Ranking of Vandy wins

[alathIN]

I'm going with last night as the best Memorial Gym win I've ever seen. And I don't make that declaration lightly.

I'm ruling out all wins that happened on the road, so that rules out the Barry Goheen Pitt game, the win over Anthony Davis, etc...

There are a lot of great games where Vandy has beaten No. 1 or highly ranked teams at home... those are all great, but...

To beat TENNESSEE, ranked No. 6, so unexpectedly... on a last-second buzzer-beater, such an unbelievable shot...

Man, I'm sorry, but last night takes the cake.

And just when I thought the Magic might be on permanent hiatus from Memorial.

You know, I was thinking about the magnitude of the win, not the drama/excitement of the game.
There was a buzzer beater 3 pointer to beat UT when I was an undergraduate. I was photog for the Hustler and got a great picture of Goheen being carried off the court. But I don't think UT was top 5 then and VU was pretty decent so not a huge upset like this one.

Yeah, if you factor in the close game, dramatic finish, heavy underdog, and rivalry with the opponent this might be #1

[VUaskew]

honorable mentions:

Beating #4 Miss State in the SECT
Dicky Keffer from 35 feet to beat Ole Miss in a snowstorm
#1 UNC in 87-88
Beating UK 4 in a row in the Derrick Byars era
Louisville on a Chris Lawson putback

[mathguy]

This is a good win. We've had better. Top wins (off the top of my head)...

Beating #1 Kentucky in '93
Beating defending champs UCLA in (I think) '95.
The NC State comeback to reach the Sweet 16.
The 92-55 thrashing of Kentucky.
Beating Anthony Davis in the SEC Finals (as was already mentioned)
Beating Georgetown to reach the Elite 8
Beating #1 ranked UT
The Shan Foster Highlight Reel against Miss St.
The Corey Smith Buzzer Beater in the NIT
Beating #1 Florida (The CKS Keepaway Game)

I'm okay adding last night's win to the list, but I don't think it tops most of these.

You forgot this one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl3t7HLZMZ4

Didn't forget it ... just before my time. I know *of* this game from this forum, but I grew up in the north and knew little to nothing about Vandy (and less about Vandy athletics) until my junior year of HS when I started to take my college search seriously. This coincided with the McCaffrey Sweet 16 year coincidentally.

[BrentVU]

You know, I was thinking about the magnitude of the win, not the drama/excitement of the game.
There was a buzzer beater 3 pointer to beat UT when I was an undergraduate. I was photog for the Hustler and got a great picture of Goheen being carried off the court. But I don't think UT was top 5 then and VU was pretty decent so not a huge upset like this one.

Yeah, if you factor in the close game, dramatic finish, heavy underdog, and rivalry with the opponent this might be #1

"Biggest", like beauty of course, is in the eye of the beholder.

I think you have to multiply the circumstances/excitement of the game (in this case, a last-tenth-of-a-second desperation corner 3-pointer, in what had already been a very exciting, back-and-forth game) by the "meaningfulness/significance" factor of the win. (You might upset the No. 1 team, but it might not have been nearly as exciting/dramatic. But you always get extra points for beating Tennessee or Kentucky.)

The only way last night would have been better would be if both teams were ranked, or maybe if there were a conference championship or something riding on it.

[commadore]

This is a good win. We've had better. Top wins (off the top of my head)...

Beating #1 Kentucky in '93
Beating defending champs UCLA in (I think) '95.
The NC State comeback to reach the Sweet 16.
The 92-55 thrashing of Kentucky.
Beating Anthony Davis in the SEC Finals (as was already mentioned)
Beating Georgetown to reach the Elite 8
Beating #1 ranked UT
The Shan Foster Highlight Reel against Miss St.
The Corey Smith Buzzer Beater in the NIT
Beating #1 Florida (The CKS Keepaway Game)

I'm okay adding last night's win to the list, but I don't think it tops most of these.

I would add the trio of game of beating Duke, UNC, and Davidson, all in the top five over a 10 day period.

[Jason94]

Why does nobody ever mention Steve Grant's three at the buzzer. The only 3 he ever shot (?)

Interestingly, that shot came as the result of a missed Georgia dunk on a breakaway that would have sealed the game for Georgia.

First game at Memorial I ever attended.

[dcdore]

Surprised no one has even mentioned the '74 win over Ala for the SEC championship.

[MrMemorial]

Tied at 1a was the win over #1 NC in 1987. (Most memorable moment for that game...Boots Randolph played the national anthem....and the crown went wild!)

I was at that game in the student section and it was amazing. If I recall Dean Smith really milked the clock at the end but we pulled out the W.

I also recall a big game from Dec 86 where we beat a highly regarded IU team with Steve Alford. The crowd hounded Alford all game. We were down at half and pulled out an exciting win. Memorial was rocking that night too. I think IU was ranked but don't recall precisely. Link to VU v IU in Dec 86

Indiana was ranked #2 in the nation that night and ended up winning the natty.

[EagleDore]

Tied at 1a was the win over #1 NC in 1987. (Most memorable moment for that game...Boots Randolph played the national anthem....and the crown went wild!)

I was at that game in the student section and it was amazing. If I recall Dean Smith really milked the clock at the end but we pulled out the W.

I also recall a big game from Dec 86 where we beat a highly regarded IU team with Steve Alford. The crowd hounded Alford all game. We were down at half and pulled out an exciting win. Memorial was rocking that night too. I think IU was ranked but don't recall precisely. Link to VU v IU in Dec 86

Indiana was ranked #2 in the nation that night and ended up winning the natty.

Excellent. Thanks for the details. This game should be on any list of great wins. I think we had Alford's pic on the back of the Hustler and everyone brought it to the game...

[AuricGoldfinger]

I'll rank all of them one day, but some other home notables that have not been mentioned:

1986 Tennessee (VU was down 8 with 57 seconds to play and won by 1...and this was before the three-pointer)
1988 Louisville (Barry Goheen from half-court)
1989 Georgia (Barry Goheen with a half-court shot at half, and then passing up the two to tie to hit the three-point shot at the buzzer)
1991 Kentucky (Rick Pitino gets tossed)
1991 LSU (Shaq and Dale Brown go off at the end of the game)
2011 Kentucky ("John Jenkins is a flamethrower!")

And in terms of significance, the win over a ranked LSU team in 2020 to finally end the long SEC losing streak was pretty damn important, too.

[nyyankeeDore]

Surprised no one has even mentioned the '74 win over Ala for the SEC championship.

Vanderbilt and Alabama had the same SEC record that year. VU won the championship by virtue of beating Alabama in both (very close) games.

[historybill]

I was there for some of these games that folks have listed, but I'm not sure if the one the other night doesn't end up really close to the top because of how needy this program has been in recent years.

Both the Arkansas game and the Tennessee game have made Vanderbilt basketball fun again. They have made fans know that things may not be going great right in this part of the game, but there is HOPE.

[VirginiaDore]

Not the biggest game, but one of the most unlikely and exciting wins ever (in those respects very similar to the win Wednesday): the victory over Wichita State in the 2005 NIT, a buzzer beater by Corey Smith off of a miraculous full-court pass. Someone mentioned it early in the thread, but it’s mostly been overlooked.

[EagleDore]

I'll rank all of them one day, but some other home notables that have not been mentioned:

1986 Tennessee (VU was down 8 with 57 seconds to play and won by 1...and this was before the three-pointer)
1988 Louisville (Barry Goheen from half-court)
1989 Georgia (Barry Goheen with a half-court shot at half, and then passing up the two to tie to hit the three-

I was at these games. Pretty awesome. Goheen was clutch.

[Charlie Nickens]

Surprised no one has even mentioned the '74 win over Ala for the SEC championship.

Vanderbilt and Alabama had the same SEC record that year. VU won the championship by virtue of beating Alabama in both (very close) games.

The irony of the 1972-1973 and the 1973-1974 Vandy-Alabama games was uncanny. This is a lot of in the weeds,geeky stuff perhaps for younger fans.Two things of note, only one team at the time (changed starting in '74-'75) from a conference could represent a conference in the NCAA Tournament. Also, until 1985, a team could play in a regional on its home court. The 1973 Mideast Regional was at Memorial Gym at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt swept SEC champ Kentucky,but finished one game behind UK. Vandy tied for second with Alabama (and Tennessee) and was swept by the Tide. Alabama won at Memorial, 83-77 with a late comeback (Alabama's Leon Douglas is in the photo with Joe Ford and Steve Turner.) Vandy was 13-5 in league play,but had Vandy won this game, they would have played the Mideast Regional at home. The NCAA had a rule that if a school hosted an NCAA regional, it could not participate in the NIT. 20-6/13-5 Vanderbilt stayed home and watched UK play ine the ME Regional (Alabama went to the NIT and advanced to the "Final Four".)

The following season, 1973-1974, Alabama would host the 1974 Mideast Regional. This time Vanderbilt and Alabama tied for FIRST in the SEC. Also this go around Vanderbilt swept Alabama, winning 73-72 in Nashville and 67-65 in Tuscaloosa. 23-3/15-3 Vanderbilt went to the Mideast Regional in Tuscaloosa while 22-4/15-3 co-champ Alabama stayed home watching Vandy in the NCAA's on Alabama's home court and not being allowed to play in the NIT as they did the year before.

[docdore]

7 ft. 4 in. (i think). they don't make dores turner's size every day.

[Seadog73]

I still remember the first time I saw Steve Turner. VU bookstore, flipping through magazines, I looked to my left (I think) and saw a belt buckle that seemed to be at eye level. It was Steve. And I was 6'1'.

[Versus75]

Surprised no one has even mentioned the '74 win over Ala for the SEC championship.

Vanderbilt and Alabama had the same SEC record that year. VU won the championship by virtue of beating Alabama in both (very close) games.

When Vanderbilt won at Alabama to sweep the series, there were still 8 SEC games left to play. Had we won our final game at home versus a middle-of-the-pack Florida team, it would have been an outright SEC Championship.

The Alabama fans and scalpers had scarfed up all the tickets to the Mideast Regional (I won't go into how those games turned out) assuming the Tide would be playing there with Leon Douglas, TR Dunn, Ray Odums & Co.

When that didn't happen the scalpers were just about giving away the tickets. I already had my press pass. Entering the arena grounds, scalpers were asking $10-$15 a ticket. By the time we got to the front door it was two-for-$5.00 or something crazy.

(Baseball Aside: Vanderbilt was playing Alabama at the same time in The Joe Sewell Classic. The basketball p.a. announcer got a round of applause when he informed the crowd that 'Bama beat Vanderbilt via the 10-run rule.)

[commadore]

I was at the 73-72 game. To this day maybe the best game I ever attended. Had there been a three point line there is no telling what the score would have been. Both sides rained from three point distance all game.

[LawoftheWest]

When I started this thread I had no idea that there would be so many diverse and interesting responses.

Thanks everyone for your informative and even entertaining personal walk down Vandy basketball history. Each poster had his or her own story to tell. I feel this is the best thread I have ever started.