Game faces on as Vanderbilt men's basketball returns to March Madness – The Tennessean

OKLAHOMA CITY — This wasn’t the real practice. Vanderbilt basketball treated it like one, though.
That’s how coach Mark Byington explained it when he gathered his Commodores at midcourt of Paycom Center on March 18. As they stood on the “March Madness” lettering, where they’d tip off their NCAA Tournament about 24 hours later, Byington said simply: “Same energy. Same court. Same feel.”
He meant that, too.
Every team “practices” in the venue before an NCAA Tournament first-round game, though it’s usually not much of a practice. It’s about 40 minutes. The arena is open to the public. The bands are playing. Cheerleaders and mascots are there. It’s mostly a photo opportunity.
NCAA teams schedule true practices elsewhere, away from the prying eyes of the media and fans. Fifth-seeded Vanderbilt (26-8) was headed elsewhere afterward to practice, too. But that only made it more noteworthy how few of the Commodores’ 40 minutes were wasted when they were on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s court in advance of the March 19 (2:15 p.m., TruTV) NCAA first-round contest against No. 12 seed McNeese (28-5).
The Commodores genuinely practiced. It was intense. It was far more than just breaking a sweat and hoisting a few shots.
“When you play in a tournament like this,” Byington said, “there’s a certain type of pressure. I think the teams that embrace it and love it, things are a little bit different. You can try to act like they’re not.
“I like the fact we try to put pressure on our guys the entire year in certain situations. There were times this year where I told them it was a must-win, and they love that scenario.”
Byington, too, didn’t stand on the side chatting during Vanderbilt’s arena practice. He and other coaches hollered instructions and corrections as the Commodores raced up and down the court, scrimmaging against a scout team that was pressing full court. McNeese, after all, is one of the nation’s best teams at forcing turnovers.
As for Vanderbilt? The business-like mentality was apparent on Day 1 in OKC.
“There’s nothing like this in the world,” forward Devin McGlockton said. “We’ve been here before. We know how it is. Coach B makes the emphasis that it’s really hard to get here, and we’re not going to take anything for granted. We’re going to play our hardest.”
Byington is now 2-for-2 on NCAA Tournament appearances in his two seasons as Vanderbilt’s coach. The Commodores made it last year, but they lost in the opening game to Saint Mary’s.
This time, Vanderbilt is an 11-point favorite against the Cowboys, who are making their program’s third consecutive NCAA trip after winning the Southland Conference Tournament. Under previous coach Will Wade, McNeese was a No. 12 seed when it upset Clemson 69-67 in last year’s first round.
“It’s no secret they are a good basketball team,” McNeese guard DJ Richards said of Vanderbilt. “But we feel like we can play with anybody.”
Vanderbilt arrived in OKC after a spirited run in the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena that had a disappointing end. Amid the gloom of an 86-75 defeat to Arkansas in the SEC final, Byington looked around the postgame locker room and saw a “dejected” team, not a satisfied one.
He said he liked that response.
He has said since before the season how much he likes this team.
“They don’t want this to end,” Byington said. “I met with them, and I love this group. I absolutely love this team. So I don’t want it to end with them. They don’t want (it) to end. And you’re going to see a team that’s fighting like crazy every single game in the NCAA Tournament.”
That started one afternoon earlier than might’ve been anticipated.

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