Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell held his weekly press conference at Vanderbilt and lauded the success of both basketball teams at the school as they prepare for the NCAA tournament.
O’Connell addressed the No. 2 seed women’s team (27-4) before their practice March 18 before they begin play March 21 (6 p.m. CT, ESPNews) against 15-seed High Point (27-5) at Memorial Gymnasium. He also spoke highly of the No. 5 seed men’s team (26-8), which is in Oklahoma City and will begin play on March 19 (2:15 p.m. CT, TruTV) against 12-seed McNeese (28-5).
“I got to be here in person when they took down LSU, and I think that’s what made this so special, seeing the joy and admiration in the eyes of so many young girls who are watching the achievements of this team,” O’Connell said of the women’s team. ” … It’s been great to see all the athletic success across multiple sports in season, March Madness, of course, big in Nashville this year for the men and women here at Vanderbilt.”
O’Connell said that he brought his young daughter, who plays basketball, to the LSU game as she got to witness the upset first-hand. Vanderbilt eventually also defeated Texas and Michigan en route to earning a hosting opportunity.
Candice Lee took the podium to introduce O’Connell at the press conference, though she did not take any questions from media. Lee said that she would have a chance to attend the first games of both the men and women as she would head to Oklahoma City first before returning to Nashville for the March 21 women’s game.
“Im so proud of all 17 of our sports, but as a has-been basketball player, March is probably the most fun time of year until we get to whatever’s next,” Lee said. “To have both of our teams relevant and people talking about us at this time, it has been tremendous.”
Lee also mentioned the athletic department’s Anchored for Her campaign, which is a $50 million fundraising campaign to invest into Vanderbilt women’s athletics teams.
“It’s just lucky for us that we launched this campaign at the time that Shea Ralph is winning literally every accolade that you can win from every outlet,” Lee said. “She is National Coach of the Year. We have the SEC Player of the Year (Mikayla Blakes). I believe we have the National Player of the Year on our team, and we have the SEC Freshman of the Year (Aubrey Galvan) and now an opportunity to enter the NCAA tournament as a 2-seed. It’s so exciting.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
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