Jeff Taylor was one of the best all-around players in Vanderbilt basketball history. He checks in at 19th on our countdown of the 100-greatest Vanderbilt players we've covered. Follow the full list as we count down to No. 1.
Honors and awards: 2008-09 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team
2009-10 second-team All-SEC
2009-10 SEC All-Defensive team
2009-10 SEC Player of the Week
2010-11 second-team All-SEC
2010-11 SEC All-Defensive team
2011-12 first-team All-SEC
2011-12 SEC All-Defensive team
2011-12 SEC Player of the Week
In the VU record book: Career scoring: second (1,897)
Career rebounds: sixth (752)
Career steals: eighth (146)
Career games; tied-first (134)
Career field goals made: fourth (665)
Career field goals attempted: fifth (1,378)
Career free throws made: third (452)
Career free throws attempted: second (652)
Before VU: Starred at Hobbs (N.M.) High, where he averaged 30.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.0 blocks, 3.0 steals and 3.0 assists per game in his senior season, winning New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year honors. Ended his career as the school's all-time leading scorer. Team won the 5A state title his senior season. All-state as a junior and senior.
Freshman (2008-09): Scored 377 points, seventh-most ever by a VU freshman, starting all 31 games for a 19-12 (8-8 SEC) team that didn't make the postseason. Averaged 12.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals per game; in conference regular-season play, averaged 11.6 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor. Was the league's fourth-highest-scoring freshman. Led VU in scoring seven times, and in rebounding on 13 occasions. Had three double-doubles (13/11 vs. MTSU, 15/11 at Kentucky and 16/10 vs. Arkansas) and scored in double-figures 21 times. Scoring high came against South Carolina (23), going 7-of-10 from the field. Had 16 points and five rebounds in first college game (Morehead St.). Had 17 points and six rebounds in the SEC Tournament vs. Alabama.
Sophomore (2009-10): Started all 33 games and averaged 13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals, with marks of 13.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in SEC regular-season play, for a 24-9 (12-4) team that fell to Murray St. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Scored in double figures 24 times and 20 or more, four times. Scored a season-high 26 against Tennessee, going 7-of-11 from the floor while hitting all 12 free throws and grabbing seven rebounds. Scored 20 against Lipscomb and Mercer and 21 against Western Kentucky. Played 35 minutes and was 9-of-12 from the field against WKU. Set a single-game Memorial Gym record for field-goal percentage, hitting 10 of 11 shots. Led the team in scoring with 19 points in a win at St. Mary's. Was 5-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line in a win over Florida. Led VU in scoring (18) in a win over Auburn; he was 5-of-7 from the floor and hit all eight free throws. Had eight points, four rebounds and six steals in a loss at Georgia. Scored 19, with six rebounds and four assists, in a win at Ole Miss.
Junior (2010-11): Played 34 games, starting 33, for a 23-11 (9-7) team that lost to Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Averaged 31.7 minutes,14.7 points and 5.5 rebounds; those numbers were 33.8, 14.2 and 5.7 in SEC regular-season games. Scored in double figures 26 times, and 20 or more, eight times, with three double-doubles. The 20-point games came against Presbyterian (27), Mississippi St. (25), Davidson (22), LSU and Florida (21), Auburn, LSU and Mississippi St. (20). Had double-digit rebounds four times: Georgia (13), LSU (12) and Auburn and Missouri (10). Scored 15 points, had eight rebounds, and tied a career-high with six assists vs. Ole Miss. Led or tied for team lead in points vs. Southeastern Louisiana (15), MTSU (18), Marquette (19) and Davidson (22). Was 8-for-12 from the floor vs. Marquette, adding eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Senior (2011-12): Started all 36 games for a 25-11 (10-6) team that won the SEC Tournament and beat Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Scored 581 points, seventh-most by a VU senior. Averaged 32.1 minutes, 16.1 points and 5.6 rebounds; those averages were 33.2, 68.8 and 6.1 in league regular-season contests. Hit 48.8 percent of his 80 3-point attempts in league play, which ranked second in the SEC. Had double-figures in 31 games over 20 on seven occasions (30 vs. Davidson, 29 against Longwood, 28 at Ole Miss, 25 at Florida, 23 vs. Tennessee, 21 vs. Oregon and Indiana St.). Was 10-of-15 from the floor, 5-of-6 from 3, 3-of-4 from the charity stripe, while pulling nine rebounds, and handing out three assists in 29 minutes in a blowout at Ole Miss. Had five steals against Oregon and four against Florida, Tennessee and Louisville. Had season-highs of 11 rebounds against Oregon and Kentucky, the latter coming in VU's upset of the Wildcats that won the SEC Tournament.
Post-VU: Charlotte took Taylor in Round 2 (No. 31 overall) in the 2012 NBA Draft. He had a three-year NBA career spanning 132 games and last played in the NBA in 2015. He played four years in Spain afterwards. He had surgery for a nasal fracture in Nov. 2019 that put his pro career on hold.
Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Taylor could be maddeningly inconsistent at times. Few in VU history could leap higher than Taylor and yet he'd often struggle to finish around the rim. His four NCAA Tournament games were mostly mediocre (14-of-42 from the field, three 3-pointers, 37 points, 17 rebounds) and the Commodores won just one of them. Those things are baked into his ranking.
Let's talk about the other side of Taylor. He was consistent in other ways, never missing a game at Vanderbilt and starting all but one. He was also a unique and special player. He's the only VU player on the school's career list for all of scoring, rebounding and steals. He's also the only player in school history to make the SEC's All-Defensive team three times.
The last thing gets frequently overlooked. We cite stats because they're a way to quantify things, and that's important. But stats skew towards offense. That causes us to rate players mostly according to their contributions there and overlook a whole lot else. It's true that an all-defensive team is subjective, but it's also an attempt to quantify things that stats can't, and I think those opinions of what he was as a defender are significant. And if my memory is correct, he was often assigned to guard the other team's best player.
People are probably going to question Taylor's inclusion in the top 20 for a lot of the reasons in the first paragraph. I think it's fair to equally question whether I have him too low based on the body of evidence in the next two.
