The VandySports 100: No. 22, Matt Freije

Former first-team All-SEC basketball star, who played at Vanderbilt early in coach Kevin Stallings's tenure, makes our list of 100 greatest players we've covered at No. 22. Follow our countdown to No. 1 here.

Honors and awards: 2000-01 Freshman All-Southeastern Conference

2001-02 SEC Player of the Week (Jan. 21)

2001-02 third-team All-SEC

2002-03 SEC Player of the Week (Feb. 3)

2002-03 second-team All-SEC

2003-04 third-team All-American (NABC, The Sporting News; honorable mention from AP and Sports Illustrated)

2003-04 first-team All-SEC

2003-04 SEC Player of the Week (Feb. 2)

2017 Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame

In the VU record book: Single-season scoring: ninth (607 in 2003-04)

Single-season free throws made: second (175)

Career scoring: third (1,891)

Career blocks: 10th (71)

Career field goals made: eighth (632)

Career field goals attempted: third (1,412)

Career free throws made: fourth (444)

Before VU: Starred at Shawnee Mission West High in Overland Park, Ks., where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds as a senior, and 16/8 as a junior. Was named Kansas Mr. Basketball by the coaches as a senior. Led the team to a 6A state runner-up finish as a junior. Was the school's all-time leading rebounder. Team captain as a senior.

Freshman (2000-01): Played 27 games, starting 18, for a 15-15 (4-12 SEC) team, missing three games with a stress fracture in his right leg. Played 14 SEC regular-season games, starting six, playing 336 minutes while averaging 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 47.3 percent from the field. Led the team in scoring six times, and four times in rebounding. Had 22 points and 11 rebounds vs. Birmingham Southern. Scored 20 points and pulled nine boards, going 9-for-12 from the field, in a win over Alabama. Scored 21 points with seven rebounds at Kentucky.

Sophomore (2001-02): Scored the third-most points ever by a VU sophomore, starting all 32 games for a 16-14 (6-10) team that won a game in the NIT. Led the team with a 15.1-point average and 5.1 rebounds in all games. In league regular-season play, logged 491 minutes, averaging 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 40.9 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent from 3. Scored in double figures 27 times. Had 22 in back-to-back games vs. Tulane and American. Had 29 points (on 7-of-12 shooting) and three steals vs. Auburn. Scored 18, 19, 19 and 18 in a four-game stretch against Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and LSU late in the conference season. Scored 23 points and pulled six rebounds in the season finale vs. Louisiana Tech.

Junior (2002-03): Scored the 10th-most points all-time by a Vanderbilt sophomore. Played in 29 games, starting 28, for an 11-18 (3-13) team. Averaged 17.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. In SEC regular-season play, logged 499 minus and led the team in scoring (18.6) while shooting 44.9 percent from the field. Led VU in scoring in 20 of 29 games, and was the game-high scorer 14 times. Had 31 points on just 15 shots vs. Georgia. Had big-scoring games against Alabama (24 in the SEC Tournament), LSU (27) and Tennessee (25). Had a double-double vs. Tulane (14/11) and also handed out five assists.

Senior (2003-04): Scored the fifth-most points ever by a VU senior. Averaged 18.4 points per game for a 23-10 (8-8) team that made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, leading the team in that category as well as rebounding (5.4). In league games, averaged 19.2 points and 5.4 rebounds, while shooting 38.5 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from 3. Had 31 points and hit all 11 free throws in an upset of North Carolina St. in the NCAA Tournament that sent VU to the Sweet 16. Scored 13 points and pulled eight rebounds in an NCAA Tournament win over Western Michigan. Had 24 points on 14 shots in season-opening win at Belmont. Scored 32, canning all 18 free throws and pulling 13 rebounds, to beat Indiana in the next game. Had 22 points in a win over Michigan. Scored 31 points in 29 minutes in a win over Tennessee Tech. Scored 23 in a win over Florida. Scored 26 with 11 rebounds in a last-second home loss to South Carolina. Scored 32 points in a road win at Alabama, following that up with 22 in a home win against LSU. Became VU's all-time leading scorer (since surpassed) with a game-high 20 in a win at Ole Miss. Notched 28 in a win over Tennessee. Scored 13 points in 39 minutes in an SEC Tournament win over then-No. 4 Mississippi St.

Post-VU: Atlanta selected Frieje with the 53rd pick of the 2004 NBA Draft. Freije played 43 games between Atlanta and New Orleans between 2004-07. He's now a mortgage loan officer in the Nashville area.

Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: I'm a big proponent of stats because they quantify things, and often point out things that we miss. But I've also covered enough sports rather than to take everything they say at face value.

Case in point: look at Freije's career numbers below. His senior season was easily his worst-shooting campaign from the field. Statistically speaking, he wasn't as effective on the defensive end.

But Vanderbilt, coming off an awful 2002-03 that probably destroyed a lot of confidence, needed an alpha dog that year and Freije led the way. The Commodores started 12-0 that year and on so many of those nights, Freije was the guy VU could count on for buckets. The same thing happened down the stretch of the North Carolina State game in the NCAA Tournament; VU was all but dead and buried, but Freije had 11 points in the final 3:28 as the 'Dores came down from double digits in that span to stun the Wolfpack.

Other than that year, Freije's career--though not his fault--didn't have a significant impact. The Commodores were mediocre to bad in those other three seasons, and so Freije did a lot of work as a marked man during those seasons, making it mildly surprising that he did it as efficiently as he did.

It was a good career with a great finish; I doubt anyone will have a problem that I have Freije firmly inside the top 25, and some would probably argue he deserves to be higher.