This fall, we were introduced to Diego Pavia. The gutsy, charismatic quarterback captured the hearts of Commodore nation and brought unprecedented national exposure to the football program with his electrifying performance in leading his team to a win over #1 Alabama and ultimately Vandy’s first bowl win since 2014. Vandy fans were absolutely giddy in watching an athlete unlike any we’ve ever seen before completely transform the football team.

With the cold winter season and basketball now upon us, suddenly there is another newcomer that has Commodore fans, and the rest of the nation, buzzing. If you haven’t been paying attention, her name is Mikayla Blakes, and it’s time to start having a serious conversation about her.

Blakes isn’t brash and in-your-face like Pavia. You’re about as likely to see her dropping f-bombs on national television as you are to see Dansby Swanson wearing orange. Off the court, Blakes is soft-spoken and articulate. But on the court, she is a stone-cold killer. With every passing game she continues to top herself, and I continue to run out of adjectives to describe her.

Blakes started her first college game against Lipscomb with 23 points and has yet to let up. Through the first part of the season, she formed a dynamic duo with sophomore Khamil Pierre as the Commodores rolled through the nonconference schedule. A highlight was Pierre scoring a program record 42 points against Evansville – spoiler alert, that record wouldn’t last long. At the conclusion of the nonconference schedule, Pierre was second in the SEC in scoring at 21.1 points per game and Blakes was right behind her at 19.2 points per game.

One might assume Blakes would hit a freshman wall and come back to Earth against SEC defenses. After all, this is the best conference in the country. The last three national champions have come from the SEC.

It has actually been Pierre’s numbers that have taken a hit in conference play. Lacking a true post presence, the undersized Pierre has struggled at times against the size and length of opposing SEC defenses. The true freshman Blakes, on the other hand, has taken her game to another level and it has become clear this is now her team.

In fact, it took Blakes until her first conference game against Georgia to break Vanderbilt’s SEC freshman scoring record with 36 points. Her legend continued to grow against Tennessee, as she scored 23 points including the game-winning putback of a Pierre miss in the final second to win 71-70. That brilliant play helped Vandy snap an 8-game losing streak against their archrivals.

“She has all the makings of a generational kind of player,” Coach Shea Ralph said after the Tennessee game. “Mikayla Blakes could have gone anywhere she wanted to go. She chose Vanderbilt because she wanted to do something that’s never been done before. She had to be a visionary to do that. I’m a visionary. I chose it for the same reason, because I know it can be done here.”

This isn’t coach-speak hyperbole. Blakes IS a generational player, and that was reflected in the most recent game scoring 53 points against Florida Thursday which made national headlines. Not only did that top Pierre’s 42 points for the most in program history, but it was also the most points a freshman has scored. Mind you, this isn’t just a Vanderbilt record, this is an NCAA freshman record. Blakes is averaging a ridiculous 28 points per game in conference play. What freshman does this?

Now it’s fair to begin asking: What is the ceiling both for Blakes and this program?

For Blakes, National freshman of the year? All-American? Future WNBA first pick? Olympian? She has the potential to reach all these.

For the program, with Pierre just a sophomore and Blakes a freshman, Ralph has a young nucleus of a Final Four team. If Ralph plays her cards right with recruiting and the transfer portal, this could be an elite championship contender in another year. I’m not sure the team is quite Final Four ready this year with holes in the roster – most notably a lack of height. But with the right matchup in March who knows? What is clear is this team will go as far as Blakes can carry them, and I seriously doubt anyone will want to see Vandy in their bracket.

And If Vanderbilt athletics marketing plays its cards right, Blakes can be to this program what Caitlin Clark was for Iowa. As just about every sports fan knows, Clark became a national sensation in putting Iowa women’s basketball on the map. Women’s basketball will always be a niche sport, but Clark became must-see viewing for even casual fans of the game.

While the parallels with Clark might not be exactly the same, Blakes is also in a position to greatly impact the visibility of Vandy women’s basketball nationally. She was just on the Paul Finebaum show after her heroics against Florida. Her name is getting out there in sports circles. She is electric and fun to watch, even hitting a three from the logo of the Florida court a la Clark. She also happens to be an attractive young woman – which shouldn’t be relevant in this discussion, but we’re not naïve enough to believe it isn’t a factor in women’s sports. In short, she is an incredibly marketable player.

Maybe I’m raising the bar too high and putting too much pressure on her 5’8” frame after just 22 games into her college career. But with what I’ve seen in those 22 games, I’ve given up trying to put a cap on what I think she can do.

Vandy athletics already put a 50% off ticket deal for Sunday’s game against Ole Miss to commemorate the “50 piece by Mik.” This is a great start in marketing this incredible talent, and I hope fans will take advantage to make the game a great environment. I suggest going to see her play as much as you can. Buy some popcorn and enjoy the show. It’s hard to quantify the impact a player like this can have on a program. We’ve never had an athlete here quite like this, and we might not see one like her again…