Commodores finish strong in Maui

by Barca Blog - Vanderbilt wrapped up their trip to Hawaii with their best performance of the young season, an impressive 84-72 victory over Arizona on Wednesday to claim fifth place at the Maui Invitational.

Even though the Commodores (4-1) fell to eventual tournament runner-up Cincinnati in the opening round on Monday, the four-game road swing has to be considered a step in the right direction with quality wins over Saint Mary's (in Moraga) and Arizona.

Vanderbilt will get another opportunity to strengthen its resume when Big 12 power Missouri (3-0) comes to town next Wednesday.

"We're really excited," head coach Kevin Stallings said. "We got a great road win at Saint Mary's and this was kind of like a road game here (today) with Arizona outnumbering us in fans. We'll build on this and go home and we've got a great Missouri team coming in to play us next Wednesday. Hopefully, we have a big crowd that's excited to see us play."

Click here for complete postgame reaction.

VU, Arizona to meet in Maui Wednesday

by Barca Blog - The Vanderbilt men's basketball team will square off with Arizona on Wednesday, the final day of the 2009 Maui Invitational.

The Commodores (3-1) used a 24-0 run in the second half to pull away from host Chaminade, 68-41, Tuesday morning. Freshman sharpshooter John Jenkins had career-high 14 points and four rebounds while going 4-of-6 behind the arc in 23 minutes off the bench.

The Wildcats (3-1) advanced by edging Colorado 91-87 in overtime behind senior guard Nic Wise's 30 points. Wise took over in crunch time, scoring 16 of his team's final 19 points.

This will be only the second meeting between Vanderbilt and Arizona. The Commodores defeated the Wildcats, 107-76, on Dec. 29, 1956, in Nashville.

Wednesday's winner will claim fifth place in the tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPNU with Carter Blackburn and Jimmy Dykes providing the call.

Tuesday's Results
Game 5: Vanderbilt 68, Chaminade 41
Game 6: Arizona 91, Colorado 87 (OT)
Game 7: Cincinnati 69, Maryland 57
Game 8: Gonzaga 74, Wisconsin 61

Wednesday's Schedule
Game 9 for 7th and 8th Place
Colorado vs. Chaminade - 1 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

Game 10 for 3rd and 4th Place
Maryland vs. Wisconsin - 3:30 p.m. CT (ESPN2)

Game 11 for 5th and 6th Place
Vanderbilt vs. Arizona - 6 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

Game 12 for 1st and 2nd Place
Cincinnati vs. Gonzaga - 9 p.m. CT (ESPN)

Chaminade stunned college basketball in 1982

By Ryan Schulz - When Vanderbilt plays its second game of the Maui Invitational at 12:30 p.m. CT Tuesday (ESPN2), the Commodores will not just be facing the tournament host in Chaminade University, they will also be playing the team responsible arguably the biggest upset in the history of college basketball.

The date was Dec. 23, 1982 when a little-known NAIA school called Chaminade knocked off a top-ranked Virginia team, 77-72, that was led by its 7’4” All-American center Ralph Sampson.

Although tiny Chaminade, with its enrollment of 900 at the time, had just knocked off the giant, hardly anyone outside of the gym that evening knew about it until a day or two after since when the game went final it was past midnight on the West Coast and after 3 a.m. on the East Coast.

The game is now hailed by many as the biggest upset in the history of college basketball. Virginia was returning from playing games against Houston and Utah in Japan and had beaten Chaminade twice in the previous three seasons by no less than 15 points.

“This year we didn't even bother to prepare specially for them," Chaminade forward Richard Haenisch told Sports Illustrated. “The last two times we put a guy up on a chair in practice to play the role of [Ralph] Sampson. This time we were so down, we just said the heck with it.”

The upset also paved the way for the creation of the Maui Invitational — considered the crown jewel of all early-season tournaments. After Chaminade’s win, Virginia Head Coach Terry Holland made the suggestion to Chaminade Athletic Director Mike Vasconcellos that he might consider hosting a tournament in the future.

He listened, and the Maui Classic, as it was originally called, began in 1984 and is now the longest running early-season tournament in college basketball.

Maui Invitational - Day 1 results/bracket

Monday, November 23
Game 1: Gonzaga 76, Colorado 72
Game 2: Cincinnati 67, Vanderbilt 58
Game 3: Maryland 79, Chaminade 51
Game 4: Wisconsin 65, Arizona 61

Tuesday, November 24
Game 5: Vanderbilt vs. Chaminade - 12:30 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
Game 6: Colorado vs. Arizona - 3 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
Game 7: Cincinnati vs. Maryland- 6 p.m. CT (ESPN)
Game 8: Gonzaga vs. Wisconsin - 8:30 p.m. CT (ESPN)

Wednesday, November 25
Game 9 for 7th and 8th Place
Losers of Game 5 and 6 - 1 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

Game 10 for 3rd and 4th Place
Losers of Game 7 and 8 - 3:30 p.m. CT (ESPN2)

Game 11 for 5th and 6th Place
Winners of Game 5 and 6 - 6 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

Game 12 for 1st and 2nd Place
Winners of Game 7 and 8 - 9 p.m. CT (ESPN)

Note: With Monday's loss to Cincinnati, Vanderbilt can finish no better than 5th Place. For official coverage visit MauiInvitational.com

Live from Lahaina

By A. Boggs - Here's a live look at the Lahaina Civic Center...right now, Gonzaga is taking on Colorado in the first game of the day. The Commodores are next up on the docket...

The Buffs are handing it to the Zags right now in the early goings of the second half...we'll see if they can hang on.

Maui Madness

CLICK TO VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

By A. Boggs - After a five hour plane flight, we landed in Maui at 4:45 p.m. Hawaiian time and headed for the Hyatt in Lahaina, about an hour's drive from the airport. But, we couldn't leave the airport without getting a lei from the Maui Invitational organizers...we all loved them, and most of us wore them the rest of the night.

On to the fun...as soon as we got to the hotel, which is spectacular by the way, the players and staff were invited to the XBox 360 party, hosted by EA Sports, the title sponsor of the event. They had the latest NCAA Basketball game on four screens, and two players from each team competed against each other for the title of best video gamer of the tournament. Darshawn McClellan and Andre Walker were chosen as Vanderbilt's reps for the festivities by their teammates.

And did they ever represent...both swept through their Cincinnati opponents, and then took care of two Maryland players. Darshawn played against a player from Arizona. Andre went against a guy from Gonzaga. Darshawn won his game in a defensive struggle, and Andre lost a hard fought battle that came down to the final buzzer. Dre's last second three wouldn't go down, so Darshawn would take on Gonzaga for the Xbox title.

Darshawn started a little slow against the Zags, but battled back and got his groove going in the second half. He took the lead late in the game, and XBox-Jermaine Beal hit a late three to put the dagger in the Zags. Understandably, our guys went crazy and celebrated with Darshawn on the medal stand.

I took a few pictures of our festivities once we reached Maui...you can see those by clicking here.

So for now, good night from Maui...got a busy day tomorrow with meetings, press conferences, practice, and interviews with ESPN. We all need some rest.