By Brett Hait, bhait@nashvillecitypaper.com
TAMPA, Fla. – The Vanderbilt basketball team arrived in this warm and breezy coastal city Wednesday night ostensibly to win a game on Friday.
Look closer, though, and it becomes clear the Commodores are carrying a banner of deeper significance.
History can be written this month, the kind of history that causes record books to be re-printed and teams to forever be etched into the memories and consciousness of its fans.
This is only the second Commodore to make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. They are situated at the highest seed, No. 4, the school has received in 15 years.
This is also Vanderbilt’s third tournament appearance in five years. Peruse the sometimes-sparse school record book, and it becomes quickly apparent that such a streak is noteworthy.
In nearly every way, the golden age of Commodore basketball might be in full bloom.
“I think this may very well be the best five-year stretch in Vanderbilt history by the time this season is over,” said former Commodore guard Barry Booker, now a college basketball TV analyst.
Kevin Stallings never had a doubt he could win at Vanderbilt when he accepted the school’s head-coaching position in 1999.
In 30 seasons as a player and coach, his teams have made 25 tournament appearances, including 16 NCAA berths and three Final Fours.
He had been a successful head coach at Illinois State and had been involved in plenty of victories as an assistant at Kansas and Purdue. The same formula, he figured, would bear fruit in Nashville.
In Stallings’ first four seasons, the Commodores failed to make a single NCAA Tournament appearance. The nadir came with an 11-18 record during the 2002-03 season.
Suddenly, a puzzled Stallings wondered how he had gone from living a charmed life at Illinois State, Kansas and Purdue to becoming a whipping boy of many Vanderbilt fans.

nashvillecitypaper.com

It’s just after 1 a.m. CDT as I’m writing this. Sunrise will officially begin day one of a two-day period that I look forward to every year as a sports fan. While every other round in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament can be just as exciting, it’s the first round that always captivates and amazes us.
It is a round that can either bust a lot of our brackets or put us ahead of whatever pool we may be entering (at least until the second round). It is a round that has us flipping channels or surfing through the web to catch final scores of games we didn’t get to see, particularly afternoon games.
Personally, I won’t have to worry about missing daytime scores tomorrow. I’m on spring break, so this will be the first time ever I am able to watch the first games of the tournament from the comforts of my own home—instead of going to CBS Sportsline during some business or English class.
What do we do while we are watching this? We might be pulling our hair out or calling our friends to whine and complain because our brackets are off to a terrible start. Inversely, we could be calling our friends just to rub in their faces that we’ve gotten almost every game right so far.
However, there is one thing that no sports fan can deny happens during this or any other round during the tournament: Drama.
We eagerly await the unthinkable upsets that will occur over these first couple of days.
The first round has seen its share of upsets over the years. It’s already been 10 years since Bryce Drew lifted Valparaiso to a win at the buzzer against Ole Miss. More recently, who can remember 14 seeds Bucknell and Northwestern State upsetting first-round foes Kansas and Iowa, respectively?

bleacherreport.com

The UTEP men’s basketball team will make its fourth postseason appearance in the last five years after accepting a bid to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational on Sunday.
“I’m excited, honored and humbled to be invited to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational,” UTEP coach Tony Barbee said in a news release. “It is a tremendous opportunity for our young team to get its first taste of postseason play, as well as an opportunity for our four seniors to extend their collegiate careers. We are looking forward to competing for the title.”
The Miners will host former WAC rival Utah during the opening round game at 7 p.m. MDT Wednesday, according to the CBI Web site.
UTEP season ticket holders have until noon MST Tuesday
to reserve their seats by calling (915) 747-6150 or visiting the UTEP Athletics Season Ticket Office, Brumbelow Building Room 109.
All other ticket inquires will be handled by calling (915) 747-5234. Ticket prices are $8 (upper reserved), $13 (lower reserved) and $25 (floor seats). UTEP students will receive one free ticket and can purchase additional guest tickets for $7.50 each.
The game will not be televised and, per CBI regulations, no online audio and video streaming will be available on the UTEP athletics website. Video streaming and live stats packages can be purchased at http://www.cbistreaming.com/aa_signup.aspx.

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He’ll probably watch the NCAA Tournament selection show this afternoon, but UAB head coach Mike Davis will likely have to wait a little longer to find out his basketball team’s postseason fate.
Once thought to be a good bet to the play in the NCAA Tournament, the Blazers now appear destined for the NIT. The NIT pairings announcement is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
“We’ll see if it’s NCAA, if it’s NIT. Whatever it is, we’ll welcome the opportunity to go play more basketball,” Davis said.
Obviously, he would welcome a trip to the NCAA Tournament more than he would a spot in the NIT. Entering the final game of the regular season, UAB had clinched second place in C-USA and was a popular choice as an at-large entry into the tournament despite some bad RPI losses during the season. When the Blazers ended the regular season with a 38-point loss at No. 2 ranked Memphis, some projections dropped UAB from the field.
“We lost to the No. 2 team in the country but the way we lost, I guess everybody is judging on points,” Davis said. “If you lose, you lose, whether it’s by 20 or 10 or 1.”

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