Vanderbilt Basketball Pre-Summer Depth Chart: The First Off The Bench – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt basketball opens official summer practices on Thursday and already has all of its players in the gym preparing for what lies ahead. It appears as if a number of Vanderbilt's starters are determined–which is outlined in another Vandy on SI piece–but perhaps the most interesting piece of its roster is the first three players that come off the bench.
Heading into the summer, who makes up that group is a relative toss up–parituclarly because Vanderbilt still plans to add another player and would likely add a bench piece with its last scholarship–but could be predicted based off of previous track record and industry buzz.
Here's the three players who would be likely to see starter-like minutes while coming off the bench if the season started today.
Sixth man: Berke Buyuktuncel
Buyuktuncel could easily be a starter and almost certainly would be if Sebastian Williams-Adams wasn’t in the fold, but it doesn’t matter all that much. 
He’s going to play significant minutes, and a significant role, no matter what. 
Buyuktuncel averaged 6.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this season while shooting 46.8% from the field and 24.1% from 3-point range. He’s a 6-foot-10 forward from Bursa, Türkiye. Buyuktuncel’s impact comes largely in the form of his dirty work, though. 
Vanderbilt will rely on Buyktuncel to provide it with a level of physicality and tenacity that it hasn’t often had throughout the Byington tenure. All it needs from him is for him to be himself. The place where Buyuktuncel could take a leap is in his perimeter game. 
Seventh man: TO Barrett
Barrett is an experienced SEC guard that broke out in year two at Missouri and would’ve taken on a starting role if Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner opted against returning for a third season on West End. He’s that valuable of a piece for this Vanderbilt team. 
Because of the rest of Vanderbilt’s roster make up, though, Barrett’s minutes will be relatively limited because he’s primarily an on-ball guard that works to initiate offense because of his downhill skillset. Byington loves playing two point guards at once, but Barrett isn’t the primary one on this team. 
Barrett will likely play the role that former Vanderbilt guard Frankie Collins would have if he were healthy a season ago. Vanderbilt will want a secondary decision maker, point of attack guard on the defensive end and veteran to complement Tanner. 
The question is how much better Barrett is by the start of the season than he is these days. The junior year leap here seems to be in play, and Barrett could be much more valuable if he develops as a shooter and off-ball piece. 
Eighth man: Ethan Mgbako
It could look entirely idiotic to have Mgbako listed as the eighth guy if everything goes to plan for him. It wouldn’t be surprising if Mgbako ends up starting and being one of Vanderbilt’s best players by the time the regular season starts. 
Mgbako is among the most gifted scorers that Vanderbilt has rostered under Byington and has played within high-level offensive schemes alongside good players before. He’s the type that could make a seamless transition to this level, and believes he can. 
“I plan on going to the NBA, how long that takes is however long God wants it to take,” Mgbako told Vandy on SI in the fall. “After my visit is when I left and I was like ‘wow I really see myself being there for the next nine months or the next two years or three years or four years, or however long I stay.’”
Mgbako is perhaps Vanderbilt’s biggest swing player this summer. If he’s what some members of Vanderbilt’s staff thinks he is, though, then buckle up.
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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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