Vanderbilt basketball doesn't want rebuild to define it
Vanderbilt finished the 2023-24 season 9-23, that was just the third time in program history that it finished with under 10 wins.
Mark Byington doesn't want that to hinder the perception around his program, though. He wants to win. Now.
“We’re not trying to say rebuild," Byington said on the Vandysports podcast. "I don’t think fans want to hear that. If I’m bringing in a transfer that’s got one year left I don’t think he wants to hear ‘let’s rebuild and be good in the future’”
Vanderbilt wants it now.
That's not just a Byington thing, that's gone all the way down to its players.
"We're not rebuilding, we're ready to play right now," transfer point guard Jason Edwards said. "All the people in the athletic department, you can tell how hungry and eager everybody is to win and not just win later. Like we wanna win right now."
Byington understands to win in year one, he'll have to put himself in a position to now.
."It’s an important past couple weeks, weeks ahead of us that’s gonna dictate what we do January, February and March."
For Byington, starts with the transfer portal.
“We wanted guys that’s done some things in college that was old," Byington said. "We’re bringing them from different levels and some guys have already proven themself at a high level that have more in them. They could do more. Then there’s some other guys that have been at different levels that I think they fit Vanderbilt, our style. I think they can take it to another level."
Byington wants Vanderbilt's students to buy in to those players and embrace them.
"I want the fans to love this team. I want students to get behind this team and they’re gonna do that a lot with winning," Byington said. "At the same time if they see how hard we’re playing, it’s a fun way to play. They might see where this thing is going but it’s not saying ‘let’s take our time getting there.'"
Who's to say what Vanderbilt's season looks like, but its saying the right things and appears to be about the right things.