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The Sound of MAGIC 2/16/2004
The Sound of MAGIC Phil Spector would have been proud – or he would have sued for patent infringement. Before he became a homicide suspect, Spector was a deity among music producers of the 1960s, creating vinyl hit after hit for groups like the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers with an overdubbing technique that resulted in a “Wall of Sound.” On Jan. 17, the “Wall of Sound” re-emerged in the Music City for a different type of jam session. When Vanderbilt’s men’s basketball team blitzed Florida 86-72, a sell-out crowd of 14,168 in Memorial Gym rocked the house like nothing the team had ever seen or heard before. Many participants credited the “Wall of Sound” for spurring a second-half rally that eventually stuffed the Gators. Head coach Kevin Stallings was so moved by the crowd that he wrote a letter of appreciation for its energy and posted it on www.vucommodores.com. “I’ve heard a lot of times about Memorial Magic and things like that. That was, in my estimation, the best crowd we’ve had since I’ve been coaching here,” he said. “You just appreciate the energy that a crowd gives your team, and they certainly gave us tremendous support and tremendous energy [against Florida].” “I don’t really remember anything like that,” said senior Scott Hundley. “That was one of those nights where everybody seemed to be there. I was told they were barricading the doors. It was pretty exciting.” Senior forward Matt Freije felt the train coming earlier in the week. Students all over campus approached him the Thursday and Friday before the game, wishing him good luck and vowing to be there. “I don’t know exactly what the old times felt like, because we really haven’t had that since I’ve been here,” said Freije. “But the crowd was amazing. Our student section was incredible. “When you have a turnout like that, you just feel invincible, and we played that way.” Freije alluded to the most common reaction among Vandy’s fans after the game when he mentioned the “old times.” Raucous sellouts in Memorial were commonplace in the 1990s, when Scott Draud, Billy McCaffrey and Ronnie McMahan led the Commodores to multiple NCAA and NIT bids. When a Black and Gold backer said the Florida game felt like old times, he or she could have meant Georgia ’90, LSU ’91, Kentucky ’93 or a bucketful of other games where the “Wall of Sound” played a pivotal role in a Commodore win. Sell-outs have been fewer and farther between – the last one before Florida was the Kentucky game last January – but there is no replacing the effect the buzz has on Vandy’s performance. “It enhances your performance to a certain level,” said Hundley, “but it also makes the other team get a little nervous, a little shaky.” “When you do something good, the crowd gets real loud and you have the momentum,” said Corey Smith, who responded himself with his best game of the season vs. Florida. “You see the players getting the crowd going like Mario did in the [Florida] game.” Ah, yes, Mr. Moore. Whether the sophomore guard from nearby Antioch is pirouetting his 5-11 body in the air or blowing on his fingers to cool them off after another 3-pointer, there’s no question Mario Moore is the Commodore voted Most Likely to Succeed when the gym is jumpin’. “Mario hits a shot and just starts going nuts,” said Freije. “That’s Mario. He’s able to do that.” “They elevated my play [against Florida] a lot with the energy,” Moore said simply. The flip side of playing to the crowd is playing under control. Just like any other aspect of the game, experience counts when emotions run high. Get carried away with the applause, and a player will exalt the individual over the team. Get dragged down by the boos, and as the saying goes, “He who hesitates is lost.” As Hundley explains, “It’s one of those things where if you’re mature enough it can affect you in a great way like it did those two guys [Smith and Moore]. They just took it and ran with it. With younger guys, it might cause them to speed up a little bit.” Moore recognizes the impact of the crowd’s reaction on his game: “I’m conscious of them being there when you get rebounds and they’re cheering and you miss a shot and they go, ‘Awww?'” His solution? “Just keep on playing and keep on shooting. It’s a lot louder when you put the ball in the bucket a lot more.” “That’s with most everything,” Smith seconded. “You have to block out the negative and bring in the positive.” After swamping Florida, the Commodores were 11-0 at home, their best mark since the 1992-93 Sweet 16 squad went 14-0 in Memorial. In the wide-open Southeastern Conference race, protecting the home floor has consequences too innumerable to count here. If Vanderbilt’s faithful continue to build the Wall of Sound, the players vow to produce chart-toppers the rest of the way. “Hopefully we can keep a crowd like that for every night,” said Smith. “If we do, then I can guarantee we’ll play the way we played that night [vs. Florida].” |
