How Strong Are Vanderbilt Basketball's Wins, Metrics? A Look At Its Rèsumè After Wake Forest Win
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Mark Byington’s Vanderbilt team is 12-0 and has an opportunity to finish off the program’s first undefeated non-conference stretch since Kevin Stallings’ 2007-08 team did it. All that stands between this group and that achievement is a win against New Haven on Dec. 29.
The Commodores head back to Nashville to face Wake Forest as the No. 11 team in the AP Top with a top 10 offense in KenPom as well as the No. 14 defense. Vanderbilt’s latest rèsumè booster was a blowout win over Wake Forest in Winston Salem.
That game–in which Vanderbilt was without Frankie Collins–demonstrated its staying power and was perhaps its best performance of the season. Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel gave it 26 points on a career-high eight makes from 3-point range while the Commodores also got Washington transfer Tyler Harris back on track with a 14-point outing.
“We have a chance to have a good team,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said after the Commodores’ opener. “When you’re a coach you want hope for the season, you want optimism for the season. Some people lie about it, but I can say the truth and say I’m excited about this group. We’ll get better and better.”
As Vanderbilt looks to take a leap in 2025-26–Byington’s second year at the helm–it does so with a roster including just three returning scholarship players in Tyler Tanner, Devin McGlockton and Nickel. All three of which have taken on significant roles on a team that possesses an eight-man transfer class headlined by TCU point guard Frankie Collins, North Carolina big man Jalen Washington, Harris, Oklahoma transfer Duke Miles and Cornell wing AK Okereke.
“The priority this recruiting season was to gain some more length, size,” Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told Vandy on SI over the summer. “We knew going into last year we were maybe the smallest team in the SEC regarding length, size so we wanted to upgrade that, which we did.”
That class has given the Commodores a chance to be a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than they’ve ever been. Here’s where their rèsumè stands these days.
Quad wins:
Quad 1A: 1-0
Wins: UCF
Quad 1: 2-0
Wins: UCF, Saint Mary’s, Wake Forest
Quad 2: 3-0
Wins: VCU, SMU, Memphis
Quad 3: 2–0
Lipscomb, Western Kentucky
Quad 4: 4-0
Eastern Kentucky, Texas Southern, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas
Other valuable metrics:
NET: 6th
Torvik: 5th
KenPom: 8th
Strength of record: 7th
KPI: 2th
Wins above bubble: 6th
BPI: 13th
NCSOS: 88th
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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