Roundup: Our man in NJ, and other stuff

Spanning the internets to bring you the latest, or at least a subset thereof.

First, Ray Floriani checks in with another missive:

"The Sweet 16 comes to New Jersey. Georgetown faces Vanderbilt in game one at Continental Airlines Arena on Friday and now is a good time to discuss a few general facts about the SEC opposition.

This will be Vandy’s fourth trip to the Sweet 16.The most recent appearance was 2004. The school, located in Nashville, Tennessee actually was named after one of its prime benefactors, Cornelius Vanderbilt who donated one million dollars to fund the ‘academic gem of the Southeast.’ Vanderbilt opened its doors in 1873. Vanderbilt was also the first Southeast Conference school to play basketball and the first to field an African-American basketball player, Perry Wallace in 1967.

Vanderbilt plays in 14,000+ Memorial Gym which opened its doors in 1952 and has undergone several upgrades. The Commodore nickname has nothing to do with Lionel Richie. It came as a result of the school’s founder, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s love of steamboats.

Famous people in the program with over 1300 wins and an NIT (1990) Championship on the resume:

• Roy Skinner – coached in the ‘60s and ‘70s and rang up 278 wins.
• C.M. Newton – Best known for his days on the Alabama sideline, Newton put together a 129-115 record during his eight years (1982-89) in Nashville.
• Phil Cox – Scored over 1700 points during the ‘80s.
• Clyde Lee – A Vandy great in the 60’s, the 6’11’ Lee was a two time SEC Player of the Year who went on to a ten year NBA career.
• Will Purdue – Played in the late Eighties and developed into an outstanding big man. Purdue got a few NBA rings playing in Chicago with a gentleman by the name of Michael Jordan.
• Matt Freije – The school’s all time leading scorer with 1891 points, the 6’10 Freije played sparingly with Atlanta.
• Eddie Fogler – Guided the Commodores to the ’90 NIT title.
• Jan Van Breda Kolff – As a St.Bonaventure alum, even typing his name sickens me. But fair is fair. Van Breda Kolff was ’74 SEC Player of the Year and had a respectable pro career. He later coached at Vandy with a 104-81 mark for 6 seasons and a ’94 NIT runnerup.

* Current coach Kevin Stallings is in his eighth year with a 144-107 mark."


In other news:

• First, Dan Steinberg concedes a lack of coverage of the Hoyas in the Post. Then, a HoyaTalk poster receives a remarkably unprofessional e-mail response from the Post. What's next? Pistols at dawn?
• There is a very nice blog on Vanderbilt (and SEC) statistical analysis. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in a month or so. Lousy timing.
• KenPom updates his log5 stats for the Sweet 16.
• JTIII was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year.
• According to this post on MDVarsity.com, congratulations are in order for recruits Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark for making 1st team All-Met.