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Commodore Notebook: March 6 3/6/2006 By Rod Williamson I don’t know a soul who isn’t disappointed to some degree with how things have worked out — or haven’t worked out as the case may be — with our men’s basketball season. We are 16-11 overall, 7-9 in league play and most of us expected more. Just how much more is probably a matter of personal opinion. Those who read my ramblings pretty much know how I feel about the expectation game. Whenever expectations are high, the sting of not meeting those expectations is harsher than we the bar is set low. In sports, fans seek scapegoats and that often is the head coach. I would remind loyal Commodore fans that the same guy that coached us this winter is the genius that guided us into the Sweet 16 two years ago. There is a very fine line in high level athletics between winning and losing. That is a fact. Sometimes that fine line is missing a key player. Other times it is the difference between good morale or bad, good heath or too many injuries, a 50-50 coaching decision that turns out correctly, strong team leadership or lackluster followers?you can list your own variables. So far this year, few things have worked out as planned for our ‘Dores. Some want to put a pretty bow on an entire season of play and point the blame at someone. But I seldom think a struggling team has a single culprit any more than a successful team has but one hero. You will note I wrote “so far this year” because the season isn’t over yet. We will be playing Thursday in downtown Nashville at the SEC Tournament. Anything can happen — it is March Madness. Concolino Starting Strong If you are reading our web site, you likely know that freshman golfer Jacqui Concolino is having a big year. She won the LSU/Cleveland Classic over the weekend at six-under par and two weeks ago won her last outing in Arizona at nine-under par. She has to be a strong candidate at this point for the SEC and NCAA “Freshman of the Year”. Bats Come Alive It was great to see our young baseball team starting to hit over the weekend. As has been our trademark in recent years, we have had very good pitching but getting base runners and scoring runs had been a problem until Parker Hanks and Dominic de la Osa homered late in Saturday’s Ball State game to give us a dramatic come-from-behind win. Those bats stayed warm through Sunday’s 6-1 win. Pay attention to this team, it has a lot of young talent and as it matures it is going to be a good one. Women’s NCAA Tournament Here Members of our department are busy preparing to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Memorial Gymnasium March 18 and 20. Pairings will be announced on ESPN next Monday, March 13 at 6 o’clock. Game times are tentatively set for Saturday March 18 at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 and 7:00 and 9:30. Monday’s second round games are set for 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ESPN is televising all the games so the times are still subject to change. Kramer Recognized Wasn’t it great to see Roy and Sara Jo Kramer back in Memorial Gymnasium Saturday? The ex-Vanderbilt Athletic Director and SEC Commissioner was honored by the National Commodore Club during the game and the couple received a rousing ovation from the capacity crowd |
