Why Mark Byington Believes This Vanderbilt Wing Can be an First-Team Defensive Player – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Mark Byington believes there’s a few misconceptions surrounding Chandler Bing as Bing enters his sophomore season. 
Byington believes the public has unfair expectations of Bing taking a Tyler Tanner-like jump after ending his freshman season with comparable numbers to Tanner’s at the same stage. Bing and Tanner are close friends, but Byington is clear that they’re different players and he’s not faulting Bing for that. Byington all but says that Bing won’t have the same type of offensive output or gravity that Tanner had as a sophomore, but he doesn’t believe that would make 2026-27 a failure for him. 
He believes that judging Bing solely by his scoring output is lazy and doesn’t put Bing’s game in the proper context. Byington’s messaging all offseason has indicated that he still believes Bing can take a step forward, even if Bing doesn’t eclipse his 3.6 points per game in 2025-26. Bing will almost assuredly do that, but Byington believes his leap largely doesn’t pertain to a drastically different offensive skillset than he showcased down the stretch of his freshman season. 
Bing isn’t slated to be a starter for this Vanderbilt team because of his versatile offensive skillset. A successful offensive year for Bing merely involves shooting it more efficiently from 3-point range, being involved in Vanderbilt’s offense for a full year rather than just a few months and being more confident overall. If he does that, he’ll inevitably improve on that end. 
Byington appears far more excited about Bing’s defensive profile entering year two, though. 
“I think he’s first-team all defense,” Byington said Friday. “That part’s incredible. He’s incredibly tough. He makes so many winning plays for us. He did that last year towards the end of the year and he’s going to do that for us this year.” 
Bing declares that he’s very confident on the defensive end and says he’s loved to defend since he was young. On a roster that should be Vanderbilt’s best, there appears to be some belief that Bing could be one of, if not its best defender. Bing got on the floor a year ago because of his prowess on that end, now he’ll be one of the top minute earners on Byington’s third team. 
Vanderbilt left 2025-26 entirely sold on Bing after he was its biggest surprise contributor and eventually forced his way onto the floor for significant stretches of its most important games after playing less than 10 minutes per game in its first three games. That version of Bing was a significantly more dynamic one than the one that began the season as a relative non threat offensively. 
The idea that Bing could take an offensive leap isn’t lost on him. He believes he’s positioned to have more offensive responsibility than he did a year ago and is coming off of what he describes as his best offensive outing in a game-like setting since joining Vanderbilt in Vanderbilt’s exhibition loss to Miami–when he went for 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting. He’s worked to develop his offensive skillset consistently with Vanderbilt grad assistant Jack Miller as well as Vanderbilt Special Assistant to the Head Coach Tre Corrigan and appears to be intent on demonstrating his growth. 
Bing knows why Vanderbilt recruited him and what he’s built his brand on, though. He’s not naive.
“I love to guard, just make whoever on the other team’s night long,” Bing said Friday. “I am very confident on that side of the ball.” 
Bing’s overwhelming message coming out of his Friday media availability and SEC Media Days appearance has centered around the idea that he’s significantly more confident than he was a year ago, or even towards the end of the 2025-26 season. Now, he’s got a season under his belt and knows that he’s in line for significant responsibility. He knows that he can play at this level. 
He also knows that he can guard the other team’s best guy on a nightly basis at this level. Perhaps that’s in store for Bing in 2026-27. At the very least, a defensive leap appears to be. 
“That's definitely gonna be big thing for me,” Bing said.
”Last year, I knew kind of the main way I was getting on the court was through defense. So I’m definitely keeping that intensity the same for sure.”
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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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