Bleacher Report - Articles by Matt Ramsay

UAB Blazers Off To "Blazing" Start

Matt Ramsay — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:15:35 -0500

The UAB Blazers for only the third time in their history have now started the season 4-0. The first time since the 2004-2005 season. What is most impressive about the fast start is that none of the games have been played at Bartow Arena where UAB has an all time .822 winning percentage.

The four wins have came at Troy, vs Santa Clara in Tucson, at Arizona and at Old Dominion. After the two wins at Arizona in the Pre-Season NIT, UAB will face Oklahoma on Wednesday night and either Purdue or Boston College on Friday. If UAB can manage to get two wins in New York this week this would really help out on the tournament resume, as playing in C-USA big time wins are hard to come by besides Memphis.

Another factor in the fast start for UAB is they are getting scoring from more than one player. Where Robert Vaden, Paul Delaney, and Lawrence Kinnard are all averaging double digit points a game. Newcomer to the Blazers Terrence Rodderick is playing a huge role as the team's sixth man where he is getting 8.3 points and five rebounds a game.

The lack of size down low has not hurt UAB as much as most thought it would early on with the great guard play and being able to double team down low and still covering the perimeter. That all could change this week, with probably the best big man in the country waiting on them at the Garden in Blake Griffin where in four games he is averaging 26 points and 20 rebounds a game.

For UAB to come home from New York 6-0, its pretty simple on what has to be done they must contain the big man from Oklahoma and make their outside shots. Its going to be impossible to stop him, Griffin will get his. The question is how many will he get?

Oklahoma is not very deep on the bench so getting OU in foul trouble early and into the Sooner bench could help UAB take advantage of the mismatches there. Kinnard and Delaney could cause fits for Oklahoma players trying to go man against them. If Vaden can continue his hot shooting from Saturdays game UAB could earn a huge victory and a real boost in the national scene and an early big time RPI win.

UAB-Santa Clara Preview: Teams Meet in NIT Tip-Off Tourney

Matt Ramsay — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:43:24 -0500

UAB, 1-0, travels to Tucson, Ariz., to play in the first round of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament vs. Santa Clara, 1-0, on Mon., Nov. 17 at 7 pm.

Opening

The Blazers opened the season by beating Troy on Saturday 87-66. Paul Delaney led all scorers with 24 points, hitting nine of 11 from the free throw line. Lawrence Kinnard added 22 points and 13 rebounds. UAB now has their sights set on the NIT Tournament.

UAB opens up first round play vs. Santa Clara out of the WCC, who last year made it to the semifinals of the WCC, losing to Gonzaga by four. This year Santa Clara won their first game over Cal State East Bay 68-40. Senior John Bryant had his 25th double-double of his career with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

History

UAB has met Santa Clara two times before. The last meeting came in Birmingham in 1994, where SCU won 80-65 in the Blazer Classic. The other meeting was in 1991 in the Cable Car Classic, where the Blazers won.

Probable Starting Lineups

Blazers

Paul Delaney G

Lawrence Kinnard F

Robert Vaden G

Channing Toney G

Aaron Johnson G

Broncos

John Bryant C

James Rahon G

Michael Santos G

Perry Petty G

Ben Dowdell F

The winner of this game will advance to the second round of the NIT Tip-off and face the winner of Arizona/Florida Atlantic, while the loser will also face the loser of that game. Winners play at 10:30 on ESPN 2, and the losers play at 7:30.

Will Vanderbilt Finally Go Bowling This Year?

Matt Ramsay — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:41:22 -0400

The year was 1982. The top song that year was "You've Got Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest, and the top movie was An Officer and a Gentleman. Twenty-six years ago, Vanderbilt went to their last bowl game—the Hall of Fame Bowl.

Now it is 2008. The 'Dores are 2-0 and sitting atop the SEC Eastern Division, and with Rice coming to town on Saturday, Vandy is staring a 3-0 record right in the face. That leaves them with only three wins left to reach the magic number of six, and most likely a quick drive down the road to Birmingham to the Papa Johns Bowl.

Let's go ahead and say Vandy does win this week and gets to 3-0 with nine games left on the schedule. Can they win just three more games? Let's take a week by week look into the crystal ball I don't have to see the future of a bowl game for the Commodores.

After Rice, the Doors travel to a very good Ole Miss team that gave Wake Forest all they wanted and then some on the road. I'm going to go ahead and say they will suffer their first defeat of the season, bringing the record to 3-1 (1-1).

The next week will give them another week to think about it, being off after they play the Rebels. Top 10 Auburn comes to town after that, bringing one of the best defenses in the country. Sorry, Vandy fans: Win number four does not come this week either, as Vandy falls to 3-2 (1-2).

After the back to back SEC losses, it does not get any easier for the Commodores. They hit the road for two games versus the Bulldogs of Mississippi State and Georgia.

I would say if the State game was at home, Vandy would come out on top, but since they have to travel to Starkville, and any game in the SEC on the road is very tough, I don't see a win here either. That would drop Vandy to 3-3 (1-3), and it's not looking too much easier the next week going to Georgia.

I know two years ago Vandy pulled off the shocker and beat the Dawgs. That's not going to happen this time around, and we are going to end that right there. Vandy's now 3-4 (1-4).

Well, guess what. Here comes a breath of fresh air: The Duke Blue Devils are coming to town. This should get Vandy back on the winning track because, well, it's Duke, and they are the Vandy of the ACC, only worse. Vandy gets back to .500 at 4-4 (1-4).

Let's not celebrate too much after this. The All-American, Heisman trophy-winning, circumcising golden boy comes to town. This one could get ugly, and ugly fast. Florida should be in full force by midseason and on the way to a berth to the SEC Championship game. 'Dores lose big! Bringing the record below .500

4-5 (1-5)—that means only three games to go, and Vandy must win two of them to go bowling.

Now before the season I would say Vandy had a very good chance of beating Kentucky, but after the first two weeks of the season and the Wildcats only giving up 2.5 points per contest, and with also having to go on the road, I just don't see Vanderbilt coming out of the Bluegrass State with a win, dropping their record to 4-6 (1-6).

So now it comes down to this: the last two games of the season—Tennessee at home and Wake Forest on the road. After watching how bad Tennessee looked in the opener versus UCLA, I'm going to have to go with Vandy in this one

Yes, I know what you are thinking: I have them losing to Ole Miss, Miss St., and Kentucky but beating Tennessee. But Tennessee is bad, very bad, and at this point in the season Tennessee will be all but drained, so the 'Dores win! 5-6 (2-6).

It all comes down to this: the final game of the year, Nov. 29 at Wake Forest. This is it. Vandy fans, does the 26-year streak end today? And that answer is...YES.

FINALLY the Commodores come together and pull off the biggest win in Vandy football history since good ol' Watson Brown beat the Crimson Tide, and they send Vandy bowling for the first time since 1982! Final record 6-6 (2-6).

Oh yeah, on a side note all the pizza you can eat...only if it's from Papa Johns. See you in Birmingham, Vandy.