Looking ahead

Hey everyone. Well, I'm somewhat tired after a semi-week in Little Rock, Ark. I'll be driving home throughout the day Monday and will be preparing for another great day of blogospheric magic on Tuesday.

That's PRO DAY for the football seniors (might there be a junior or two?) and the Capital City Classic, which pits Auburn vs. Alabama baseball at Riverwalk Stadium. That should be a fun day.

Thanks for everyone's interest and support throughout the women's tournament. I know it's a new area of (potential) interest to a lot of you. You've been awesome.

Before I leave, though, let me give you some reaction to the Vanderbilt loss:

NELL FORTNER
On Vanderbilt's defense: "They smothered Alli all day. She is our best three-point shooter. They smothered DeWanna all day. We didn't get any nice looks. They did a good job of taking that away."

On Christina Wirth, who dropped 20 points on Auburn Sunday: "She played inspired basketball today. She was better today than I've seen on film and when we played them in Nashville."

On regrouping after this one: "We haven't lost very much this year, but it is disappointing. When the prize is as big as the one was today, it's even more disappointing. You know what? We understand what lies ahead and we have to take it and learn from it and use it as we move forward."

WHITNEY BODDIE
On why Vanderbilt is so effective: "They're efficient with their offense. They pound you and pound you. You think you've got them stopped and then at the end of the shot clock, they make a three. They're mechanical."

MELANIE BALCOMB, Vanderbilt head coach
On Auburn: "We know we can't play 'em straight up. They've got great players. You have to do different things to get them out of their flow on offense, disrupt their offense and limit touches to their shooters. They're the fastest team up and down the court in transition that I've ever coached against."

On which defenses she deployed Sunday: "We worked on about six. We used some triangle (and two) against them as well as some man and some ... I don't want to give out all our secrets. We've got games to play."



Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University