March 20, 2007
NCAA SECOND ROUND – Tonight
Tuesday, March 20 at 8:30 PM CT (ESPN2)
[2] Vanderbilt vs. [7] Bowling Green
Visit Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament Central Site
The Secret is Out: Thomas One of Nation’s Best
By Will Matthews
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EAST LANSING, Mich. – Carla Thomas may not be the most vocal member of the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, but don’t make the mistake of calling her quiet.
She doesn’t need words to make her presence known. As cliché as it may be, Thomas allows her play on the court to speak loud and clear.
“I don’t think it is too cliché to say that at all,” Thomas said this week prior to leading Vanderbilt to a 62-47 victory over Delaware State Sunday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “I am not going to be talking in your ear while I am playing. I am just going to go out there and show you what I am capable of.”
And the senior forward is more than capable of doing a whole host of things. Yet despite leading the team in scoring and rebounding and being its best interior defender, Thomas’ coaches and teammates believe she doesn’t get the kind of recognition she is due in the face of a number of premiere post players across the country.
“But I wouldn’t take any other post player but Carla,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb said.
For good reason.
As the Commodores continue to move forward in the NCAA Tournament, they do so assured by the knowledge that they can lean on the player who has developed quite a reputation for playing her biggest games when it matters the most.
Since her sophomore season, Thomas has averaged 17 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in the postseason. And to this point in her final collegiate postseason, she has saved her best for last.
Thomas averaged 14 points per game in Vanderbilt’s three-game run to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship earlier this month and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after playing unceasing defense in the championship game against Louisiana State.
“She can score inside, she can score outside and the combination of what she has been able to do on the defensive end I think goes unnoticed,” Balcomb said. “Every time against LSU that we needed defensive stops, anytime that we got beat, there was Carla to help and challenge shots. I am just really impressed with how she is playing on both ends of the floor and how consistent and confident she is. She is playing like an All-American.”
In Sunday’s first round NCAA Tournament game, while the rest of her Vanderbilt teammates were battling the affects of their two-week layoff since winning the SEC, Thomas was her normal postseason self.
She connected on all four of her shots and scored 10 points in the first half, almost single-handedly ensuring that Vanderbilt would go into the locker room with a lead. She finished with 16 points overall on perfect 7 for 7 shooting from the floor.
“Our goal going into the game was to go to our go-to Carla Thomas inside,” Balcomb said. “And that was obviously what we were focused on doing and we were really confident and we did a good job of getting her the ball.”
Yet while Thomas remains one of the primary offensive and defensive weapons for a Vanderbilt team ranked No. 7 in the nation and which earned the No. 2 seed in the Greensboro Region, Balcomb said most teams across the country aren’t fully cognizant of all that she brings to the table.
“But I like the fact that she is still under the radar,” Balcomb said.
It certainly doesn’t faze Thomas at all.
Vanderbilt is a team with any number of different weapons and the ability to win in any number of different ways and Thomas says she enjoys simply being a piece of a greater whole.
“On a team like this, I am entirely comfortable flying under the radar,” Thomas said. “It is not really a good thing if you have to score 20 or 25 points a game. That is something that will hurt the team in the long run.”
The longer Vanderbilt remains in the NCAA Tournament, however, the more the secret that is Carla Thomas will be let out of the bag – a prospect that Balcomb eagerly anticipates.
“We are going to get more and more exposure and more and more people are going to appreciate what Carla does for this team and how good she truly is,” Balcomb said. “You are going to see more of what she can do in this tournament.”
Will Matthews spent three years as an investigative reporter with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group in Southern California. He is currently in his third year at Vanderbilt Divinity School.