Despite Last Game, There Are Plenty of Stakes for Vanderbilt Saturday – Sports Illustrated

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In sports, rivalries are one of the many things that make fans fall in love with sports. In college, the competitiveness of rivalries are heightened compared to any other level of sports. The mere hate between two schools provides plenty of fuel in itself to go out and take down the team that fanbases cannot stand most.
But what makes rivalry games even more intense, passionate and energetic? Stakes. The opportunity to beat your arch rival is one thing, but beating your arch rival while also benefitting in the standings while potentially playing spoiler to the other school only makes the games more heated and entertaining. 
The stakes – along with the hate – are what is going to be the centerpiece Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium as No. 19 Vanderbilt hosts its in-state rival Tennessee. Regardless of the outcome of the game, a ripple effect to both teams' postseason outlooks will certainly be in play.
Vanderbilt is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Missouri Wednesday night in which a 21-point comeback fell just a couple of inches short as the Commodores missed a half court buzzer beater to lose 81-80. As a result, Vanderbilt dropped to 8-5 in conference play and is now in a five-way logjam for fifth place in the SEC with Texas A&M, Missouri, Texas and Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Tennessee beat Oklahoma Wednesday night, pulling a game ahead of Vanderbilt and into a three-way tie with Alabama and Arkansas for second in the conference. But on Saturday, the Commodores are hoping to pull back into a tie. At 8-5 in the SEC, Vanderbilt is now playing the role of the hunter as it looks to get back into the top four of the conference for a double-bye spot in the SEC Tournament.
A win Saturday for Vanderbilt in a sold out Memorial Gymnasium creates more complication and perhaps an even bigger crowd in the standings amongst teams playing for one of the top four spots. At this point, Vanderbilt wants to create that type of chaos. 
A loss Saturday does not derail that hope, but depending on what Alabama and Arkansas do this weekend, it could make it incredibly difficult to make up a two-game deficit between the fourth and fifth spots with just four games left in the regular season.
Not only that, Vanderbilt is still playing for NCAA Tournament seedings along with Tennessee. While Vanderbilt’s metrics did not change a lot from the loss to Missouri, a second consecutive loss could start to bump Vanderbilt back closer to the No. 5 seed line, which has been known to be a hotspot for first round upsets.
It seems as of now that Vanderbilt looks to be solidly on the No. 4 seed line. But that can change positively or negatively depending on how Vanderbilt finishes the final five games of the regular season, which includes two matchups against Tennessee.
Tennessee has caught fire over the past four weeks, winning seven of its last eight games to get to 9-4 in the SEC. But going to Nashville is the toughest game the Volunteers have had on their schedule of late. And Vanderbilt is looking to put an end to the momentum and winning streak  Tennessee has had.
The stakes are high and there are consequences in the SEC standings for both teams going into Saturday. There is no need for either team to need extra fuel for this game, but what is up for grabs when these two teams tipoff certainly adds motivation and makes Saturday’s game a must watch.
Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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