Vanderbilt basketball star A.J. Ogilvy makes the list of 100-greatest Commodores we've covered, checking in at No. 27. Follow the full countdown to No. 1 here.
Honors and awards: 2007-08 second-team All-Southeastern Conference
2007-08 SEC All-Freshman team
2007-08 SEC Freshman of the Week (three times)
2008-09 second-team All-Southeastern Conference
2008-09 SEC Player of the Week
2009-10 second-team All-Southeastern Conference
In the VU record book: Single-season free-throws made: 176 (2007-08)
Single-season free throws attempted: first (229 in 2007-08)
Single-season blocked shots: 10th (49 in 2007-08)
Single-season blocked shots per game: ninth (1.44 in 2007-08)
Career points: 16th (1,468)
Career field-goal percentage: fifth (54.9)
Career free throws made: first (471)
Career free throws attempted: third (641)
Career blocked shots: fifth (145)
Career blocked shots per game: tied-fourth (1.51)
Before VU: Had a storied career in his native Australia before coming to VU. Averaged 22.3 points and 9.8 rebounds, shooting 69 percent from the field and 78.8 percent from the foul line in nine games while representing Australia at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in July 2007. Averaged 18.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in 17 games during a shortened season played for the Australian Institute of Sport in 2007 in the premier summer league, the South East Australian Basketball League. Averaged 16.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in the 2006 Under-20 Nationals. Made the Oceania Under-19 Championship All-Star team after averaging 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks while competing in the 2006 qualifying series against New Zealand. Represented Australia at the Youth Olympics and was the 2005 New South Wales Junior Basketball Player of the Year.
Freshman (07-08): Played in 34 games, starting 33, for a 28-8 (10-6 SEC) team that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Set a school record for points by a freshman (578) and ranked second in scoring average (17.0) for freshmen. Averaged 26.4 minutes, 17.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in all games, and 26.5 minutes, 14.4 points and 6.3 in SEC regular-season play. Scored 20 or more points 11 times, and had four double-doubles. Scored 18 points and had nine rebounds and two blocks in his first college game (Austin Peay). Scored 21 points, 19 in second half, in win over Valparaiso while going 9-for-9 from the foul line. Named to South Padre Invitational All-Tournament team, when he averaged 16.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Had first career double-double against Lipscomb with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Recorded second double-double against UMass (25/11).Recorded second-straight 25 point performance against South Carolina. Scored 16 points and blocked five shots in loss at Kentucky. Dished out five assists and scored 15 points in win at South Carolina. Recorded third career double-double against Kentucky with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds at Arkansas. Recorded fourth double-double of the season against Alabama (17/10). Scored 27 points in SEC Tournament win over Auburn. Had team-high 18 points against Siena in first round of NCAA Tournament.
Sophomore (08-09): Played in 29 games and started 28. Had the eighth-most points for a sophomore (448) in school history for a 19-12 (8-8) team that didn't make the postseason. Averaged 27.6 minutes, 15.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game, and 27.9 minutes, 15.1 points and 7.0 rebounds in SEC regular-season games. Scored in double-figures all but four games. Had five double-doubles and six double-figure rebound games. Had 33 points and 10 rebounds vs. LSU. Scored 20 and pulled 13 rebounds, adding three steals against South Florida. Other double-doubles came against MTSU (19/11), Alabama (20/12) and Arkansas (12/10). Named Cancun Challenge MVP, averaging 19 points and five rebounds in final two games of tournament, including a 25-point performance against VCU. Had 15/7 vs. Georgia Tech and 17/8 vs. Alabama A&M. Tallied third-straight 20-point game against Furman. Missed the first game of his career with a heel injury on 12/31 vs. St. Francis. Battled a heel problem and an upper respiratory illness for a week (Jan. 20-28); scored 14 points in three games during that span. Scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds in return to the line-up versus UMass. Posted a game-high 18 points and career-high four steals in win over Georgia. Notched 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in win over Auburn. Scored 17 points and had nine rebounds vs. Ole Miss. Notched 15 points to go along with eight rebounds in 29 minutes in win over UK. Made 9-of-13 shots from the field to lead VU in scoring with 18 points at Florida. Scored a then-career-high 28 points, converting on 12-of-15 shots to go along with five rebounds and four blocked shots in win over South Carolina. Became the first VU sophomore to reach the 1,000 point plateau in win at LSU.
Junior (09-10): Played 33 games, starting 28, for a 24-9 (12-4) team that lost to Murray State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Averaged 23.2 minutes, 13.4 points, 6.2 rebounds in all games, and 25.4 points, 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds in SEC games. Had 20 points and seven rebounds in a win over Arizona. Posted 25/6 in a victory against Missouri. Had 19/6, including 13-of-15 from the line, in a come-from-behind win against DePaul. Posted 24/8 and two blocks in win over Florida and 22/9 in victory at South Carolina. Got 27/8 in a road win vs. Ole Miss. First double-double of the season (17/10) came in home win against Georgia. Had 16/8 in a win at Florida. Scored 12 points and had six rebounds in final career game vs. Murray St.
Post-VU: Ogilvy played briefly in the NBA Summer League, and has gone on to a stellar career overseas. He spent the 2019-20 season playing in Greece.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: One of the worst things a player can do is begin his career playing at an elite level and then fail to build on that. That caused Ogilvy to be placed under a microscope that caused him to be undervalued by much of the VU fan base the rest of his career.
Yes, his scoring average declined every year. But, due to the presence of Festus Ezeli his last two seasons, his minutes also declined between his freshman and junior seasons. See the per-40-minute numbers at the bottom of this article; statistically-speaking, he was about the same player. He scored slightly less, rebounded slightly more but picked up his production defensively in terms of blocks and steals, which on the whole probably offset some of that. The most valid criticism was a steady decline in effective field goal percentage (59, 56, 51) and that certainly ate into his offensive value.
So did he regress? To some degree, he probably did. Certainly his professional stock declined and this, which is more or less a running blog of how his career progressed through the eyes of pro talent evaluators, does a good job at explaining why.
Let's back away entirely from the lens of expectations and discuss Ogilvy for what he was.
First, Ogilvy contributed at an elite level, or something close to it, from the minute he got to campus. There was never a break-in phase that even superstars often experience. His 2007-08 season is easily one of the 10-best freshman campaigns I've covered.
Second, he was remarkably consistent. Excepting the brief spell with injures and illness his sophomore year, there was never a time in which Ogilvy wasn't, at a minimum, a good player. Many of VU's all-time greats had prolonged slumps or just off-years due to injury or whatever, and Ogilvy never had that.
Third, he was efficient. Per 40 minutes, Ogilvy out-scored and out-rebounded every other basketball player in the VandySports 100. Of the 15 basketball players on my list, Ogilvy ranked fourth in effective field goal percentage and second in true shooting percentage. His career assist-to-turnover ratio (0.47) wasn't good, but it also wasn't awful for a big man (Ezeli was 0.09, Damian Jones was 0.36).
Finally, he missed the pile-on phase of a senior season by going pro. Had he not done that, Ogilvy had an outside chance to be VU's all-time leader in scoring and blocked shots, and probably would have finished top-five in rebounding.
Maybe Ogilvy left some meat on the bone in a few ways, and unfortunately that included postseason accomplishment. But Ogilvy's teams also won a lot (69-29, and 30-18 in the SEC) and he had a lot to do with it, and you'll have a hard time convincing me that he doesn't belong in the top 30.
