Friday night’s loss to Grambling State marked rock bottom for Vanderbilt, or at least it hopes.

Before then, it was plausible that the Commodores’ gaffe against Southern Miss was a one-off, it was possible to feel that coach Jerry Stackhouse and his team had some positive momentum after their two consecutive wins.

But with Friday night’s loss that benefit of the doubt went away.

This may just be what Vanderbilt is this season.

Through 10 games the Commodores stand at just 5-5 with nothing of substance in the positive part of their résumé.

Not a Quad 1 win, not a Quad 2 victory either.

As it stands, this team doesn’t have the résumé of an NCAA tournament team and for the most part it hasn't looked like one.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, though.

Just 57 days ago, Stackhouse received a contract extension. There was enough belief from Vanderbilt’s administration that this thing was heading in the right direction.

It wasn’t hard to see where it was coming from either.

Stackhouse had just signed his highest-ranked recruiting class since 2018, infused the program with momentum after a strong late-season run, and showed a willingness to market his program.

The next goal naturally felt like the NCAA tournament.

Within the program that is the goal, but they want even more.

“We just come to work everyday and continue to try to become an NCAA tournament team, that’s really the goal, not to just get into the NCAA tournament but to really get in and make some noise,” Stackhouse said before the season.

To have a shot at that, the Commodores had to do damage in non-conference play.

As of the middle of finals week, that hasn’t happened. Most of Vanderbilt’s big opportunities to bolster its résumé before Southeastern Conference play have come and passed with the Commodores remaining empty handed.

The only remaining non-conference game that is currently in the top two quads is Saturday’s contest against North Carolina State. That is a Quad 2 game for Vanderbilt.

Arguably the most challenging slate of non-conference games that Stackhouse has scheduled in his career have resulted in a few solid performances and some positive signs, but not near enough to avoid an uphill climb in conference play.

Liam Robbins has blossomed into the player that Vanderbilt always thought it had. There is a convincing argument that the senior big man is Vanderbilt’s best player.

Tyrin Lawrence has also proved that Stackhouse’s belief in him wasn’t unwarranted.

Even with that though, the Commodores rank 116th nationally in KenPom’s offensive efficiency rankings and have the worst record in the SEC.

Things have to improve. If Vanderbilt finishes the season in ugly fashion, Stackhouse’s future at Vanderbilt isn’t necessarily a given.

Since the fourth-year coach received an extension so recently and showed positive signs so recently, it may also be plausible that he gets the benefit of the doubt from administration.

To help himself, Stackhouse and his team have to finish the season with some life. They can’t afford to roll over and finish on a disastrous note, Memorial Gymnasium cannot remain lifeless.

A tournament berth seems far fetched, but there is still plenty of basketball left.

How Vanderbilt uses that basketball could be more important than originally thought. Whether the Commodores show some life or let things become a disaster could have implications far beyond this season.