The Commodores are number 25 and 23 in the latest ESPN/USA Today poll and the Associated Press polls, respectively, which were released on Monday afternoon, and Foster became only the fifth Vanderbilt player to garner Player-of-the-Week honors twice in the same season.
The Commodores, 7-0 for the ninth time in school history, have won seven consecutive games for the first time since the 2003-04 season when the `Dores opened the season 12-0. It is also the first time Vanderbilt has been ranked in both polls since VU was 19th in the AP poll and 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today poll for the week of February 26, 2007.
Vanderbilt, the 2007 South Padre Invitational champions, recently defeated Georgia Tech, 92-79, on December 1. The Commodores led by as many as 28 points against the Yellow Jackets and led for all but 38 seconds of the contest Saturday. VU is shooting 51.3% from the floor for the year, and has won by an average of 10.9 points per contest this season.
Foster, a 6’6 senior from Kenner, La., joins Will Perdue (1989), Dan Langhi (1999), Matt Freije (2004), and Derrick Byars (2007) as the only Commodore players to win two SEC Players-of-the-Week honors in the same season. Foster also becomes only the second SEC player to win two weekly honors in the first four weeks of the season and the first student-athlete in 18 years to accomplish the feat. Tennessee’s Dyron Nix won back-to-back Player-of-the-Week honors from the league office to open the 1989 campaign.
Vanderbilt takes on another ACC foe, Wake Forest, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gym. The game will be televised regionally on FSN South.