This Vanderbilt Basketball Team is One of The Program's Best. Why Can't It be More? Column
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OKLAHOMA CITY–It’s as if screenwriting legend Billy Wilder was there smirking in front of his keyboard as Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner put it on the floor a few times on the left wing, got McNeese big man DJ Richards off balance and knocked down an all-but game sealing 3.
How could anyone possibly draw it up any better than how this all played out on Thursday? The difference in Vanderbilt taking down McNeese in Thursday’s Round of 64 NCAA Tournament game wasn’t the overwhelming difference in league or budget. It wasn’t even Vanderbilt doing all that much at a higher level fundamentally than McNeese did. This was about Vanderbilt having Tyler Tanner and McNeese not.
The hometown kid was the difference on Thursday, the same one that had just a few offers as a high schooler. The same one that was considered by some evaluators to be too small and the product of a private school league rather than a true power-five player. That kid watched Vanderbilt do plenty of losing over the years and couldn’t do anything about it. Thursday, he changed this program’s history in front of a whole lot of kids that love this program like he did–and does.
Tanner went for 26 points–with 17 of them coming in the second half–seven rebounds and five assists. The Vanderbilt guard was relatively efficient on the way to doing it as he made 7 of his 16 field goal attempts and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line. It was the type of performance that gets a team out of a building and alive when it doesn’t have its best.
The Vanderbilt guard says he was six years old and was attending Crockett Elementary School–shoutout to Crockett, he says–the last time Vanderbilt won an NCAA Tournament game in 2011-12. Tanner says he doesn’t remember that game–a 79-70 Vanderbilt win over–Harvard–but he’ll inevitably remember this one for a long time. He hopes this isn’t the only game from this NCAA Tournament run that he wants to remember fondly.
“We’re just trying to make history as much as we can,” Tanner told Vandy on SI postgame, “And I think we have every piece to be able to do that.”
Tanner knows as well as anyone around these parts that despite its recent losing ways, this program has a rich basketball history. Partly because of Tanner, this Vanderbilt team just added a crown-jewel of a lede to its chapter in the program’s long history book.
Only seven other teams in program history have done what Vanderbilt did on Thursday. Two of those teams played a basketball game this century. Three played before 1995. None of Vanderbilt’s three previous teams that went dancing were able to accomplish what Vanderbilt had by the time it walked off the floor victorious at PayCom Center.
Add that to the body of work that this group already had, and there’s not many within this program’s history that can match it. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibilities that this group could tie–or break–the program wins record in the coming weeks–a win on Saturday against Nebraska would do so.
For now, though, Vanderbilt basketball just had its best NCAA Tournament moment since most of its players were in elementary school. Now this group will have plaques up on the wall with their pictures on them and can recycle these highlights for years. This was that type of win. This was that type of moment.
“We realize how big of a deal it is and how long it’s been for Vanderbilt,” Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel told Vandy on SI. “That’s one of the biggest motivators for our team to keep doing what we’re doing. But also, we realize the capabilities of this team and the ability of everyone in this locker room.”
Vanderbilt just cemented its place among the best teams in program history, but it also should know that it’s got the ability to be the greatest that’s ever walked the floor in Vanderbilt jerseys at Memorial Gymnasium. The program has had higher seeds before and has made it to the second weekend before. It’s never won 29 games in a season or been to the Final Four, though.
Those are lofty goals, but this Vanderbilt team doesn’t believe they should be counted out from achieving them because of their dynamic guardplay, viable frontcourt and the level they can get to when they’re at their best. They weren’t on Thursday–like they were against Tennessee and Florida in the SEC Tournament a week ago–but they did enough to indicate that they will be in rare air as they pull up to the Huber Center on Sunday.
“We kind of knew we were going to be in the NCAA Tournament for a while,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said. “This team wants to do the best they can to make a run. When you get to Round of 32, everybody is good. Everybody has earned their right there. It's going to be a tremendous challenge, so it gets tougher and tougher.”
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_(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, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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