Despite being in the SEC, Vanderbilt struggles to be competitive in most sports. They are routinely the worst team in football, and the men’s basketball team isn’t far behind. In fact, Vandy is the only SEC school not to field a softball team.
Jerry Stackhouse is trying to change things in the college basketball world, and the Commodores have at least sent players to the NBA in recent years.
While most teams would look at a 19-17 record and an 11th-place conference finish and assume that the year was a failure, Vanderbilt actually improved last season.
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A big reason why Vanderbilt was more competitive was because of Scotty Pippen Jr. he led the team with 20.4 points and 4.5 assists per game, and Vanderbilt won more games this year than in any of the past five seasons.
Pippen Jr. is now entering the NBA Draft and signing with an agent. His time in college is done, and the Commodores have +25000 at the NCAAB future odds to win the title. How do they replace this superstar?
What Pippen Jr. Brought to the Table?
Scotty Pippen Jr. turned the Vanderbilt Commodores into a legitimate team. Were they favorites in many games?
No. However, he had the power to take over a game by himself, and you had to come up with a plan to stop him if you wanted to beat this team.
Pippen Jr. simplified things for Vanderbilt. He consistently got buckets in the paint and got to the line.
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His distribution skills gave teams easy looks, but his gravity as a playmaker set him apart. Defenders would naturally shade towards him in hopes of slowing him down, so his teammates had bigger driving lanes and more time to take shots.
Pippen Jr. can speed up the game with his transition abilities, and he played his best ball in clutch moments.
To put it simply, he gave the Vanderbilt Commodores an identity. Other players stepped up, but the team’s success was mostly because of his talents. Losing him makes everything harder, but can he be replaced?
Other Roster Moves
The real issue with Vanderbilt is that they are losing more to the Transfer Portal than they are bringing in.
The only transfer Vandy added was Ezra Manjon from UC Davis. This doesn’t push the needle, and it certainly doesn’t turn Vanderbilt into a conference contender.
Vanderbilt has a solid recruiting class by their standards, but the team’s best players are forwards and centers.
Unless one of them develops ball skills this summer and turns into a point forward, Vandy is not adding another primary ball-handler.
Interesting Dynamic
This is worrisome for a team that relied so heavily on one player last year. With these moves, Vanderbilt has to hope to land another player in the Transfer Portal. If they fail to do so, they will have to rely on existing players to develop into stars.
You can hope that Stackhouse’s coaching ability helps with this, but you are still asking a lot out of players who saw limited success as role players.
This is going to be an interesting dynamic. Will Vanderbilt rely on existing guards, or will they change their system to feature more bigs? Either way, will they add a transfer guard late in the process to make this team better?
How Do You Replace Scotty Pippen Jr.?
First and foremost, Jordan Wright needs to take a step forward this year. He was the team’s second-leading scorer last year, and he has the ability to facilitate the offense.
If he can improve as a passer, this team will still have an identity in the backcourt. Besides that, look for Vanderbilt to rely on their freshmen in the frontcourt.
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This will change the scheme, but Vandy can win with size in strength. Is this enough to make Vanderbilt relevant? Probably not. Take this in mind next time you review our NCAAB picks.
No one said that it would be easy to replace Pippen Jr. Still, you have to have faith in Stackhouse’s ability to recruit and develop the talent on the roster. At the very least, this team should be able to upset other SEC schools on occasion.
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