Oct. 21, 2015
SEC Tipoff 2016 The Commodores spent Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., at the SEC TipOff 2016, a combination of an old fashioned media day and video shoots at the sparkling SEC Network studios. The day started early and ended late, but it was a good day for Vanderbilt basketball as we prepare for the 2015-16 campaign.
Arrival in Charlotte
After a 30 minute delay on the tarmac in Nashville, the Commodores arrived in Charlotte a little before 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Wake up calls were early for everyone in the travel party, which included Coach Kevin Stallings, Riley LaChance, Damian Jones, and videographer Dean McCondichie.
The SEC Network folks rolled out the red carpet for us in Charlotte…literally.
Once we arrived in Charlotte, Coach Stallings stayed at the studio, while Damian and Riley were shuttled over to the The Ballantyne Hotel, where they would meet with media from around the league.
Coach Stallings at the SEC Network
Coach had numerous roundtables and television spots at the studio, including this one with Dari Nowkah, LSU coach Johnny Jones, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Arkansas’ Mike Anderson, and Ole Miss’ Andy Kennedy.
Players with Media
Meanwhile, Riley and Damian were at the Ballantyne with numerous members of the press. Here’s a shot of them with a nice gaggle of folks around them.
The guys then headed to another location to do a photo shoot and to speak with SEC Network personality Maria Taylor.
After a quick lunch, Damian and Riley headed over to the studio, where they spent the rest of the day, doing more interviews and also demonstrating their skills on an outside basketball court.
And that was it for the day. At 4 ET, the crew headed back to the airport for the flight home.
SEC Tip Off is always the unofficial start of the season – so now we wait for the official start, which happens on November 13 at home against Austin Peay. Get your tickets now, because it’s going to be a fun ride this year!
