Links: 12.17.2009

Not a lot out there today. TSU coverage is imminent. We Vandy fans are all eager to see some semblance of improvement, especially at guard.

Vandy puts more emphasis on defense | The Tennessean

"Shortening the bench is coming," Stallings said. "It's coming because you can't play 11 guys. Guys need to have regular rotations and regular minutes in order to get better. "We've waited for some separation and there hasn't been as much as we would like to see. So we may have to make some choices here very shortly and then hope they are the best choices for our team."

Vandy-bound Odom shines at Middlesex | The Concord Journal

Times have changed since first VU-TSU meeting | VANDERBILT OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Vanderbilt's Perry Wallace had already become the first African-American scholarship basketball player in the SEC when he took the court for the 1967-68 season, but when Vanderbilt Coach Roy Skinner scheduled Tennessee State to play Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym, race relations were still touchy, especially in the South. At the time, it was an anomaly for an SEC school to play a historically African-American college.

"You can imagine that at that point in our country's history with race relations the way they were, I think it was a courageous thing for Roy Skinner to schedule them because Vanderbilt had everything to lose in that game," said retired Tennessean sports writer Jimmy Davy, who covered the historic game. "You particularly have to give Skinner credit since he scheduled the game. This is the same guy who recruited Perry Wallace, the first African-American player in the SEC."

When the two met, Tennessee State was coming off a season where it finished runner-up at the NCAA Division II Championships and Vanderbilt was en route to winning the SEC title. Although, Tennessee State played in a lower division, many believed Tennessee State, led by legendary Coach Ed Martin, was a better team. "The main reason I scheduled the game is because I kept hearing that we wouldn't play them because we were scared of them," Skinner said. "It finally got to me and I said, `the heck with this stuff,' so I went for it."

VUcommodores.com Blog: MBB locker room enhancements