Updated March 17, 2011, 10:07 a.m. CT
Good morning from game day in Denver! The weather is beautiful again today and we are ready to get started.
We had an awesome dinner last night at The Fort in Morrison. The picture above is Festus and Steve in traditional buffalo horn hats. The owner of The Fort, Holly Arnold Kinney, welcomed the team and taught us the traditional “Mountain Man” toast. If you’re not following @VandyMBB on Twitter, you missed a picture of Coach Stallings wearing the horns (Big thanks, by the way, to Steve for having a better camera phone and sharing his pictures with us).
As we get ready for today’s game (approx. 3:10 p.m. CT on TBS, March Madness On Demand, MMOD App), here’s some reading material to get you prepared:
NASHVILLE MEDIA
Jeff Lockridge (The Tennessean)
- Vandy guards against another NCAA upset
- Ex-Riverdale star eager to face Vanderbilt
- Teams (including Vanderbilt) face altitude problem at Denver
- Vandy has small/tall defensive tasks
Jerome Boettcher (Nashville City Paper)
- VU’s Taylor ups competitiveness as competition gets tougher
- Vanderbilt aims to play two — at least — at this year’s NCAA Tournament
RICHMOND MEDIA
John O’Connor (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
- Spiders look to extend rebounding, defense vs. Vandy
- It will be UR’s system and smarts vs. Vanderbilt’s inside game
Paul Woody (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Andrew Prezioso (The Collegian)
DENVER MEDIA
The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team has been in Denver for over 24 hours now. Our first full day in Denver was mostly spent inside the Pepsi Center — home of the NBA’s Nuggets and the NHL’s Avalanche.
After breakfast and a closed practice session back at CCU, the team made it to the arena around 1 p.m. local time. Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins sat for an eight-minute interview session in front of the assembled media, while the remaining guys were available in the lockerroom.
View Wednesday’s Photo Gallery. Some highlights from the photo gallery:
- WKRN’s Cory Curtis and Armondo Moralez interviewing Lance Goulbourne
- Festus Ezeli speaking with a Denver TV station (a conversation which included a question about VU alum and former Bronco Jay Cutler)
- Sports Information Director Andy Boggs talking with Verne Lundquist of CBS.
- Coach Stallings catching up with former Kansas standout Mark Randall.
We took a few videos of our own during the media availability window, including a Joe Duffy interview with Brad Tinsley and a quick chat with Rod Odom, which I’ll embed below.
The team is currently in study hall and will be heading out of the hotel for dinner in a bit. We will post more information, including quotes from today’s press conferences, later tonight.
The Commodores departed Nashville just after Noon today en route to their first round NCAA game in Denver, Colo. The team had a quick, comfortable flight courtesy of an Airbus 320 operated by USA 3000 — there was room enough on the 1,000 mile flight for each player to have his own row.
Once safely on the ground, a pair of buses brought the team and administrators to their headquarters for the next five days — the Sheraton Denver West Hotel. The hotel’s staff had gathered to cheer each member of the travel party as they walked in, all accompanied by the sounds of “Dynamite” playing throughout the lobby.
After a quick snack and team meeting, the Commodores drove to nearby Colorado Christian University for practice. The Dores spent two hours practicing on the home court of the Division II Cougars. See photos from CCU .
Once back to the hotel the team will have dinner and be in for the evening. Tomorrow’s schedule calls for the Commodores to have media availability at the Pepsi Center beginning at 1:35 p.m. MT. Following that, Vanderbilt will have an open practice in the arena at 2:15 p.m. — just less than 24 hours before the Commodores are scheduled to tip-off against Richmond on Thursday afternoon.
Make sure you’re following (or at least checking in with) the official Twitter account of Vanderbilt men’s basketball, @VandyMBB — for plenty of daily updates, including behind-the-scenes photos and short videos.
