Here's a preview of Vanderbilt's basketball squad for the season ahead. This story ran in Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, a 400-page book that's the most comprehensive guide to college basketball on the market.
LOCATION Nashville, TN
CONFERENCE Southeastern
LAST SEASON 11-21 (.344)
CONFERENCE RECORD 3-15 (14 th)
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST 4/1
NICKNAME Commodores
COLORS Black & Gold
HOMECOURT Memorial Gymnasium (14,316)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE VUCommodores.com
COACH Jerry Stackhouse (North Carolina ’99)
RECORD AT SCHOOL 11-21 (1 year)
CAREER RECORD 11-21 (1 year)
ASSISTANTS Adam Mazarei (Redlands ’06)
Faragi Phillips (Mississippi Valley State ’99)
Damani Hendrix (Lamar ’03)
WINS (LAST 5 YRS.) 19-19-12-9-11
KENPOM RATING (LAST 5 YRS.) 25-33-91-155-169
2019-2020 FINISH Lost in SEC first round.
Few programs have undergone massive shifts in expectations the way Vanderbilt has recently.
In November 2018, Commodore fans were dreaming of deep runs into NCAA tournaments for years to come. Fifteen months later, they were just hoping for a win—any win.
And as contradictory as it sounds, neither expectation was misplaced.
Coach Bryce Drew entered 2018-19 having just signed the first two McDonald’s All-Americans in program history—Darius Garland and Simi Shittu—and also the South Carolina Player of the Year, Aaron Nesmith (23.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg, .512 FG, .522 3PT). And given that Garland averaged 30.9 minutes in the NBA in 2019-20, that Nesmith and junior Saben Lee (18.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.2 apg) also played well enough last year to get picked in the 2021 NBA Draft-- it seemsi mpossible to fathom how a simple victory on Feb. 5, 2020 that had zero postseason implication was a big deal.
What no one could have remotely guessed is that no member of Vanderbilt’s best recruiting class in at least 35 years ever won a conference game. That otherwise-meaningless win over 18th ranked LSU that night snapped a 26-game conference losing skid—the longest by any Southeastern Conference team in history.
Of course, no one could have anticipated Garland would play just four games—all out of conference—at VU because to a knee injury, and that Nesmith—whose 125.1 offensive rating would have led the country last year if he’d played enough games—would play just one SEC game (a 39-minute, 18-point effort in a 83-79 loss at Auburn) last season before a stress fracture ended his season. As for Shittu, he also had a major knee injury in high school and hasn’t been the same since. He also left after one year and spent last season in the G League.
Making matters worse last season, forward Clevon Brown (9.0 ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.0 bpg, .607 FG, .385 3PT)—who started all nine games in which he played—missed all of conference play after hurting his knee in a 61-56 loss to Liberty.
Nothing was easy for rookie coach Jerry Stackhouse a season ago.
The Commodores lost the next seven after the LSU win. Vandy did manage to pull back-to-back upsets of Alabama and South Carolina to close the regular season.
“I thought it was great,” Stackhouse says, when asked about the way VU ended 2019-20. “I thought our guys stayed the course. That was some adversity. I think a lot of that adversity was kind of in between their ears, just a real belief that we could win and do it with the group we had.
“And I think once they really started to believe that [and in] what wewere doing and how we’re approaching it, then they start to see that okay, we could win games regardless of who we didn’t have.”
The ending of another historic streak was the season’s low point.
Having multiple long-distance marksmen has been as much a part of the program’s fabric as the baseline benches at Memorial Gym, and yet on Jan. 18, the Commodores missed all 25 of their 3-point shots in a 66-45 loss to Tennessee. Vanderbilt had hit at least one 3 in every game since the NCAA instituted the shot in the 1986-87 season—a string of 1,080 contests—joining Princeton and UNLV as the only two schools to do so. Having Nesmith, who led the country in 3-point percentage before his exit, might have helped that afternoon.
The 3-ball should be a significant part of the Commodores’ attack this year, starting with a pair of sophomores who combined to knock down 85 treys last season.
Forward Dylan Disu (7.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.1 spg, 0.9 bpg, 27.0 mpg, .358FG, .295 3PT) was supposed to be VU’s best freshman last year. The 6-9 sophomore averaged 34.0 minutes, 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in the last three games, though also turning it over 12 times. Vanderbilt gave him the green light to hoist 173 3-pointers. He’s a stretch four who canplay the five if needed.
“Every [3] that he missed, I wanted him to take, because he’s such a good shooter,” Stackhouse says. “He works on it in practice, it just didn’t really translate to games last year. We’re counting on him to takea huge step. … There’s more upside and pro potential than anyone we have on our roster. For him to shoot 40% [from 3] is good for him but may not be good for us long-term, because he’s on a lot of people’s radar with his length and [scouts’] understanding of his shooting ability.”
Instead, VU’s best freshman actually was point guard Scotty Pippen,Jr. (12.0 ppg, 3.6 apg, 1.1 spg, .362 3PT, .393 3PT), a 6-1 sophomore and son of the Hall of Famer who starred with the Chicago Bulls.
Pippen’s ability to get into the lane and use his elite court vision to make things happen was a key for VU’s late-season improvement, but he had trouble keeping opponents from doing the same on the other end.
“He got better,” Stackhouse says. “I think he was just being too literal in our mantra of ‘no middle’ to where he almost allowed too many straight-line drives. … The early returns this year, he’s night and day from wherehe was.”
Brown was back to 100% health in September. He was the team’s best rim protector and was 5 of 13 from 3 after going 2 of 14 the previous year.
“My goal for Clevon is for him to shoot more 3s this year than he shot in his whole career at Vanderbilt, because he just shoots the ball extremely well,” Stackhouse says.
A fourth returnee—6-2 senior guard Max Evans (8.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 27.9 mpg, .390 FG)—should join junior D.J. Harvey (10.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 25.9 mpg, .390 FG, .299 3PT at Notre Dame in 2018-19), a 6-6 guard who redshirted, to round out Vandy’s starting five.
“He’s gonna be a guy that we run a lot of our sets for and try to put the ball in his hands to make plays for himself or others,” Stackhouse says of Harvey.
Evans has been known more for his grit and outstanding vertical leap, but torched LSU for 31 (on 7-of-12 shooting from 3) in the aforementioned upset win. The next 10 games were more representative of his offense: He scored more than 10 points just once in that stretch.But defense will be a greater point of emphasis and Stackhouse considers Evans to be Vandy’s best on-ball defender.
Sophomore transfer Quentin Millora-Brown (7.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.2 bpg,.598 FG, .450 FT in 2018-19 at Rice), an engineering major, is also eligible after sitting out last season. He may be Vandy’s top reserve, though Stackhouse entertains the idea of playing him and Brown together at times, with the 6-10 Millora-Brown manning the five.
“I would want all of my point guards to have the understanding of the game that Quentin has,” Stackhouse says.
Forward/center Ejike Obinna (3.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg), a 6-10, fourth-year junior, saw his usage rise to 55.1% of available minutes in league play.
“He’s gonna be out there, he’s gonna be another big body that we havet o be able to rebound the ball and anchor our defense, not from a shot-blocking standpoint, but he just plays good position basketball,” Stackhouse says.
Stackhouse likes the idea of playing multiple skilled ball-handlers at once and added three in his recruiting class.
Kansas transfer Issac McBride (28.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 5.3 apg, 1.6 spg at Baptist Prep in Arkansas in 2018-19) left the Jayhawks last September before playing a minute. The NCAA declared the former Gatorade Player of the Year in Arkansas eligible for this season.
Tyrin Lawrence (Kansas’s Sunrise Christian), a 6-4 freshman combo guard who took a prep season after being voted Georgia’s 3A Player of the Year in 2018-19, was a spring commitment.
“I look at both of those guys as combo guards, not really true point guards, but guys that can come down and get us in our offense,” Stackhouse says
Trey Thomas (24.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.7 apg, 3.9 spg at Canada’s Crestwood Prep), a 5-11 freshman, is the other point guard in the class.
“He’s shown early that he’s a quick learner, has ability. … His strength is really shooting the basketball,” Stackhouse says.
The Commodores have three players whom Stackhouse terms “Swiss Army knives” in that they can play anywhere from the two to the four.
Sophomore Jordan Wright (5.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 16.5 mpg, .378 FG, .1513PT), a 6-5 wing, saw double-digit minutes in 19 of the last 21 games and erupted for 23 at Tennessee.
Sophomore Braelee Albert (1.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg) started six games afte rjoining the team mid-semester as a walk-on. The 6-5 guard/forward had a scoring high of five points, but logged double-figure minutes the last 10 games.
Stackhouse sees a potential path for playing time for Myles Stute (Washington, D.C.’s Gonzaga Prep), a 6-7 freshman forward.
“I could see Miles, with his ability to shoot the ball and his ability to grasp the concepts of what we’re doing, to definitely get some minutes his freshman year,” Stackhouse says.
Freshman forward Akeem Odusipe (Tennessee’s Knoxville CatholicHS), 6-9 and 230 pounds, was another spring signee. He made the all-tournament team in leading his squad to a Division II-AA state title last spring but could see a redshirt season.
“His offensive game is a little raw right now, but he’s working hard to improve that every day. He has unbelievable speed and he’s a really good defender early on,” Stackhouse says.
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT C+
FRONTCOURT B
BENCH/DEPTH C
INTANGIBLES C
The two March wins raised fan optimism, and Stackhouse deserves credit for winning three league games with a team less talented than the one that went 0-for-the-SEC in 2018-19. But the Commodores have along way to go to the level they attained from 2007-17, when they went to the NCAA tournament seven times.
The biggest issue is the general talent level.
The Commodores ranked 126th in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings heading into the Jan. 11 game with Texas A&M—Vanderbilt’s first without Nesmith. VU finished 169th in those rankings and was 155th the season before.The ‘Dores had only finished outside the top 100 once (109 th in 2013-14) since Pomeroy started his ratings in 2002. Lee and Nesmith carried the Commodores for stretches the last two seasons, and there’s no one on this year’s roster as good as either.This season’s returnees shot 40.1% from the floor in 2019-20.
Second, Vandy was atrocious on defense a year ago, getting its worst ranking (221st) on that end in the history of Pomeroy’s rankings. Its 52.7% effective field-goal percentage allowed ranked 305th .
In a league in which half the 14 teams could easily make the NCAA tournament, it would be an upset if the Commodores weren’t one of the four teams playing in the opening round of the league tournament. But with Disu and Pippen both potentially being all-conference-caliber players in a year or two, and with the Commodores set to only lose Evans and Brown after this season, getting back to the NCAA tournament in 2022 seems like a realistic goal.
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