Vanderbilt basketball storylines to watch for 2025

Here are the storylines we’re watching for Vanderbilt basketball in 2025.

Was 12-1 legit, and is an NCAA tournament in the cards?
Vanderbilt ripped off an impressive 12-1 start to its regular season, putting the Commodores in position to perhaps get an NCAA tournament berth March if it can have a quality Southeastern Conference season given its current No. 35 NET ranking. It makes for an encouraging start to the Mark Byington era and provides some much-needed excitement for a program that’s not had much of it lately.
The good news: The major computer predictive models, which consider who you play and how bad you beat (or lose to) those teams, like the Commodores. The verdict so far:
Ken Pomeroy: 50th
Bart Torvik: 45th
Evan Miya: 34th
The reality: They’re computer models. They treat “did you beat New Orleans at home by what you should?” the same way they treat “did you only lose at Florida by as few as expected?” as the same proposition.
I’m not knocking the predictive computers. I find them as useful as anyone. But I’ve seen enough basketball to know I’m skeptical of whether slaughterings of teams that can’t stop what you’re doing due to a lack of size, speed, athleticism or depth is sometimes a poor predictor of what you’ll do against teams who have all that and can lock you down.
My take: There’s a lot to like here. Byington’s got a strategy of playing fast, creating offense with defense and having a lot of guys on the roster who can handle the ball makes the Commodores a tough out on a lot of nights. So some fun games and maybe even a big upset or two are on the horizon. 
My concerns: 3-point shooting has been erratic (33.5%, which ranks 166th) and lack of size and depth inside is unquestionably an issue in a league that’s got Johni Broome (Auburn), Trevon Brazile (Arkansas), Asa Newell), Cliff Omoryui (Alabama), Felix Okpara (Tennessee) and other stars in the paint.  Vanderbilt’s got to find a way to mitigate those weaknesses, or overcome them by being so strong in other areas.

NIL and the transfer portal
Byington did a phenomenal job pulling the program from the wreckage coach Jerry Stackhouse left behind from last year’s 9-23 disaster. Byington did it by pulling in nine quality transfers who lead the Commodores in minutes.
Most impressive was the fact that Byington built a quality roster that quickly in the midst of a situation that an industry insider told me probably ruled out a certain caliber of transfer due to the program’s recent struggles.
On the other hand, it felt like Vanderbilt got this hire right. That began to reap dividends immediately. Byington’s system is appealing and players know that. This helped him get at least one of the key transfers on this team. So when the system and your reputation recruit for you, you’re doing something right.
Can Vanderbilt repeat that again, and maybe up its level of talent a notch? Its NIL focus has been mostly on football and it got a late start at that effort this fall, with the people in charge having been Jerry Kill’s guys when Kill was on the New Mexico State football staff.
That’s not to say Vanderbilt can’t succeed in the portal the spring. Barring a winter face-plant, Byington will start in a much-better place than he was in March.
But as a connected booster told me a day after the Birmingham Bowl, “All the talk is around football right now,” meaning, boosters were still basking in the afterglow of a 7-6 season and not much thinking about hoops.
What’s the strategy? What will the excitement level be around the program this spring? And how big will the booster engagement be? All will have a lot to say about how the Commodores do for 2025-26.

Tyler Tanner and the record books
Speaking of additions, Byington knew Tanner had a chance to be good right away back in the spring. But I don’t think anyone was expecting the freshman to go into the 2025 calendar year with 29 assists, 32 steals and zero turnovers in 270 minutes.
Barring injury or an otherwise-abbreviated season, Tanner won’t end the season with no turnovers. But he should rank among the league’s steal leaders and assist-to-turnover leaders, and it’ll be fun to see how his season finishes. 

Rediscovering Memorial Magic?
I’ve made much of the basketball attendance in recent years, and won’t re-hash all that again. I’ll just leave it here: the amount of black and gold in the gym for big games in the coming months—notably, Tennessee (Jan. 18), Kentucky (Jan. 25) and Auburn (Feb. 11)–will tell us a lot about what’s left of the fan base.