SEC Basketball: Final 2019-20 power rankings for end of the season

By Dakota Cox | Mar 23, 2020

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - NOVEMBER 12: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts to a mistake by his team in the first half in the game against the Evansville Aces at Rupp Arena on November 12, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

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FAYETTEVILLE, AR – JANUARY 15: Maxwell Evans #3 of the Vanderbilt Commodores,(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

14. Vanderbilt Commodores

It’s safe to say that this was somewhat expected after the disappointing season the Commodores had last season. They could blame their failures last year on the injury of Darius Garland, but they had an entire season to play without him.

They still had Saben Lee this year, but he wasn’t enough. Another issue from this year was losing Aaron Nesmith. Injuries happen to every team, but a healthy Nesmith would have at least kept this team on track.

The ‘Dores still found a way to improve from last year. For one, they actually won a few SEC games. It’s sad that their expectations were that low, but here we are.

Finding a way to beat LSU at home and Alabama on the road should be enough to make this season successful, but that would mean that Vandy would’ve had to take care of business with the rest of their year. Win most of their home games, beat some teams outside of the conference, and have a good SEC Tournament. Instead, Vanderbilt just failed with every step they took. A team can’t lose to Richmond, Tulsa, SMU, Liberty, and Loyola-Chicago and expect to be anywhere higher than last place in the SEC. They buried their SEC Tournament hopes before they even played a game in the conference.

Maybe next year will be brighter for Vanderbilt, but I can’t see that happening just yet. After all, there has to be a worst team in every conference, and Vanderbilt doesn’t have the recruiting pull to improve much. Especially when Memphis is progressing.

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