Feb. 18, 2008
Upcoming Home Games at Memorial Gym
Saturday, Feb. 23, vs. Georgia at 3 p.m. CT
Tuesday, Feb. 26, vs. Tennessee at 8 p.m. CT
Wednesday, Mar. 5, vs. Miss. State at 7 p.m. CT
Audio: Listen to the entire teleconference at SECsports.com
Vanderbilt basketball head coach Kevin Stallings discussed the latest in Commodore basketball with the national media during Monday’s SEC Teleconference. Vanderbilt returns to action Saturday to host Georgia at 3 p.m. CT inside Memorial Gym.
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
Opening statement:
“We’re coming off of a productive week. We were able to get two good wins. It feels good to go into the bye week with a little bit of a run behind us. Hopefully, we can utilize this week more effectively than we did our last bye week. As you’ll recall, we came out of that bye week down 34-6 to begin the game at Florida. We’ll try to use this week differently, do a few different things and come out a little bit more game ready than we did the last time. I’m happy with how my team is playing and looking forward to a good week of practice.”
Have you spoken with anyone in the league office about the fact your team had to play six of its first nine conference games on the road?
“I haven’t talked with anyone in the league office about it.”
Who do you think should be the SEC MVP for this season?
“I think it’s still pretty early (before deciding a winner). Some teams have six games left (in the regular season). I think you have to see how things shake out relative to where people finish. There certainly have been some impressive individual performances, but I wouldn’t be ready to cast a vote on MVP until we get closer to the end of the season.”
With the setup of Memorial Gymnasium, how do you communicate with your team when they are at the opposite end of the court?
“It’s difficult. Since I’ve been here (at Vanderbilt), I’ve always wished I could whistle without the use of fingers, but I have to use fingers to whistle. Whether I’m stomping my foot, whistling or whatever, you just have to do different things to communicate when you’re on our court and the play is away from you. After a while, you get use to it when you do it all the time. However, there are still times when the game is going on that it is extremely difficult to communicate when the play is on the other end.”
Do you consider the difficulty to communicate as an advantage since the other team and coach are not use to it?
“I certainly think communication is much easier for us because we’re use to it. When a coach comes in here (Memorial Gymnasium) with a young team, or if they just come in here one time, I’d imagine it’s an advantage for us. There are people that come in here and have success. It’s not as though it’s a huge advantage. I think our environment more so is a definite advantage.”
Freshmen statistics are tapering off as the season progresses. Are freshmen tapering off in their play or are other teams figuring out the freshmen?
“I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s a long season that takes its toll. It’s particularly long for freshmen. Everyone scouts, figures out guys weaknesses and how best to defend them. We have the benefit of seeing what other teams have done against those guys to make them not play as well.”