March 4, 2011
Quick Slant is an array of brief insights and occasionally opinionated overviews of collegiate athletics in general and the Vanderbilt Commodores in particular.
Be sure to read the terrific feature story on Festus Ezeli in this week’s Sports Illustrated. He is referred to as the nation’s most improved player.
- Last weekend’s baseball series with Stanford was Omaha-quality play and our fans knew it. After the great game on Friday night – a 2-1 Dore win – Saturday’s game under warm and sunny skies drew a capacity crowd to see another fantastic finish. Vanderbilt and Stanford playing baseball makes a lot of sense.
- Candice Storey Lee will be saluted at the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament as part of the league’s “SEC Great” program. While most schools spotlight an ex-super star player, as we have in the past, this year we wanted to honor Candice, who was a former student-athlete here, is nearing completion of her doctorate and has quickly risen to become our Senior Woman’s Administrator. Candice is indeed “great” and we are mighty glad she is a Commodore.
- How’s this for power? Defending NCAA champion South Carolina is rated No. 4 in this week’s baseball poll and it is THIRD in the SEC East behind Florida (1) and Vanderbilt (2).
- The Sports Council’s annual Celebration of Champions is March 9. We are represented by David Price, up for Sports Person of the Year; Sonny Gray and Jermaine Beal are finalists for the Ed Temple Male Amateur Athlete and golf’s SEC champion Marina Alex might become the Female Amateur Athlete of the Year.