2011–12 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team

2011–12 outlook

In a major offseason development, three of the Commodores' most important players—Festus Ezeli

Festus Ezeli

Festus Ezeli, in full Ifeanyi Festus Ezeli-Ndelue , is a Nigerian basketball player preparing to begin his senior season at Vanderbilt University...

, John Jenkins

John Jenkins (basketball)

John Logan Jenkins , is an American college basketball player at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a 6-foot-4, 215-pound shooting guard. He was a two-time TSSAA Class AA Mr. Basketball selection, and was the Gatorade Tennessee High School Player of the Year in 2008-09...

, and Jeffery Taylor

Jeffery Taylor

Jeffery Matthew Taylor is a Swedish basketball player currently in his senior season at Vanderbilt University. A 6'7" swingman, he was rated by the NBA Draft projection site DraftExpress.com in August 2011 as the top rising senior in college basketball and a late first-round pick in the 2012 NBA...

—all spurned the NBA Draft

2011 NBA Draft

The 2011 NBA Draft was held on June 23, 2011 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time , and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball...

and announced they would return for the 2011–12 season. Jenkins, the SEC's leading scorer in 2010–11 at 19.5 points per game, was chosen for the All-SEC first team. Ezeli, who averaged 13 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks in a breakout season, was named to the All-SEC second team, and was also named by multiple sources as one of the most improved players in the country. Taylor averaged 14.7 points while being named to the All-SEC second team, as well as the SEC All-Defensive Team. Ezeli, Jenkins, and Taylor were all named by Basketball Prospectus in its 2011–12 preseason outlook as among the top 20 players in college basketball, making Vanderbilt the only Division I men's team with three top-20 performers.

These decisions meant that Vanderbilt would return all five of its starters from last season, all of them seniors except for Jenkins, a junior. Another returning starter, point guard

Point guard

Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...

Brad Tinsley

Bradley Glen Tinsley is an American basketball player at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Tinsley played high school basketball at Oregon City High School in Oregon City, Oregon, where he was a top recruit...

, led the SEC in assists in 2010–11 with 4.6 per game.

The Commodores thus were widely projected as a preseason top-10 team, with ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

's Hall of Fame commentator Dick Vitale

Dick Vitale

Richard J. "Dick" Vitale , also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well-known as a college basketball broadcaster and for the enthusiastic and colorful remarks he makes during games. He is known for his...

going so far as to rank them #5 in his preseason top 40.

Less than a month before the start of the season, the NCAA suspended Ezeli 6 games after accepting a meal and hotel room from a Vanderbilt alumnus during a summer trip. He was able to practice with the team during the suspension, and was also eligible to play in the team's preseason exhibition game (but was unable to play in that game). Ezeli came off his suspension for the Xavier

2011–12 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team

The 2011–12 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team is representing Xavier University in the current 2011–12 college basketball season. This is head coach Chris Mack's third season at Xavier. The Musketeers compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference and play their home games at the Cintas...

game on November 28; however, he suffered a sprained knee during a late-October practice and is now expected to be sidelined up to eight weeks.

Roster

Schedule

2012 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament

* – Denotes overtime-References:...

External links

Official Vanderbilt team page

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.