to the first. Vanderbilt was 13-over as a team after nine holes. Par is a good score today, with VU's lone birdie coming from Jon Curran on the 331-yard par-4 14th. Curran also made a nice par on 17 after driving into a deep fairway bunker.

NCAA Golf: Let's get it started

By Weinman - At 420 yards, the 10th hole is one of the shortest par fours on the Club at Olde Stone's 7,372-yard layout. But an uphill approach to a large, crooked green (pictured above... the pin is on the right side of the green from the fairway) with a false front has made the pin difficult to get near. Of the last five groupings that went off the back, only Erik Barnes of Austin Peay birdied the hole (with a 40-foot putt from the fringe). The Commodores managed two pars and three bogeys on No. 10.... LIVE STATS

NCAA Golf: On the range

By Weinman - Vanderbilt's first two golfers, senior Tyler Matthews (left) and junior Hudson Johnson, will be heading to the 10th tee box shortly. Scores are starting to come in from both sides of the course, and the staff of Western Kentucky University is providing impressive hole-by-hole updates of the event.

Men's Golf: NCAA delay

By Weinman - The NCAA Central Region Championship has been delayed this morning due to wet conditions in the Bowling Green area. Currently, the rain is holding off, and teams are expected to be on the course shortly. Originally scheduled to tee off at 9:40, the Commodores will now start no earlier than 11:10.... Stay tuned throughout the day for live updates from the Club at Olde Stone.

UPDATE -- the first scores of the day came in at 10:20 a.m. this morning, put the total delay at about one and a half hours.... If all holds, Tyler Matthews should be teeing off on the 10th at right about 11:10 a.m.....

Sweet photos

by Barca Blog - If you were stuck with ESPN2's "whip-around coverage" for the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday night, you might have missed some of the sights from the Commodores' 73-44 rout of Western Carolina. So check out Gary Stepic's photo gallery on VUcommodores.com with 50+ pictures from the game - Click Here

WBB NCAA Selection Monday

By Weinman - The brackets for the men's NCAA Tournament will be revealed in just a few hours. But for the women, we're still more than 24 hours away from "Selection Monday." ESPN will air the announcement of the 64 teams in the women's field tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT.

Melanie Balcomb's Commodores have earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic berth to the event, so the suspense of just getting in will be replaced by questions of seed and location. The 16 sites for the first and second rounds of the tournament include Chattanooga, Tenn., and Bowling Green, Ky. The four regional sites are Raleigh, N.C.; Trenton, N.J.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Berkeley, Calif. The 2009 NCAA Women's Final Four will be played in St. Louis, Mo.

Vanderbilt will be making its 22nd trip to the NCAA Tournament, including its 10th consecutive berth.