Commodore Men's Basketball Continues Work During Break
It's still early, but with eight games in the books in the 2019-20 men's basketball season, the Vanderbilt Commodores stand 6-2 including a 90-76 win over Buffalo in their past outing on Tuesday at Memorial Gym.
The Commodores next game comes one week from this Saturday when the host Liberty. That's an eleven day break between games, and a perfect time for head coach Jerry Stackhouse to use to work on areas that need improvement.
This version of the Commodores are on pace to far surpass last season's win total of nine games, and could, with good play and maybe some luck surpass that total before the calendar flips forward in January.
Following Liberty, the Commodores have tough, but seemingly winnable games at home against UNC Wilmington and Davidson, with only a neutral site game against Loyola-Chicago in Phoenix on Dec. 18 away from Memorial Gym.
If the Commodores have not surpassed that total before, the new year brings SMU to town on January 4 before conference play begins with a road trip to Auburn on January, 8th.
The Commodores are a much improved team already under Stackhouse, and while the top of the SEC is still a large jump away, this team should not be expected by anyone to go winless in conference play for a second consecutive season.
Currently South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and Texas A&M all have recordes worse than the Commodores. That and a dollar will get you a soft drink in the right vending machine, but it's something and that's nothing to laugh at if you were 0-for the conference a year ago.
I'm making no predictions here, other than that the Commodores will not go winless inside the conference this time around.
There's still a lot of work to be done, but these eleven days give Stackhouse and his staff a great opportunity in the early part of the season to take what experience has taught them through eight games and work on that before the real tests come in January.
