Billy Heyen
Steve Roberts – Imagn Images
It’s been a fantastic sports year for Vanderbilt University.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams can both keep that going in March Madness. The men are the 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament, while the women’s team is a 2-seed.
In the men’s bracket, Vanderbilt appears to be heavily underseeded, and that could lead to what, on paper, are upsets.
According to basketball analytics website KenPom, Vandy is the 12th-best team in the country.
A 5-seed suggests the committee slotted them between the 17th and 20th teams in the field.
Vandy is the best 5-seed, according to KenPom, by five spots (No. 17 St. John’s followed by No. 20 Texas Tech, No. 22 Wisconsin).
The Commodores will open with 12-seed McNeese State, which is a game Vandy will be favored to win by close to double digits.
MARCH MADNESS HQ: NCAA bracket | Full TV schedule | Printable bracket
They would then line up with 4-seed Nebraska, as long as the Cornhuskers hold off 13-seed Troy. Nebraska is actually No. 14 in KenPom, so that should be an awesome game.
And then you get to a potential Sweet 16 matchup with Florida. The Gators were just throttled by Vandy in the SEC Tournament.
If they see each other again, Vanderbilt and Florida will both have that memory pretty recently in their minds.
Don’t be shocked if this impressive Vandy sports year continues. The men’s basketball Commodores are well positioned to keep making noise.
Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. His sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
