Vanderbilt Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Commodores

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 16: The Vanderbilt Commodores band performs in the second half against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /

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KNOXVILLE, TN – FEBRUARY 19: Aaron Nesmith #24 of the Vanderbilt Commodores drives with the ball past Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half of their game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 19, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /

Key returning players and top recruits for Vanderbilt

Despite averaging just over 68 points per game last season, Vanderbilt had four players averaging double-digits, the good news is two of those players return, the bad news is neither one is Darius Garland or Simisola Shittu, even though that was expected to be the case. The two that are returning are junior guard Saben Lee and sophomore forward Aaron Nesmith, Lee led the team in scoring at 12.7 per game (with Garland playing in just five games) and assists with 3.8 per contest.

Smith scored 11 points per game and is the team’s top returning rebounder, pulling down 5.5 per game. Those two players are the only ones returning who averaged more than four points per game and 15 minutes per game.

Stackhouse has brought in a solid recruiting class with four true freshmen, all of which are rated as three-star recruits by 247Sports. The class is headlined by Dylan Disu, a 6-9 power forward out of Texas who averaged 23 and 10 as a senior, and a name that will be familiar to all hoop fans, Scotty Pippen, Jr. The son of the Chicago Bull great is a 6’1-point guard who played for the vaunted Sierra Canyon squad in California where he was a four-year starter.

The other two members of the class are 6-5 guard Jordan Wright and 6’10 Oton Jankovic from Croatia who played his senior season at Montverde Academy in Florida. Wright stuffed the stat sheet as a senior with 20 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and two assists, earning him first-team all-state honors in Louisiana.

The class could’ve been even better but Kenyon Martin, Jr. a 6’6 forward and the son of the former No. 1 pick who originally committed to Vanderbilt, decommitted and has decided to play a season of prep ball and prepare for the NBA draft.

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