What NET Rankings and KenPom Say About Vanderbilt Commodores' Season
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The Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team is currently on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.
Have they done enough via advanced metrics so far to get in?
As of now, the Commodores sit with a 15-4 overall record and are 3-3 in conference play. Their season has been very uneven so far, which makes them hard to really nail down.
They have an impressive win over the Tennessee Volunteers, but were handled in their three losses fairly easily. That has left them with a 1-2 record against ranked teams.
ESPN's Bracketolgy currently has them as a 10 seed, but they only have a 24% chance to actually end the season in there.
When trying to figure out a team's worthiness of an NCAA Tournament bid, two advanced metrics are considered; NET Rankings and KenPom Ratings.
Right now, both have Vanderbilt within the top 64 teams in the country.
The AP Poll has them right on the edge of the Top 25, but that doesn't matter as much in college basketball as it does in college football.
The NET Rankings currently have them higher than KenPom at No. 38 in the country. Good news for the Commodores, that is the top criteria considered for the tourney.
To find the NET, statisticians combine pretty much everything that can be considered about a game's result. Wins, losses, strength of schedule, efficiency, game location and more all matter.
Wins and losses are also split into four different quadrants, which is heavily weighed into the decision making process.
Vanderbilt is currently 2-3 against Quad 1 opponents, 2-1 against Quad 2, 4-0 against Quad 3 and 7-0 against Quad 4.
Having no losses against Quads 3 or 4 will go a long way come tourney time.
KenPom, which consists of finding the net rating when comparing the offense and defensive sides of the ball, has the Commodores at No. 47 in the nation.
Their offense is carrying them heavily with the No. 39 overall spot while their defense is all the way down at 72nd. That's usually what occurs for high-tempo teams, which Vanderbilt actually ranks No. 44 in the country when it comes to that metric.
Overall, they sit in a good spot right now.
Having a losing record against Quad 1 teams is going to hurt them, but being undefeated against Quad 3 or 4 could go a long way.
They have a murderer's row of a schedule ahead of them the rest of the season, so they have plenty of chances to improve their Quad 1 record. That said, they also have a chance to completely tank and take themselves out of tournament consideration.
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders