Where Does Vanderbilt Basketball's NCAA Tournament Rèsumè Stand After Ole Miss Win – Sports Illustrated

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Mark Byington’s Vanderbilt team is rolling again after its Saturday win over Ole Miss in which it made a statement that it can still be a high seed in the NCAA and SEC Tournaments by winning without Duke Miles and Frankie Collins in the lineup. 
The Commodores take the floor on Saturday as the No. 15 team in the AP Top with a top 15 offense in KenPom as well as the No. 17 defense. Vanderbilt’s last three performances demonstrate its staying power on both ends. 
Tuesday, Vanderbilt was far more difficult to stop than the group of household college basketball names that it faced. The Commodores went up by as much as 28 points on their way to an 80-55 win over Kentucky, held the Wildcats to 25.0% shooting from 3-point range and 32.2% shooting from the field. 
“We have a chance to have a good team,” Byington said after the Commodores’ opener. “When you’re a coach you want hope for the season, you want optimism for the season. Some people lie about it, but I can say the truth and say I’m excited about this group. We’ll get better and better.”
As Vanderbilt has taken a leap 2025-26–Byington’s second year at the helm–it’s does so with a roster including just three returning scholarship players in Tyler Tanner, Devin McGlockton and Nickel. All three of which have taken on significant roles on a team that possesses an eight-man transfer class headlined by TCU point guard Frankie Collins, North Carolina big man Jalen Washington, Washington transfer Tyler Harris, Miles and Cornell wing AK Okereke. 
“The priority this recruiting season was to gain some more length, size,” Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told Vandy on SI over the summer. “We knew going into last year we were maybe the smallest team in the SEC regarding length, size so we wanted to upgrade that, which we did.”
That class has given the Commodores a chance to be a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament than they’ve ever been. Here’s where their rèsumè stands these days. 
Quad wins and losses: 
Quad 1A: 1-3
Wins: UCF
Losses: Florida, Arkansas, Texas
Quad 1: 5-3
Wins: Kentucky, Alabama, UCF, Wake Forest, Saint Mary’s
Losses: Texas, Arkansas, Florida
Quad 2: 6-0
Wins: LSU, VCU, Memphis, South Carolina, SMU, Mississippi State
Quad 3: 2–0
Lipscomb, Western Kentucky
Quad 4: 5-0
Eastern Kentucky, Texas Southern, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas, New Haven 
Other valuable metrics: 
NET: 14th
Torvik: 14th
KenPom: 14th
Strength of record: 11th
KPI: 11th 
Wins above bubble: 13th
BPI: 15th
NCSOS: 138th
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.
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