Anchor Drop, February 16, 2018: Romeo Langford Day

Since Anchor of Gold is a full-service Vanderbilt sports blog (among other things), I’m trying out a new daily feature: the Anchor Drop. It’s your everyday source of what’s happening with Vanderbilt sports, and basically whatever else I feel like throwing in here.

Today’s big news is that Romeo Langford will be at Memorial Gym for this afternoon’s tilt with the Florida Gators. Your mileage may vary depending on which recruiting service you’re looking at, but Langford is a consensus top 10 recruit in the Class of 2018 and is generally regarded as the top uncommitted recruit in the class. Bryce Drew’s second recruiting class is already, quite likely, the best class that Vanderbilt has ever had, and adding Langford would be the cherry on top of that.

In addition to Langford, signees Darius Garland and Aaron Nesmith are expected to be at the game, as well as recent Commodores and current NBA players Luke Kornet and Damian Jones. Oh, yeah: Luke threw out the first pitch at Hawkins Field at yesterday’s season opener, which turned out to be a 9-1 win over the Duke Blue Devils.

Also from that article: today’s second game at the Hawk will be moved to 3 PM due to pending weather, which is... awkward. The basketball game against Florida will also be at 3 PM. The original plan to have the baseball game at noon would have meant that fans could have easily caught both games; instead, the new schedule means that fans will have to choose between the two. I’m biased, but I’d prefer not to have everybody at Hawkins Field while Romeo Langford is taking in a game.

The women’s bowling team opened the Ladyjack Classic at Stephen F. Austin on Friday, posting an average score of 200.2 to place third for the day behind McKendree and Nebraska. The second day of the event starts at 9:25 AM; you can stream it on the Vanderbilt bowling YouTube channel.

The men’s golf team will open the spring season this weekend at the SunTrust Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Commodores will send Theo Humphrey, Will Gordon, Patrick Martin, John Augenstein, and Mason Greenberg in the two-day, 16-team event. The invitational tees off at 7 AM today; you can follow along here.

Off the West End

Yahoo’s Pete Thamel had a long piece about the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption, which you should really read if you haven’t already. Everybody’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, but almost anybody who covers college hoops can tell you that this certainly isn’t isolated to four rogue assistant coaches and a handful of agents and shoe company executives.

The Tennessean has a rundown on the Predators’ possible moves at the pending NHL trade deadline.

The ODAC wraps up its regular season on Saturday, though Randolph-Macon’s already clinched the regular season title before the conference tournament starts next week. Will we have a game thread for the ODAC Tournament? We shall see.

And finally, everyone’s favorite mid-major hosts the Western Illinois Leathernecks at 2 PM today. South Dakota State is 10-1 in the Summit League and likely needs a win to keep pace with the hated South Dakota Coyotes, who host Nebraska-Omaha today.