Shan Foster is Vanderbilt's all-time leading scorer in basketball. He's No. 5 in our countdown of the 100-greatest players we've covered since starting the site in 2003.
Honors and awards: 2004-05 Freshman All-Southeastern Conference
2005-06 first-team All-SEC
2006-07 second-team All-SEC
2006-07 USA Basketball team selection
2007-08 first-team All-American (Basketball Times and Rivals; second-team by AP, USBWA, The Sporting News; third-team by NABC and ESPN)
2007-08 first-team All-SEC
2007-08 SEC Player of the Year
2007-08 SEC Player of the Wek (four times)
2016 SEC Basketball Legend
In the VU record book: Single-game points: tied-second (42 vs. Mississippi St. on Mar. 5, 2008)
Single-season points: third (691 in 2007-08)
Single-season field goals: second (242 in 2007-08)
Single-season field goals attempted: fifth (463 in 2007-08)
Single-season 3-pointers: tied-first, tied-sixth (134 in 2007-08, 90 in 2005-06)
Single-season 3-pointers attempted: second (286 in 2007-08)
Single-season 3-point percentage: seventh (46.9 in 2007-08)
Career points: first (2,011)
Career field goals: first (699)
Career field goals attempted: first (1,483)
Career 3-pointers made: first (367)
Career 3-point percentage: seventh (42.1)
Before VU: Starred at Bonnabel (La.) High, where he was a first-team all-state player and all-metro MVP in the area. Averaged 23.4 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks as a senior while leading his team to the state playoffs. Was a four-year starter and a there-year captain.
Freshman (2004-05): Played all 34 games, starting 24, for a team that went 20-14 (8-8) and won two games in the NIT. Started 15 of 16 SEC regular-season games, averaging 10.3 points and 4.1 rebounds. Failed to score in the opener (Toledo) and tallied just three (vs. TSU) in his second game, but scored 11 on six shots in his third (Cal State Northridge), one of 12 double-figure scoring games for him that year. Scored 25 on two occasions (Memphis, Arkansas) while adding 19 more against both Auburn and South Carolina and 18 against Florida. Had a season-high in minutes (36) against Memphis in the NIT.
Sophomore (2005-06): Started all 30 games for a 17-13 (7-9) and lost its lone NIT game. Led the team in scoring average (15.9), minutes and free-throw percentage. Led the team in scoring 15 times and in steals, four times. Started all 16 SEC regular-season games, leading the team in scoring average (16.8) and minutes, (546) while averaging 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Scored in double figures 25 times, getting 20 or more on eight occasions (30 vs. Alabama, 27 vs. New Orleans, 25 vs. Furman, 23 vs. Georgia, 22 against Arkansas, 20 against Georgetown and twice vs. Auburn). Had a season-high nine rebounds in an SEC Tournament win over Auburn. Added 16 points and a season-high five assists with two steals and two blocks in a win over UNC-Greensboro. Had 17 points, four rebounds and four assists in a loss to South Carolina.
Junior (2006-07): Started all 34 games for a team that went 22-14 (10-6) and lost to Georgetown in the Sweet 16. Averaged 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in all games, leading the team in minutes. In SEC play, Foster averaged 15.6 points and 4.8 rebounds and led the team with 535 minutes. In three NCAA Tournament games, Foster logged 107 minutes, scored 54 points, pulled 10 rebounds, had four assists, two blocks and two steals, shooting 23-of-48 from the field with seven 3-pointers while going 3-of-4 from the foul line. Scored in double figures 27 times and had 20 or more 10 times (33 vs. South Carolina, 29 vs. ETSU and Rice, 27 vs. Alabama, 25 vs. Georgia Tech, 24 vs. Florida, 23 vs. Wake Forest, 21 vs. Toledo and Kentucky, 20 vs. Washington St. in the NCAA Tournament). Added a season-high 10 rebounds and two assists in the ETSU win and the same (to go with 14 points) in a loss at Auburn. Had five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block along with the 27 points in a win over Alabama, as well as six rebounds and three blocks in the Rice win. Had 16 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, a block and a steal in a win at Kentucky. Added six rebounds, two assists and two steals with the 33 points in a win at South Carolina.
Senior (2007-08): Started all 34 games and earned league Player of the Year honors for a 26-8 (10-6) team that lost to Siena in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In SEC regular-season games, Foster averaged 20.1 points and 4.8 rebounds, leading the team in points (321), minutes (561), field-goal percentage (50.9) and 3-point percentage (42.0) in SEC regular-season play. Scored seven points in a loss to Florida; otherwise, Foster hit double-digit scoring in every other game. Scored 20 or more points on 19 occasions (42 vs. Mississippi St., 32 vs. UMass and Tennessee, 29 vs. Georgia, 26 vs. Wake Forest, 26 vs. Auburn in the SEC Tournament, 24 vs. Rice, 22 vs. Arkansas, Bradley and TSU, 21 vs. South Carolina and Alabama, 20 vs. Kentucky on two occasions). In the Mississippi St. game, Foster was 16-of-25 from the field, including nine-straight 3-pointers, in a Senior Night win in his last home game. Had at least five rebounds in 17 games. Added a career-high 12 rebounds, two assists and three steals in the TSU win, and also eight rebounds and three assists vs. UMass. Also had eight rebounds to go with those 21 points in a win at South Carolina.
Post-VU: Dallas picked Foster in the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft (51st overall), but Foster never played an NBA game. He bounced around between Europe and the NBA Developmental League for several years before retiring from basketball in 2013. Foster now works as a VP for AMEND Together, an organization that works to end male violence against females.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Foster is VU's all-time leading scorer, and that alone is enough to earn him a nice ranking on this list. But there was more to Foster's career than volume scoring, and here are the reasons why Foster ranked inside my top five:
1. A lengthy career of peak value, with a nice spike within it.
Foster was a two-time, first-team All-SEC pick, and was the league's Player of the Year one of those seasons. He was a second-team all-conference selection another year, and an all-freshman pick in the other. Foster was also a first-team All-American as a senior, an honor only four other VU basketball players (Matt Freijie, Billy McCaffrey, Will Perdue and Clyde Lee) have attained.
2. Terrific shooting efficiency.
It's awfully difficult to score with both the volume and efficiency with which Foster scored. Foster not only scored a lot--his 19.9 points per 40 minutes ranked third among the 15 basketball players in our VandySports 100--but his 59.8 effective field goal mark (that's accounts for the extra value of a 3-pointer) is second (behind John Jenkins's 61.2) among players on this list, and he just missed shooting 80 percent from the foul line.
3. A respectable all-around game.
Nobody really remembers Foster as a rebounder, but he averaged 5.2 boards per 40 minutes over his career--an excellent number for a guard. He averaged seventh of the 15 in steals per 40 minutes and contributed a few assists (2.3 per 40) and the occasional block (0.4/40).
I'm not suggesting Foster was Jan Van Breda Kolff, but he did a lot more than most players who are thought of as "shooters" do. Over time, those little things add up to an extra win here or there.
4. No clear weakness.
It's common for shooters like Foster who have the ball in their hands a lot to turn it over a lot. Foster had 191 in his career, which comes out to a respectable 2.1 per 40 minutes. A lot of shooting guards have more turnovers than assists, which also wasn't the case for Foster, who dished out 210 assists.
Foster also had good leaping ability, long arms and a high motor, which aided him on the defensive end.
5. A track record of durability and consistency.
Foster is (and was) a terrific human being who was never a distraction or a bad teammate. He never missed a game, and started each contest of his last three seasons. Vanderbilt doesn't keep records for minutes played, but I think that Riley LaChance (4,091 minutes) is the only player in Commodore history to log more floor time than Foster (3,990).
6. A respectable amount of winning.
Foster played on two teams that finished in the final Coaches' Top 25 (25th in 2007-08, and 19th in 2006-07). He went to two NCAA Tournaments; of course, VU went to the Sweet 16 his junior year and came within a blown call of making the Elite Eight that season. He was never on a bad team, as VU went to the NIT the other two seasons with squads that ranked 33rd and 49th, respectively, in Ken Pomeroy's final ratings. Foster's teams also went 35-29 in SEC regular-season play at a time when the league was quite competitive: Pomeroy ranked the SEC fifth, second, second and sixth, respectively, from his freshman to senior seasons.
7. He could carry a team when needed.
You can ask Mississippi State about that. (See second video below.)
Foster was either good or great for most of his career and owns the program's most prestigious individual record. Unless you want to dock him for never winning an SEC title or making the league's all-defensive team, didn't leave much behind for anyone to pick apart.
It's terribly difficult to assemble a résumé that checks as many boxes as Foster's. That's why he's in my top five.
