Anchor Drop, January 22, 2021: What of Saturday’s game?

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

So what’s the status of tomorrow’s home game against Arkansas? Nobody is sure, but the team site is certainly treating it as though the game — scheduled for noon CT at Memorial Gym — is going to happen. I mostly just want to bring your attention to the sadness in some of the stats at the bottom of the post:

Vandy will be trying to avoid an 0-5 start in SEC play for the third season in a row.

The Dores are 4-43 in their last 47 games against SEC competition.

Ewwwww. For the record, “last 47 games” goes all the way back to February 20, 2018, when Vanderbilt lost 88-78 at LSU coming off back-to-back home wins over Mississippi State and Florida. Vanderbilt would beat Ole Miss to close the regular season, then the Commodores would lose 28 games in a row against SEC competition (counting first-round SEC Tournament losses in both 2018 and 2019.) They’d finish 2020 by going 3-8, which was sadly an improvement, but they’ve now lost four in a row to open 2021.

Actually, if you want to see how this is affecting the fan base, well, just check out the number of comments in the Anchor of Gold game threads for the first four SEC games:

• vs. Florida: 67
• at Kentucky: 97
• vs. Mississippi State: 45
• at Tennessee: 54
• MLB Network Showing of The Naked Gun: 72

Ah, yes, we’re more interested in watching Naked Gun for the 25th time than a road game at Tennessee. Sums things up pretty well.

Shit, everyone, hang in there, I guess. That said, somebody on another board brought up comparisons with other programs, and I noted that Boston College went to seven NCAA Tournaments from 2001-09, fired Al Skinner after a random, mediocre 15-16 2010 season, and hasn’t been back to the NCAA Tournament since — and the last decade has seen one winning season, four 20-loss seasons, and an 0-18 ACC record one year. Yep.

Anyway, no Vanderbilt sports today, but John Augenstein is making his professional debut this week in The American Express, the PGA Tour’s event in La Quinta, California. Augenstein shot an even-par 72 in the first round, which isn’t bad, but it’s probably two shots behind the cut line to make it to the weekend and get paid. (Also playing this week: Will Gordon, who also shot even par; Brandt Snedeker, who shot a 1-over 73; and Luke List, who shot a 3-under 69.)