Vanderbilt has released the first non-conference schedule of Mark Byington's tenure, which will be opened on Nov. 4 against Maryland Eastern Shore.
Here's three quick takes on Vanderbilt's schedule and its philosophy.
This is the scheduling blueprint for power five teams nowadays
Mark Byington's approach to this whole thing isn't abnormal or groundbreaking, he's doing what the times call for.
High major coaches nowadays want quad one games, MTEs and quad four games. Most of Vanderbilt's non-conference schedule projects to fall into one of those categories.
Vanderbilt's matchup with TCU looks to be a potential quad one opportunity, its matchup with Vriginia Tech in Blacksburg looks to fall in to the same category and it will have some rèsumè building opportunities in Charleston. The only game on the schedule that looks to be a lock quad two or three game is Vanderbilt's matchup with Cal at Memorial Gymnasium.
The premise of high major scheduling is personified here as Vanderbilt loaded up on tune-up games that will boost its NET ranking if it can win handily and tests that largely come on the road.
Vanderbilt had a difficult time filling its schedule quickly as a result of coaches having a similar mindset to Byington, teams largely didn't seem know what Vanderbilt would be and seemed hesitant to schedule it as a result.
In the end, Vanderbilt's schedule is made up of seven buy games, the front end of a home-and-home, a three-game MTE and two likely quad one tests away from Memorial Gymnasium.
Byington didn't build the strongest non-conference schedule that Vanderbilt has had, but seems to have a philosophy behind it and has built in a few challenges.
Local flavor should be included at an increasing rate on Vanderbilt schedules
Byington stayed away from Lipscomb, Belmont, MTSU and Tennessee State but brings in Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech for what will likely be quad four games.
Vanderbilt could benefit by scheduling regional games more often and inviting in a growing basketball culture in Nashville as well as the midstate.
It likely didn't make sense for Byington to schedule the three in-city teams as well as MTSU as a result of the criteria that he was likely looking for in buy games to fill the schedule with.
An early runway
Vanderbilt goes nine days and two games before playing a high major opponent, which likely was intentional as a result of being transfer heavy.
Byington's team will need time to mesh, particularly if transfer guard AJ Hoggard is suspended for the first three games as a result of playing in the Portsmouth Invitational this offseason. The precedent for those suspensions is that it's a three-game deal.
Perhaps Vanderbilt has some optimism that the precedent won't hold up this season as it plays a high-major game in its third outing of the season, though.
Regardless of whether Hoggard is out there, Vanderbilt will need time to figure some things out and has that early before it's thrown into the fire for a litmus test against Cal on Nov. 13.
