2007–08 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball | |
---|---|
Conference | Southeastern Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 25 |
AP | No. 25 |
2007–08 record | 26–8 (10–6, 3rd SEC East) |
Head coach | Kevin Stallings |
Assistant coach | Dan Muller |
Assistant coach | Tom Richardson |
Assistant coach | King Rice |
Home arena | Memorial Gymnasium |
The 2007–08 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team represented Vanderbilt University in the 2007–08 college basketball season. The team was led by head coach Kevin Stallings and played home games at Memorial Gymnasium.
The 2007–08 team finished the season 26–8, and ranked 25th in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today (Coaches) poll. Their 16–0 start was the best in school history. The team finished in 3rd place in the SEC Eastern Division with a 10–6 conference record.
During Selection Sunday, Vanderbilt received a #4 seed in the Midwest Region of the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They faced #13 seed Siena in the first round on March 21, 2008. The Commodores were upset at a final score of 83–62, becoming the second #4 seed upset after UConn's overtime loss to San Diego.
Entering the season, Vanderbilt was picked by the media attending the SEC's media days in October to finish 4th in the SEC East, behind Tennessee, Kentucky and two-time defending national champion Florida.
Vanderbilt lost two starters from last year's team—2007 SEC-player of the year Derrick Byars (19.1 ppg) and shooting guard, Dan Cage (11.2 ppg) – and return three starters—swingman Shan Foster, point guard Alex Gordon and power forward Ross Neltner.
Shan Foster was the Commodores' second leading scorer last season (15.6 ppg) and is the third leading returning scorer in the SEC. Foster was selected by the SEC media to the pre-season all-SEC second team. Alex Gordon had only 51 turnovers last season, tops among starting SEC point guards, and his 2.22-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio was fourth best in the SEC. Neltner provided a versatile presence inside, averaging 5.7 rebounds per game, dishing out 74 assists and hitting 11-of-28 attempts from three-point range.