Vanderbilt Basketball Notebook: No MTE? A Freshman Standing Out. Tyler Nickel Drawing Buzz

Vanderbilt basketball won't play in an MTE, here's why. PLUS: A highly-touted freshman is making an impact early in the summer and former Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel has caught the eye of a few NBA executives.

Jan 14, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Mark Byington relies a play before the game against the Texas Longhorns at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt basketball is one or two games away from finishing its non-conference schedule, and multiple sources told Vandy on SI it will not include a multi-team event. 

The last time Vanderbilt didn’t play in an MTE was during the 2020-21 season–which included a significantly-reduced non-conference schedule due to Covid protocols. In the Mark Byington era, Vanderbilt has played in the Charleston Classic and the Battle 4 Atlantis. Vanderbilt won the Battle 4 Atlantis last season and made it to the finals of the Charleston Classic before losing to Ben McCollum’s Drake team. 

Vanderbilt worked to get into the Players’ Era field for the second-consecutive season, but couldn’t find its way in because of the event wanting a balance of teams in different conferences to make up the field. As a result of the size of the Players’ Era field and the NIL benefits that it provides that other events don’t, the rest of the MTE landscape has suffered. 

Instead of going to another event that would likely require it to play three-consecutive days and would put some wear and tear on its players, Vanderbilt will opt to schedule more true home and away games. The indication is that the schedule will likely include an unannounced BIG 10 opponent. In all likelihood, its strength of schedule likely won't suffer all that much.

Vanderbilt already has publicly-announced games against Memphis, UCF and Wake Forest scheduled at Memorial Gymnasium in November. It has a full slate of unannounced buy games on its schedule, as well. 

A young big man is impressing early

Through the first few days of summer practice, Vanderbilt freshman big man Jackson Sheffield has impressed those familiar with Vanderbilt’s practice sessions with his athleticism and ability to hold his own against Vanderbilt’s older bigs. 

Sheffield will have growing pains this summer, but he’s a four-star big man that projects to give Vanderbilt something right away despite its crowded frontcourt. Perhaps, as he develops, he’ll be able to demonstrate what he’s worked to add to his skillset this summer. 

“I’m more of a back to the basket type of big,” Sheffield said in a Vanderbilt-released video. “But, I’m trying to expand my game a little bit.” 

Tyler Nickel buzz

Nickel isn’t included in most mock drafts, but NBA people appear to be happy with his predraft process and believe that he could be a beneficiary of the weakened second round–which was caused by a number of fringe players returning to school for NIL opportunities–and is a real candidate to get drafted. 

After a late-May workout with the Golden State Warriors, Nickel told the media that he could have up to 16 workouts ahead of the Draft. He’s out to prove something in them.

“My skill on the court, my ability on the court is what makes me an NBA player,” Nickel said, “And I think what a player at this level needs to have is an insane level of confidence—to a point of almost delusion. People have said that about me. They told me that I was never going to be a high major basketball player, and hard work to give myself to a point of almost insanity got me there, and then from then on, just being consistent, getting better every year, it's been the same thing and just believing in your path, running your race. I think that my work and everything that I am, and everything that I do is put me here and it's not gonna stop now.”

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