Where Does Vanderbilt Basketball's Body of Work Stand Prior to Ole Miss Matchup? – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt basketball really needs to get right on Tuesday night against Ole Miss, but that doesn’t diminish the body of work that it’s built to this point. 
The Commodores took the floor on Saturday as the No. 25 team in the AP Top with a top 15 offense in KenPom as well as the No. 20 defense before losing to Kentucky. Prior to that outing, Vanderbilt won against Georgia on senior night. It’s still waiting on its best performance, though. 
That didn’t look like the same Vanderbilt team that 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. But, perhaps that team is somewhere in there still. 
“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 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: 2-4
Wins: Auburn, Saint Mary’s
Losses: Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky
Quad 1: 8-6
Wins: Kentucky, Alabama, UCF, Wake Forest, Saint Mary’s, VCU, Auburn, Auburn
Losses: Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri
Quad 2: 6-1
Wins: LSU, Memphis, South Carolina, SMU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M
Loss: Oklahoma
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: 18th
Torvik: 12th
KenPom: 15th
Strength of record: 19th
KPI: 16th 
Wins above bubble: 19th
BPI: 16th
NCSOS: 138th
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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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