(KB - 08/21/07) Comets Red guard/forward Jordan Coleman has given her verbal commitment to Vanderbilt University.    Coleman chose Vanderbilt over Georgetown, Fordham,  Memphis and Louisville.    Coleman actually was on an official visit to Fordham when she made up her mind about where to play ball at the next level.

To hear her tell it, Vandy was at or near the very top of her choices all along.     The Vandy coaches established a relationship with Jordan early on and kept in contact with her throughout the recruiting season.

Choosing Vandy solves a number of Jordan's considerations.   Jordan has a 4.7 weighted GPA and takes all honors classes at Lake Mary.    From the beginning of this recruiting odyssey her parents pushed her towards academic schools, preferring the Ivy League schools over all.

But Jordan never was thrilled about attending Ivy League schools.   She said something about "nerds and eggheads"; no need to go into the specifics of her commentary.     Plus, Ivy League schools don't offer athletic scholarships--only a mixture of grants and parental funding.

Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is the top academic school in the SEC and one of the top academic schools in the nation.    They can and do offer athletic scholarships.    That solved problem #1.

The other problem is that Jordan absolutely HATES losing.  (Dunno where she gets that from).    She will sulk and sputter over losses for hours.    Vanderbilt was quick to point out that they won the SEC championship in 2007 and also in 2004 over teams that had been considered vastly superior.   Vanderbilt is a well-coached team.    That solved the losing problem.

Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb says that Jordan will play power forward at Vanderbilt.    This flies in the face of conventional wisdom that said Jordan is too small to play the "four" in college.     That's hogwash, according to Balcomb.    She says the attempt to turn Jordan into a small forward wastes 10-13 rebounds a game.    She said she signed Jordan for her strengths, not her weaknesses.

Balcomb said that, on defense, Coleman will guard the best offensive player on the opposing team.       Since that's usually a guard, Jordan's size won't be a liability on defense.      And, she says, Vandy runs a "four out one in" offense where Jordan's open court skills will be maximized and cause matchup problems for opposing teams.     She won't get pushed around by bigger players in the paint because she won't often be in the paint.

Somehow, that sounds like a glorified "three" to me.

Jordan becomes the sixth Comets Red player to sign with a major D1 school this year.      She is also the first Comets player ever to sign with an SEC school.

Coleman says now her sights are set on winning a second FHSAA 6A basketball championship and, after that, a state track championship.

Jordan plans to major in communications at Vandy.