[marriard]

Now AJ has recovered from a concussion from a few weeks ago, he is really starting to put up numbers that will make some people stand up and pay attention. He has fully recovered from all the injuries from last year and is moving very, very well. He may be a little short of conditioning but that is about it.

Stallings still has no clue how to use AJ - and none of the guards know how to pass to the post, but being healthy AJ just keeps working until they can't help give him the ball.

Tonight he is destroying the Missouri Tigers. He has 22+ pts, a bunch of rebounds, set some screens, ran the court, took some charges and there is still 7 minutes to go. Assuming he still gets the ball this should really be a 30pt night. With the way Stallings coaches and the guards pass there is really no guarantee that will happen. Like right now - AJ has 25 and is killing people and he gets subbed out for a 'rest' and Missouri go on a little run. It went from a 15pt game to 5 pt game while AJ has been out.

Basically AJ does all the same things Bogut does for the Bucks but he does them a little quicker to make up for being a little shorter and he is a little more mobile. Still has a horrid hitch in his shot. Hopefully he can stay healthy all year.

[marriard]

Jermaine Beal can't pass and is ball hogging. Stallings is a terrible game coach.

AJ - despite having 25 pts (and being 10-11 from the line) - hasn't seen the ball in 5-6 minutes - and he has been open or in great post position several times. Taylor who has also been hot has disappeared as well.

Seriously this is sad - after playing an effective 3-2 zone all game, when it gets close Vandy goes man-to-man for the first time in the game and AJ ends up guarding a Beal's player on a switch 25' from the basket who then scores. Now it is a 1 pt game with 1 minute to go. Vandy should be up 15 but their guard play is poor and the strategy is baffling.

From all reports Stalling is a nice enough guy and he clearly can recruit well - Vandy is a talented team. However he should be fired for the way he coaches basketball.

Well Vandy won but no thanks to Stallings bizarre coaching, Beal's ball hogging and Vandy's disorganized press breaker.

[marriard]

Vanderbilt- again despite their guard play - managed to beat DePaul today. Ogilvy scored almost all his points in the second half when it mattered. He top scored for Vandy despite only getting 7 official shots up (in reality he shot it about 10-12 times with all the fouls he was drawing).

Ogilivy couldn't get the ball in the first half. Second half he just spent on the foul line - shooting 13-15 FT. For unknown reasons (i.e. Stallings can't coach), AJ played barely over 1/2 the game. Also Stallings insists on subbing people (AJ included) for defensive possessions - which is sometimes OK except the players he brings in are WORSE defenders than the players he takes out. And often these same players end up being caught being in the game for important offensive possessions.

Vandy has the talent to win the SEC, however they will be totally out coached in games against teams like Kentucky and will likely end up 3rd or 4th.

Still a win is a win. And AJ is looking very, very good when he gets the ball and improved defensively.

Interview audio with AJ - http://cstvpodcast.c...ogilvy_1045.mp3

[nomisg]

Ogilvy named Player of the Week

A.J. Ogilvy has been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week for his performances against Missouri and DePaul last week. Ogilvy averaged 22.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in wins over the Tigers and Blue Demons.

The weekly honor is the first for Ogilvy. He won three Freshman of the Week honors in 2007-08, but this is his first POTW honor.

[south01]

Australian Boomers centre A.J. Ogilvy has been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week http://bit.ly/6ahe8Y

[marriard]

In a total display of not getting AJ the ball, Vandy lost last night to Illinois who are a very tough team.

Ogilvy got a grand total of 6 shots for the evening. That is truly pathetic for your best player especially since he has to rely on others to get him the ball. Meanwhile Jermaine Beal jacked up 14 shots and managed to only score 3 more points than AJ. Stallings just stood there making bizarre substitutions.

It is frustrating watching Vandy. You can see the talent of various players at times - you just can't see it being utilized effectively.

[marriard]

Stallings is an idiot who doesn't deserve to coach a team this talented.

Here is the current timeline:

- AJ won player of the week
- As a reward he was benched
- As a result of the benching, Vandy totally lost a game that they should have easily won
- He is now playing 15 mpg the last three games

So Stallings has decided that the POW winner deserves to play much less and that he should start a player at C who seriously has almost no basketball skills at the moment. I really don't get it.

I hope this turns around quickly for AJ and Vandy... Before they get embarrassed by Kentucky who now have a coach who knows what he is doing. As Vandy are playing now I could see them losing by 30+ pts.

[nomisg]

Well once again AJ only got limited minutes, but then again it was a rout and you might as well clear the bench. Maybe the coach is just mixing things up and wants to see what he has got before proper conference play starts?

http://vucommodores..../123009aae.html

Andrew Ogilvy 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in 16 minutes

[marriard]

Ogilvy, who is back to starting, led Vanderbilt over Florida this afternoon scoring 24 pts, with 8 reb and 2 blks. He absolutely put it to Florida, and ended up at the line for 9-10 FT. AJ basically plays as well as the rest of the team passes, and today they got him the ball more often than they have in the past.

Good signs:


Boxscore: http://ca.sports.yah...id=201001090615

[nomisg]

Quote

A.J. Ogilvy scored 18 of 22 points in the second half and Vanderbilt remained perfect in Southeastern Conference play with an 89-79 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Ogilvy, a 6-foot-11 junior, was too much for the Gamecocks to contain underneath. He made 7 of 8 shots from the floor and 8 of 13 from the foul line as Vanderbilt (14-3, 3-0) won its eighth straight.

http://vucommodores..../011610aaa.html

[nomisg]

12 points and 5 rebounds in AJ's latest outing

http://vucommodores....010/ut0127.html

He is now averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks a game this year at an average of 22 minutes a game. Unfortunately these are all college career lows for AJ Ogilvy.

[marriard]

Kevin Stallings should be criminally charged with wasting players talents.

We are 6 minutes into the Vandy-Kentucky game and AJ hasn't even touched the ball yet. Now he has - at the three point line...

BTW, AJ is looking very blond and looks like he is in very good shape. Too bad he is not being put into position to actually get the ball.

[marriard]

With three minutes left in the first half - Vandy FINALLY get AJ the ball in the post and he immediately gets fouled twice and gets 4 ft.

Unfortunelty Candy are down 17pts at the moment.

Make it fouled 3 times in a row - going to the free throw line again

[marriard]

I swear to <insert whatever you like here>

Vandy's guards look at AJ in the post like he has two heads. He has had great post position at least every other possession.

There hasn't been a single post entry pass all game. It is embarrassing. You have a legitmate NBA quality big man and all they can think of is jacking up bad threes.

[nomisg]

marriard, on 31 January 2010 - 08:59 AM, said:

I swear to <insert whatever you like here>

Vandy's guards look at AJ in the post like he has two heads. He has had great post position at least every other possession.

There hasn't been a single post entry pass all game. It is embarrassing. You have a legitmate NBA quality big man and all they can think of is jacking up bad threes.

I gather you are watching Vandy vs Kentucky (with LeBron in the crowd). AJ has been far from perfect, getting into foul trouble and not hitting his free throws. He is having to go up against Pattersen and Cousins, both potential NBA players. Kentucky are streaks ahead of Vandy as a team, their starting 5 has no weak link.

[marriard]

nomisg, on 31 January 2010 - 10:47 AM, said:

I gather you are watching Vandy vs Kentucky (with LeBron in the crowd). AJ has been far from perfect, getting into foul trouble and not hitting his free throws. He is having to go up against Pattersen and Cousins, both potential NBA players. Kentucky are streaks ahead of Vandy as a team, their starting 5 has no weak link.

I'd actually disagree with that. Vandy has more experience, has some very good shooters and at least two legitimate NBA players in AJ and Taylor. They should be at least a very difficult match up for Kentucky. AJ - while he didn't have a good game - didn't touch the ball until 3min left in the first half and the game was already over.

As I called earlier this year - Stallings got massively out coached from the opening tip off onwards. Kentucky have some flaws that have been seen through out this season and Vandy didn't try and exploit any of them. The zone he put out there is absolutely the worse defense you can play when you already have trouble rebounding - which makes it bad on most nights, but inexcusable against an athletic Kentucky team. Vandy just doesn't have the length or personnel to play that defense but that is all Stallings knows so he tries to put the square peg in the round hole.

[rman16]

Well they have performed well this year Vandy maybe you should focus you criticisms on AJ instead

[nomisg]

rman16, on 01 February 2010 - 05:52 PM, said:

Well they have performed well this year Vandy maybe you should focus you criticisms on AJ instead

I must say I have only seen 2 games of Vandy so far this year. I realy want to go in a bat for AJ but until I see him play a good game and or until I see some better production on the box scores its hard for me to say he is getting better. Maybe it is the coach, but everyday it continues like this, everyday AJ ends up further a further off the NBA scouts radar. Sad, when you think about how good his season was last year.

[marriard]

rman16, on 01 February 2010 - 06:22 PM, said:

Well they have performed well this year Vandy maybe you should focus you criticisms on AJ instead

Ok... I am surprised AJ hasn't publicly screamed at one of the other players during the game for ignoring him in the post when he has good position and that he hasn't got frustrated enough to make the mistake of saying something stupid in after game interviews.

I know I would.

He absolutely needs to ramp up how aggressive he is by at least a factor or 4. Go out with the attitude that he is going to totally dominate the game instead of trying to be some kind of role playing team mate.

[nomisg]

16 points and 7 rebounds in 21 minutes for Andrew yesterday.

Interestingly he had the most shots out of any Vandy player for the game, they also won the game :-)

http://vucommodores..../020310aaa.html