Maybe We Need to Rethink How Good This Vanderbilt Basketball Team Is; Column

NASHVILLE—Time to forget about all the declarations, the places this Vanderbilt basketball program appeared as if it could go and what it appeared to be as a team. Time to reset and acknowledge that this group still has plenty more to prove before it can prove those things.

Perhaps the national title contender declarations from the national media were a bit premature. Perhaps the idea that Vanderbilt was the favorite to win the SEC regular season title was a product of the moment rather than the long-term longevity of this Vanderbilt team.

After the three-game stretch that this Vanderbilt team just had, it’s got plenty of room to go before any of those titles can surround it again.

It’s not just that Vanderbilt is on a three-game skid. That happens to most teams in this league at one point or another. This is more about the way in which this one has happened, it’s about the trends coming out of it that indicate that there’s bigger problems at play here than this group dropping a few games here and there.

“Just kind of speaking from the heart, that was embarrassing,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said in his postgame radio hit after Vanderbilt’s loss to Arkansas. “That's the first time this year that I felt like we didn't compete, and we weren't tough and we got on our heels right away. They’re an athletic team who plays great in this building, we know it, but at the same time, I got to do a better job with our guys, 'cause that wasn't who we are.”

It’s nearly inevitable that a team gets embarrassed on the road in this league, but Vanderbilt’s brutal outing ended with it ranked last in the SEC in defensive efficiency, last in opponent two-point percentage and 13th in opponent effective field goal percentage. Pair that with Vanderbilt’s obvious rebounding troubles and this group has some legitimately concerning gaps in its roster at this stage.

The rebounding trouble isn’t anything all that new–or unpredictable based on the way Vanderbilt’s roster is built–but Vanderbilt’s defense has significantly underperformed expectations in league play and severely limits its ceiling if it keeps this up.

Byington never appeared to have a defensive juggernaut on his hands, but he always appeared to have an upper-half of the league group because of the ball pressure it could put on, the length and athleticism it had on the perimeter and the seemingly legitimate shotblocker it rosters in Jalen Washington. This hasn’t necessarily played out like that on-paper list of credentials, though.

Vanderbilt is among the worst in the league in seemingly every defensive metric that measures purely scoring.

The oddity in regard to its defense is that it’s 11th in the league in steals–which will likely change once it gets its best point of attack defender back, potentially on Saturday, in Frankie Collins–seventh in blocked shots, fourth in opponent two-point shot distance, seventh in opponent turnover percentage and eighth in defensive rebounding. All of those are average to slightly below average metrics. Yet, Vanderbilt can’t seem to stop shots from going in for one reason or another.

Perhaps some of that is to do with its lack of real physicality at the five. Some of it certainly has to do with foul trouble. Perhaps some of it is Vanderbilt’s guards and their recent passive nature. Vanderbilt has to fix something on that end if it’s going to be considered a contender again, though.

If it didn’t know that already, it has to after it was blitzed by Arkansas and allowed the Razorbacks to shoot 58% from the field, 41% from 3-point range and gave up 50 points in the paint.

“That’s the type of performance where you want to make changes as a coach,” Byington said. “I didn't do a good job prepping them. We came into the game with the wrong mentality.”

The performance wasn’t quite bad enough to declare this group dead in regard to the things that it had previously been considered a contender for–it deserves better than that after its impressive 16-0 start–but it is enough to stick with the perception of this group the rest of the way.

Vanderbilt may not be in danger of throwing a clunker again like it did on Tuesday night, but it’s susceptible to being matchup dependent and losing as a result of foul trouble and defensive lapses. Even the likely winning streak that seemingly lies ahead doesn’t appear to fix all that many of the issues on hand here.

We might know what this Vanderbilt team is at this point. It’s going to have excellent guardplay, a nice edge to it and has the potential to beat anyone. It also appears to be in a position where it may be held back from its long-term goals because of its deficiencies. It may be matchup dependent in tournament settings.

It can’t think that way, though.

“Every game is a good game,” Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel said after the Commodores’ loss to Florida. “Regardless of what rankings and whatever poll, like, everybody's good.  So, we expect a battle every game, and we're gonna have a lot more games where we're in this situation. We just got to find a way to come out on top.”