WBB Seeding Scenarios

By Weinman - With the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team playing host to South Carolina for both teams’ regular season finale Sunday, the seeding picture for the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament -- which has been nothing short of a mess during the stretch run -- is finally taking shape, at least as far as Vanderbilt is concerned.

• With a win....
A Vanderbilt win on Sunday guarantees the Commodores a top-four seed and first-round bye in the SEC Tournament.

A win coupled with a Mississippi State loss (at LSU) would give Vanderbilt sole possession of third place in the league. If both Vanderbilt and Mississippi State win, the Lady Bulldogs would take the head-to-head tiebreaker and earn the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament, with the Commodores getting the fourth seed.

• With a loss....
A Vanderbilt loss on Sunday would open up the possibility of the Commodores placing fifth or even sixth. But should Vanderbilt fall to South Carolina, the Commodores could still take fourth place with a loss by LSU (vs. Mississippi State). In this case, a Georgia victory (vs. Arkansas) would give VU and UGA the same 9-7 record, but the Commodores would take fourth based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

If a Vanderbilt loss is coupled with a win by LSU (and loss by Georgia), the Commodores would get the five seed. In that scenario, Mississippi State wins a three-way tie and LSU gets the four seed after taking the head-to-head tiebreaker over Vanderbilt.

A Vanderbilt loss grouped with wins by both LSU and Georgia would bump the Commodores all the way to sixth place. Again Mississippi State would win the four-way tiebreaker and get the No. 3 seed. Vanderbilt, Georgia and LSU are then all 1-1 against each other in a three-way tie, and tiebreaker 3B comes into effect (best winning percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 team, proceeding down through the No. 12 team if necessary). Georgia would get the No. 4 seed based on their win over top seed Tennessee, and LSU would get the No. 5 seed with the head-to-head win over Vandy.

• Shorthand summary....
VU Tourney Seed... based on Sunday Results
Third... MSU loss, VU win
Fourth... MSU win
Fifth... VU loss, LSU win, UGA loss
Sixth... VU loss, LSU win, UGA win

In the above summary, only the necessary results are listed. Ex: Whether VU wins or loses Sunday, an MSU victory makes the Commodores the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. Special thanks to the Tennessean's Jeff Lockridge for helping to figure all this out.

Mainieri to rest Ranaudo and Coleman Wednesday

by Barca Blog - With conference champion LSU (41-15, 20-10 SEC) all but locked in for a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, Tigers head coach Paul Mainieri has decided to rest his top two starting pitchers for Wednesday's SEC Tournament opener against Vanderbilt.

Mainieri will opt to go with his No. 3 starter, Austin Ross (5-6, 5.07 ERA), instead of sophomore Anthony Ranaudo (7-3, 3.26 ERA) or senior Louis Coleman (10-2, 2.99 ERA), both candidates for SEC Pitcher of the Year.

Mainieri talked about his decision during today's SEC coaches teleconference.

"If we felt like if we were battling for our NCAA lives in order to make the NCAA Tournament, we'd probably approach it a little differently. I think with the NCAA waiting in the wings, it would be the prudent thing not to run your pitchers into the ground.

"I shouldn't say this, but some of the things that you might do in the regular season in a big series, you might not do in the tournament as far as turning a guy around and those types of things. I know, for example with us, Anthony Ranaudo has been our Friday night starter all year, but we are not going to pitch him in the first game (against Vanderbilt) simply because he has pitched two times in a row on short rest. This last time he pitched against Mississippi State, I think he threw 128 pitches, which was the most pitches he's thrown all year in a single game. We absolutely need to give him at least one extra day rest just to make sure he's feeling 100 percent.

"(Pitch count) is definitely taken into consideration, but at the same time, when we're out there on the field outside of those kind of decisions, we'll be doing everything we can do to win the game effort wise."

SEC Women's Tennis Update

By Travis Young -- The No. 19 Vanderbilt women's tennis team is currently in action at the 2009 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament in Fayetteville, Ark. The Commodores currently trail No. 15 Florida 1-0 after dropping the doubles point to the Gators.

The fifth-seeded 'Dores advanced to Friday's quarterfinal round by knocking off 12th seeded Mississippi State 4-0 in yesterday's first round. The Commodores will have to win four of the six singles matches to advance to Saturday's semifinals . The winner of today's match will face No. 1 seeded Georgia, who clinched a spot in the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Alabama earlier this morning.

The tournament is a little behind schedule due to windy conditions at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center, forcing the matches to be played inside the Dills Indoor Tennis Center.

Here are the updated doubles matches

Doubles Results
1. No. 43 Boonstra / Mather (UF) def. No. 38 Steinbauer / Wu (VU) 8-4
2. No. 29 Alexander / Revzina (UF) def. Newman / Preeg (VU) 8-5
3. Ulery, C. / Ulery, K. (VU) def. Allen / Wolken (UF) 8-1

order of finish: 3, 2, 1*

Post Practice Press Conference

By A. Boggs - Here's a shot of A.J. Ogilvy, Jermaine Beal, and Coach Stallings at a post practice press conference after our shoot around.

By the way, I got yelled at for taking this shot with a flash...oh well.

We're done here at the St. Pete Times Forum for the day...going back to the hotel to prepare for a trip to the Cheesecake Factory tonight. We're all looking forward to it.

I'm Bringin' SEC Back

By Weinman - After winning their sixth SEC Tournament championship, the Commodores hopped on a charter flight from Little Rock back to Nashville. Junior Ashlee Bridge was kind enough to share her seat with Vanderbilt's newest piece of hardware.

It's a first-class way to travel whether you're a college athlete (who has to be back in class on Monday morning) or a trophy. Back in Nashville, the Dores' team bus even had a VUPD escort from the airport to campus.

Keep an eye out on WSMV Nashville Channel 4 for a couple of interviews with Christina Wirth and Jennifer Risper, as Sports Director Rudy Kalis was at Memorial Gym when the team got back.

We're Talkin' About Practice?

By Weinman - After scouting Georgia during its win over Kentucky in the opening round of the SEC Tournament Thursday in North Little Rock, the Commodores traveled about eight miles to nearby Mount St. Mary Academy for their final full practice before postseason play begins in earnest tomorrow.

Vanderbilt and Georgia are scheduled to tip-off at about 2:30 p.m. CT tomorrow (30 minutes after the conclusion of the Noon game between Auburn and Ole Miss). The Commodores split a home-and-home series with the Bulldogs this year, so playing the rubber match on a neutral court in the SEC Tournament only seems fitting....