Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball Has Work Cut Out for Them in Loaded SEC

The Vanderbilt Commodores are kicking off SEC play this weekend with a matchup on the road against the LSU Tigers.

Heading into conference play, the Commodores still have a lot to prove.

They are near the bottom of most SEC power rankings, but one of the squads who are behind them is the Tigers.

After going 12-1 out of conference, Vanderbilt will be looking to keep the positive momentum going. The first year under Mark Byington has been better than anyone could have predicted, as a nearly entirely new roster has gelled together rather quickly.

An explosive offense has been the catalyst. They entered Saturday averaging 86.5 points per game, which is 14th in the country.

They have been solid on the defensive end, giving up 66.1 points per contest, which is ranked 66th, but they are going to be tested much more over the coming weeks than they have been out of the gate.

Their strength of schedule to this point ranks in the bottom 50 of the country in some metrics. That will flip during SEC play, as it will be a gauntlet they have to survive.

As shared by Jeff Borzello of ESPN, the SEC had a winning percentage of 88.9 combined against nonconference opponents, and every team has already recorded double-digit victories so far this campaign.

“But as ESPN’s Neil Paine researched last month, the SEC now has the best nonconference record for any conference in games before New Year’s Day since at least 2002-03, according to SportRadar data. The previous pacesetter was the 2003-04 ACC, which had an 88.2 winning percentage entering conference play,” the college basketball expert wrote.

Right now, the league is also projected to break the all-time record for representatives in the NCAA Tournament. 

That is currently held by the Big East, who sent 11 teams in 2011.

Some projections have 12 SEC squads going dancing, while others have 13.

With 10 teams currently ranked in the top 25, and five of them in the top 10, it is not a stretch to believe at least two or three more can do enough to make the NCAA Tournament in March.

They have earned those lofty rankings as well.

This is the most dominant a conference has ever been against ranked, nonconference opponents. The SEC currently has 21 wins against AP Top 25 teams, the most ever before postseason play.

Currently, that is the only power conference with a winning record against teams in the top 25, 50 and 100 of BartTorvik.com.

Predictive analysis is also very kind to the SEC.

Over at KenPom, the teams have an average plus-20.12 rating. That would make the entire conference the No. 29-ranked team in the country by those metrics.

Making it through SEC play is going to be a grind for Vanderbilt, but if they can play near .500 basketball, it should be enough to get them to 20 wins on the season and earn their first tournament berth since 2017.