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NASHVILLE—Mark Byington has never been one to find himself caught up on recruiting rankings or others’ evaluations of a player. He’s abandoned those things in favor of prioritizing fit and maximizing value. Once and awhile, though, he thinks about the feel at play.
When Byington watched current Vanderbilt freshman Ant Brown play as a high schooler, he couldn’t help but think about Brown’s pop and ability to get the crowd going.
“He's got a flashiness, he’s got a pizzazz to him,” Byington told Vandy on SI. “Our fans are going to love him.”
Before stepping on Vanderbilt’s campus, Brown was already its most famous player. Brown has 26,900 followers on Instagram and is the subject of countless highlight reels in which his off-the-bounce game is showcased. A fadeaway make from 3-point range in which Brown had his back turned to a defender and fell out of bounds in the Washington Wizards’ Capital One Arena was particularly noteworthy. So was his 52-point game, which set his school’s record for scoring in a game.
Brown was named Washington DC’s high school Player of the Year by MaxPreps, the DC Coaches’ Association and The District of Columbia State Athletic Association. He was also named the DC Gatorade Player of The Year and eclipsed 2,000 points as a high schooler.
When Byington signed Brown, he believed that his skillset could translate immediately. After a few weeks of Vanderbilt’s summer program, it appears as if that hasn’t changed.
“He's gonna get on the court,” Byington said in regard to Brown’s freshman-year outlook. “He might be our best player in ball screens right now. He is really passing the ball at a high level right now, too. He's known for his scoring, but he's making reads, he’s making plays.
We want guys to make perimeter shots. He can do that.”
Caught up with Vanderbilt signee Ant Brown, who was sitting right behind Vanderbilt’s bench as it knocked off No. 13 Alabama. He sees Mark Byington’s vision coming to life.
“It’s really showing,” he told @VandyOnSI.
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While sitting on the baseline ahead of Vanderbilt’s January win over Alabama, Brown told Vandy on SI that he felt as if Byington’s offense was a particularly good fit for him and would equip him to be himself.
Brown will take some tough ones and is more of a score-first guard than he is a traditional point guard, but has impressed Vanderbilt with his ability to make others better throughout the summer. The indication is that Brown’s skillset as a true three-level scorer has also translated. The expectation entering the summer was that Brown would be good enough to get on the floor right away, but that he’d have to earn everything in a backcourt with three proven pieces in star returner Tyler Tanner, Washington State transfer Ace Glass and Missouri transfer TO Barrett.
It appears as if he’s shown enough to convince Byington. Now, Byington’s working to find a way to maximize Brown’s impact.
“I've told him that he doesn't have to think he's going to play behind Tyler Tanner. He might be playing beside Tyler Tanner,” Byington said. “There's no reason why I can't play Tyler Tanner, Ace Glass and Ant Brown on the court together. Last year, we did that in a good portion of December, where I played Tyler Tanner, Duke Miles, and Frankie Collins together. We went big later on, but, like right now, we don't quite know.
We'll know, of course, know more in November, and it still might change then, but Ant Brown will be on the court.”
And when Brown is on the court, Byington believes that he won’t be there solely as a microwave scorer like his dynamic ability–which Byington appears to believe stacks up with just about anybody in the 2026 high school class–indicates he can be. Brown will mean significantly more to this Vanderbilt team than that label indicates.
By the looks of it, he’s going to be one of its consistent pieces–and Vanderbilt expects him to be that in a number of different aspects.
“My favorite thing right now is he makes other guys better around him,” Byington said. “If you're on his team right now, he's gonna find you shots, find you looks.
He's been a great voice in practice and as far as a natural leader, like, he's got probably as many qualities as anybody we have on our team about being a natural leader. It's just in him. So, I'm gonna keep pushing him to do that, even though he's a freshman.”
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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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