The 3-2-1, post-LSU

Here are three things we know, two questions and a prediction following Vandy's win over Florida and its loss at LSU.

First, some stats, with the "/70" being per 70 possessions:

1. Vanderbilt is playing at a slow pace, and keeps getting slower.

When you're short on talent, playing a game with fewer possessions makes sense.

There are two elements of that: how long you hold the ball, and how fast your opponent does. Vanderbilt ranks 330th in average possession time on offense, according to KenPom.com (subscription required).

Pomeroy estimates 65.6 total possessions in a typical Vanderbilt game. That's down from 66.1 this time a week ago.

2. The defense keeps getting worse.

LSU exposed Vanderbilt underneath last night, which has become increasingly common. The Commodores don't have the talent to fix their issues, which forced coach Bryce Drew to try zone again last night simply because VU can't guard anyone.

We noted that VU had slipped to No. 188 in Pomeroy's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings last week. Two games later, the Commodores are down to 202.

3. Godfrey Dillard will be honored as Vanderbilt's "legend" when the Southeastern Conference honors one for each team at the conference tournament.

Dillard came in with Perry Wallace in Roy Skinner's 1966 signing class. You likely know Wallace's story, but perhaps not Dillard's, as he never played in a varsity game at Vanderbilt. Here's a good story by Bill Traughber telling more about Dillard, who was undoubtedly a talented recruit, that includes some insight about why it didn't work.

Here's who Vanderbilt has honored in previous years:

1999: Clyde Lee

2000: Billy Joe Adcock

2001: Charles Davis

2002: Roy Skinner

2003: Will Perdue

2004: Perry Wallace

2005: Jeff Fosnes

2006: Jim Henry

2007: Jan van Breda Kolff

2008: Barry Goheen

2009: Phil Cox

2010: Ronnie McMahan

2011: Jeff Turner

2012: Drew Maddux

2013: Mike Rhodes

2014: Matt Freije

2015: Bruce Elder

2016: Shan Foster

2017: Barry Booker

Most schools honor a living person, which has always been the case at Vanderbilt.

Fifteen former first-team All-SEC players from Vanderbilt who have been gone from VU at least 10 years, who are still living, or possibly still living (online searches did not reveal a death for any), but haven't been honored The arey Derrick Byars, Dan Langhi, Billy McCaffrey, Scott Draud, Frank Kornet, Willie "Hutch" Jones, Terry Compton, Thorpe Weber, Tom Hagan, Keith Thomas, Bob Grace, John Ed Miller, John Russell, Bill Depp and Dan Finch.

McCaffrey, van Breda Kolff and Hagan were selected as All-Americans during their careers.

If you take out the nine-year caveat (Foster, who'd been gone eight years at the time he was honored, was the "quickest" in that regard), you can add Luke Kornet, Damian Jones, John Jenkins, Jeff Taylor and Jermaine Beal.

Other living players who rank inside the top 20 of Vandy's all-time scoring list who are living, and haven't been honored, include Kevin Anglin, A.J. Ogilvy, Bobby Tyym and Butch Feher.

That doesn't include Rod Freeman, Bill Ligon and Roger Shurig, who were good players at VU who later played in the NBA.

1. Where does Jeff Roberson rank among the league's best players?

Without glancing at production compared to his peers, mentioning Jeff Roberson as a Southeastern Conference Player of the Year candidate could get one laughed out of a room.

I realize stats aren't everything, and that there are several of the league's top players I haven't seen enough of yet, so my observations are imperfect.

But statistical production should at least be part of the equation. And boy, Roberson stacks up quite well in that regard.

The list below includes 15 of the league's best players. I don't know if they're the best 15, but I'm confident the league's best player, whoever that is, is listed.

I've put Roberson at the top of the list and roughly ranked players in order between what's here and some subjective factors. This is meant to start the discussion more so than provide an answer, and I have no confidence in the order listed below.

Minutes played for the year, which are a big factor--the more a player is on the court, the more he can contribute--are in parenthesis. I didn't have room to display other factors, like strength of schedule or foul frequency, so some things that you can't see factored in to who slotted where.

It's easy to have reservations of making Roberson the league's Player of the Year. His team's games don't mean much. It seems intuitively wrong to honor a player on the team that could finish last in the SEC. He's getting a lot of minutes and a lot of scoring opportunities because his surrounding cast isn't very good. Put him on an NCAA Tournament-caliber team and his role is different. Roberson has always been a supporting player until now, and that can't go ignored.

But the fact that Roberson also doesn't have much of a surrounding cast should also hurt his shooting percentages. His minutes certainly should as well. Being the focus of being defenses, plus, being fatigued, is a double-whammy that's tough to overcome,. And yet he has; he's scoring in volume and doing it with terrific efficiency, while putting up good rebounding numbers also.

Vanderbilt has also played the toughest overall schedule within the SEC.

I don't have the answers, but there's a whole lot to chew on here.

2. What if Riley LaChance shot like this his entire career?

Watching Riley LaChance in an offense where he's free to shoot 15-18 times a game has been so much fun. If LaChance is open from 25 feet in, he's doing his teammates a disservice if he doesn't shoot. Watching the way LaChance uses angles, footwork, body control and his step-back ability makes him a joy to watch.

LaChance may score over 1,500 points in his career before he's done. It's hard not to wonder how many more he could have had he taken more looks than the 7-8 he averaged in this offense under Drew until he started cranking them up at a much higher frequency over the last month.

Redshirt years may be in store for Max Evans and Ejike Obinna next year.

It's premature to make accurate predictions since we don't know the 2018-19 roster.

But we do know three things:

1. The roster next year is going to be exceptionally talented.

2. Both Evans and Obinna, and especially the latter, are young.

3. Both have skills to build around, but also deficiencies.

Evans has defensive ability and some shooting skills (check out the free throw percentage) but he's not effective from the field and not a polished offensive player.

Obinna isn't polished at anything, but has obvious offensive skill. He has athleticism, but it doesn't translate into blocked shots, plus, he just can't stay on the floor.

Both very much have potential to contribute in a big way at Vanderbilt, but whatever that contribution is will almost undoubtedly be greater two, three and four years down the road.

I had this discussion with Tim Thompson in our podcast today, which you may hear here.