Nothing You Can Say About Vanderbilt Basketball After Wednesday's Signature Win; Column
In this story:
NASHVILLE—Surrounded by an endless sea of euphoria, Tyler Tanner skipped across the court, threw his hands up and soaked in a moment that he likely came to this place for.
Vanderbilt had just sealed a win in which it secured the crown jewel of its rèsumè and all Tanner could do was celebrate. The Vanderbilt guard went for 29 points and seven assists in a heroic performance, but when he got on the microphone with the television crew he had another message he wanted to get across.
Alabama coach Nate Oats consistently harped on the idea that Vanderbilt had yet to play a truly elite team and that while their metrics were impressive, they still had a noticeable flaw. That comment didn’t sit well with this Vanderbilt team–even if Oats may have been right.
"We heard what Nate Oats was saying before,” Tanner said on TV, “That we didn't have a lot of good games before this -- we had some high-majors but no real good teams. We kind of took that personally. We knew how good of a team we were. We know how good we are, and we just wanted to show everybody tonight."
Even if Oats–and the masses that jumped on the narrative that he was perpetuating–was right prior to Wednesday night, his case had nothing to stand on as a result of what Vanderbilt did to his team on Wednesday night.
The magnitude of what Vanderbilt did on Wednesday was irrefutable. It was a win in the most anticipated home game of Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington’s tenure. It was a demonstration of Vanderbilt’s potential for longevity as a result of its elite guard play, too. What was most important was what it did to prove Oats wrong, though.
If Vanderbilt didn’t already, it now has a win that puts its body of work among the top five in the sport and allows it to think big as it leaves Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday. It’s not the type of win that just feels good or says something about it, it’s the type of win that will be a marquee one on Selection Sunday. This will be in quad 1A. This will be a ranked win all season.
“We don't really compare ourselves to other teams, but we know that we’re one of the best teams in the country,” Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton said. “We’ve just got to keep pushing forward. We don’t care who we play. We just go out there and play our game.”
A year ago, Vanderbilt’s game wasn’t good enough for it to accumulate the result that it did against Alabama. It wasn’t all that close either. When it was all said and done, Byington walked into the podium in Tuscaloosa and crafted a narrative regarding his team’s loss to Alabama better than some script writers could have.
Rather than brushing the night off as one that could be easily boiled down to Vanderbilt’s lack of ability to execute down the stretch or the inevitable challenges that come with SEC road games, Byington took a big-picture approach. He essentially admitted that Alabama was a further-along version of his program at that stage and that his program wasn’t developed enough to win that night.
It was blunt and likely hurt a bit, but Byington was right. Alabama’s guards were better, it had a swiss-army knife in Mo Dioubate that Vanderbilt lacked, its bigs looked the part more than Vanderbilt’s did. It wasn’t as much a matter of execution as it was an endorsement of the way Oats’ program had evolved since he was a year-one coach like Byington. It was also a litmus test that indicated Vanderbilt needed to make some bigger-picture adjustments in terms of its roster-building strategy and overall talent level if it was going to beat a team like Oats’.
Knowing Byington and the brain he possesses–which is constantly looking for improvement, nearly to a fault–was knowing that his team was going to be different the next time it faced off against Alabama. Maybe it wouldn’t be better, but it wouldn’t be the same.
Between that matchup and Vanderbilt’s Wednesday-night tilt with No. 13 Alabama, Vanderbilt devoted its offseason to getting bigger, more athletic and finding more shooting. The fruits of Byington’s labor showed on Wednesday night as his team looked like one of the SEC’s truly elite teams and a title contender in the league.
Besides elite frontcourt play, Vanderbilt’s Wednesday-night win had everything. It had guards that outplayed Alabama’s prolific backcourt. It had standout defense that held Alabama to 37.1% shooting from the field and 22.5% shooting from 3-point range. When it was over, Vanderbilt’s fanbase didn’t storm the court after Byington’s team beat the No. 13 team in the nation. Perhaps that said more than anything.
“Thank goodness,” Byington said while laughing as he started to reflect on the meaning of fans declining to storm the court. “That’s a good feeling that they know that it’s not an upset. We’re a really good basketball team. And now what I can say is that the fans were unbelievable.”
At this stage, Vanderbilt’s fanbase has to show up and do it consistently. Its team is good enough to where that should be a requirement. If it hadn’t already proven this to be the case, Byington’s second team showed on Wednesday that it’s the best team this program has seen in some time.
It’s even got Oats showering it with praise.
"The league championship has to come through here,” Oats said.
_(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.
Follow joey_dwy