Texas A&M Aggies – Grade: C
Buzz Williams has his Aggies playing like one of the best teams in the SEC. A few seasons ago he was very active in the transfer portal because he was trying to build a roster quickly. Now that the roster is established and relatively young, with a lot of players expected to return, coach Williams can now be more selective. The Aggies were not flashy in the portal, they were not just trying to stockpile talent. They were after a very specific type of player and were after a need. That need was a guard and a backup wing.
Those are the two players they were able to secure. Eli Lawrence is a player from Middle Tennessee who is a good three-point shooter and averaged 13 points per game as a starter for the Blue Raiders last season. He likely comes off the bench for Texas A&M but the year is young. Jace Carter played the first part of his career in Chicago as part of the Illinois-Chicago Flames program. Carter is a great scorer and is going to give the Aggies another great scoring option on the perimeter and in the lane. The Aggies should be good again.
Vanderbilt Commodores – Grade: F
After such a promising season for the Commodores last season. The first one that made us all feel good about head coach Jerry Stackhouse. The Vanderbilt program has struggled in the offseason to maintain the positive momentum. Vanderbilt lost a bunch of top contributors from last year’s team and even saw two of them transfer within the conference. There are some rumors floating around that one of those players may come back to Nashville. If that does happen it will be huge for the Commodore program
Vanderbilt was able to get a few commitments to help but neither of them is going to be great this year. Evan Taylor had a solid career at Lehigh but was never what anyone would call a star. He was a great Patriot League player but how will his game translate to the SEC? That remains to be seen. Ven-Allin Lubin is a transfer from Notre Dame who is unproven. The former 4-star recruit is already on his second school in two years and has a ton of potential. He is the prize of the recruiting class but there is a lot to be desired for Vanderbilt in the transfer portal.
There was a lot of movement that took place in the SEC. Rosters are nowhere near finalized and those teams who were given an F can always get a passing grade as the year goes on. How the rosters shape up as the offseason goes along is going to be very interesting. Stay tuned as things are starting to heat up.