Vanderbilt basketball’s fatal flaw that will cost it in SEC conference title race – ClutchPoints

Tyler Tanner will not be able to carry Mark Byington's 2025-2026 Vanderbilt team by himself in the SEC Tournament
For the first time in over a decade, Vanderbilt has a chance to win the SEC Tournament and prove itself as a major player in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Led by second-year head coach Mark Byington and star guard Tyler Tanner, the Commodores find themselves in an excellent position to make a deep postseason run with one month remaining in the regular season.
Vanderbilt has not won the SEC Tournament since 2012, when program legend Kevin Stallings capped off a 25-11 season with a conference title and a Round of 32 run in the ensuing NCAA Tournament. The Commodores have made it past the Sweet Sixteen just once, when they lost in the Elite Eight in 1965.
While Vanderbilt has been a victim of disappointing season-ending losses before, it has its best chance to break that trend in 2026.
Vanderbilt's 20-4 record through 24 games has it on track to end the season with its best regular-season record since its 28-6 team in 1992-1993. That season ended in the Sweet Sixteen, which Byington will be looking to surpass in his second season in Nashville.
Despite a mediocre run over the last month — Vanderbilt is just 4-4 since Jan. 14 — the Commodores are positioned to enter the SEC Tournament with an advantageous top seed. Their Feb. 10 win over Auburn keeps them in a five-way tie for fourth in the conference, but they face just one ranked opponent, Kentucky, before the end of the regular season.
While Vanderbilt is primed for its most successful season in basketball program history, it is unfortunately destined for another disheartening finish.
Vanderbilt is not a deep team, but the top of its roster matches up with the creme of the crop in college basketball. The Commodores' backcourt is one of the best in the country at full strength, a significant factor in their success during the 2025-2026 season.
Sophomore point guard Tyler Tanner runs the show, averaging 18.9 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, while hitting 38.6 percent of his three-point attempts. Tanner is fifth in the SEC in points, second in assists, and second in steals per game.
Tanner's primary running mate for most of the season has been sixth-year guard Duke Miles, who is right behind him with 16.6 points, 4.3 assists, and 2.8 steals per game. Miles is fifth in the country in steals and has been an ideal secondary playmaker for Vanderbilt whenever he has been on the court.
However, Miles has not played since Jan. 24. He underwent knee surgery to address a lingering issue, which the team described as a “clean-up” procedure. Miles, who was initially given an indefinite timeline, has not been given any clear updates since.
Miles' injury leaves Vanderbilt without two of its top three guards for the foreseeable future. The Commodores have been without well-traveled veteran Frankie Collins, who last played on Dec. 17, for most of the season.
Before going down, Collins was the team's most versatile guard. He did a little bit of everything for Byington, averaging 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.4 steals in nine games off the bench. Byington confirmed that Collins has been medically cleared to return on Feb. 1 and should be back before the end of the regular season.
The Tanner, Miles, and Collins trio worked well early in the season and formed one of the best backcourts in the country at full strength. But without either Miles or Collins beside him, Tanner is running out of steam as a one-man wrecking crew as the SEC Tournament approaches.
As steadfast as Tanner is, the 6-foot, 173-pound guard is not built to carry Vanderbilt night in and night out through the grueling schedule required to win the SEC Tournament. The Commodores do not have enough offense to support him without either Miles or Collins.
Mark Byington's pick-and-roll-heavy offense requires one of his dominant ball-handlers to dominate each offensive possession in the half-court. Byington has not had confidence in anyone other than Tanner since Miles' injury, which has led him to run his star guard into the ground. Tanner has played all but six minutes in his last four games without Miles.
Vanderbilt has other scorers — sharpshooter Tyler Nickel heated in January to average 14.4 points per game and lead the SEC in three-point shooting — but none capable of consistently creating offense like Tanner.
Miles' injury has not affected Vanderbilt's results yet, but its play is unsustainable. While the Commodores are 3-1 in their first four games without the Alabama native, only one victory came against a team in the top half of the SEC.
Even if Vanderbilt loses speed down the stretch, it will not have success in the SEC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament if neither Miles nor Collins returns to form soon. The Commodores likely need Miles back to have a chance, and Byington's recent comments have been anything but optimistic.
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