Anchor Drop, March 6, 2018: SEC Tournament Eve Edition

Good morning. The Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse team beat William & Mary by a 19-6 score on Monday to improve to 4-1 on the season. Also, did you know that the Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse team plays in the Big East?

The men’s golf team shot a 286 on Monday in the second round of the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, ending the day where they started it in 11th place. The tournament concludes today.

Over at the Tennessean, seniors Riley LaChance and Jeff Roberson talk about their Vanderbilt careers coming to an end. Vanderbilt will play Georgia tomorrow in the first round of the SEC Tournament and from here on out, every game could be the last for the team’s two healthy seniors.

Also from the Tennessean, a look at how the first commitment in each of the last ten recruiting classes has turned out. Joel DeCoursey became the first of the 2019 class when he committed last week.

Over at VandySports.com, Chris Lee and Mitch Light have a new podcast. Also, not to do their advertising for them, but they’re offering a 60-day free trial at the moment. I don’t necessarily discourage you from checking them out as we occupy very different niches in the universe.

Off the West End

Arkansas dismissed Dustin Thomas from the team, a couple of days before the SEC Tournament. Dustin Thomas was a guy who was reinstated to the team after picking up a felony in 2015, and was rumored to have drawn a suspension earlier this year. If a felony isn’t enough to get you kicked off the team, you have to wonder what he did to get dismissed two days before the SEC Tournament.

Memphis head coach Tubby Smith wants you to get off his lawn, basically. Actually Tubby’s thoughts on transfers aren’t that different from my own, but maybe the guy who has skipped town from Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas Tech isn’t the best messenger for players sticking with their original program. As a native Memphian, I do have to admit to getting a few chuckles out of what that program has become post-Calipari.

The NBA is giving serious thought to scrapping the one-and-done rule, which is the correct move because there is no reason DeAndre Ayton should be getting paid $100,000 to play a year at Arizona when he should be making millions to play for the Phoenix Suns instead. After more than a decade, I’m still at a loss to figure out how anybody is better off because of that rule.

Two more tickets to the Big Dance punched last night: Iona beat Fairfield to claim the MAAC championship, and UNC Greensboro beat ETSU to win the SoCon.

BYU beat St. Mary’s to advance to the WCC championship game. In a year when Vanderbilt is probably not going to make the tournament, my default rooting interest is chaos, and BYU represents chaos.

Also tonight: Jackrabbits versus Coyotes, Round 3, this time for the Summit League auto bid. You all know what to do.