Vanderbilt Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Commordores
By Chris Kern
The Vanderbilt Basketball team was not very good last season. With the addition of some talented freshman, they will look to get back to postseason play.
After making the NCAA Tournament in his first season Bryce Drew’s squad was a big disappointment the following year. They had a lot of seniors and they expected to make it back to the big dance.
At the end of the day, they didn’t have the talent needed to compete in the improving SEC. That will not be the case this season though.
They bring in a really good freshman class featuring star point guard Darius Garland. Guard Aaron Nesmith and Big man Simi Shittu are both very good players in their own right. Those three made up the 13th best class in the country by 247sports.
When you have so many new guys it’s tough to win at a high level right away when you don’t have upperclassmen to lead you. This Vanderbilt team doesn’t really have that. Forward Joe Toye is the only senior on the team.
This can’t be thought of as a development year either. Garland and Shittu are both potential one-and-done guys, making this potentially their only year in college.
This team has the talent but can Bryce Drew get these guys playing at a high enough level early enough to get them into the NCAA tournament?
As they learned in 2016-17 a few big wins during the season can be enough to carry you into the big dance. Vanderbilt needs to get there for this to be a successful season. When you have two guys like Garland and Shittu, anything less would be a disappointment.