SEC Basketball: Power rankings heading into the SEC season
By Kevin Miller
SEC Basketball Power Rankings:
No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores
There's no sugarcoating this one: Vanderbilt is a bad basketball team. Head coach Jerry Stackhouse hasn't had a good start to a season that could be his last in Nashville. The 'Dores are 5-8 and have lost 7 of their last 9 contests. Losses for Vandy include home games to Presbyterian and San Francisco and every game they've played outside of Nashville.
Is there anything worth mentioning about the Vanderbilt season thus far? Sure. Ezra Manjon is still a good player, ranking in the top-10 in the SEC in points per game and assists per game. That's about it.
The Commodores are dead last in the conference in points per game, field goal percentage, assists, and blocks, and they are second-to-last in 3-point percentage. They also do not have a single player in the top-30 in the league in rebounds per game.
Frankly, barring a miracle, Vanderbilt has no chance of postseason play or even a winning record. If the Commodores finish the year with 10 wins, it will be a minor victory for the program. After winning 22 games last season (albeit in 37 tries), Vandy will not reach half of that total in 2023-2024.
A program with higher expectations than many might remember, Vanderbilt made 7 NCAA Tournaments in 11 years not that long ago but has not made it back to the Big Dance since Bryce Drew took a team of Kevin Stallings players in his first year with the program in 2016-2017. Stackhouse will be 0-5 after this season and will have a losing record as the headman in Nashville.