- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 392,092
- Reaction score
- 43
CLEVELAND – Jason Edwards “for sure” says he’s planning to be back.
Tyler Nickel says he is, too.
And Devin McGlockton assured fans of this Thursday: “A lot of us have another year, so we're going to keep building off what we built this year.”
Such sentiments from Vanderbilt basketball’s three leading scorers, all juniors, would be enough to whet appetites for what’s ahead if there wasn’t so much in play for them right now.
When Vanderbilt (20-12), the team that hardly anyone saw coming this season, faces Saint Mary’s (28-5) at 2:15 p.m. Friday in the NCAA Tournament’s first round at Rocket Arena, it’ll be the Commodores’ first appearance in March Madness since 2017 and a chance for their first victory in it since 2012.
More: Why Vanderbilt basketball will enter March Madness vs Saint Mary's with chip on its shoulder
This is also, in McGlockton’s words, “only a beginning” for an ascending program that won’t have to rely as much on the transfer portal moving forward.
“The way to be successful is not to rebuild an entire team,” Commodores coach Mark Byington said. “You've got to bring back a core group. You look at the top four teams in the SEC, they brought back a huge core and really good players, sometimes like multiple years. That is what we're trying to build for.”
As improbable as it seems for Byington to have taken the Commodores this far in his first season after being hired from James Madison, it’s even more so when considering how so many of his players barely knew one another when they arrived on campus.
Vanderbilt’s team this season had a mercenary feel to it, given how each its top nine scorers wasn’t on last season’s team. It was by necessity that Byington’s incoming staff added 11 players from the transfer portal in the wake of Jerry Stackhouse’s firing.
But these weren’t throwaways from other programs. These guys had played a lot of basketball. Entering the season, this Commodores’ roster ranked eighth nationally in minutes played last season, boasting 369 combined starts. That ended up mattering.
Edwards, who’s scoring 17 points a game, has been the biggest revelation, arriving from North Texas. But there were others. You’ve had Nickel (10.5) from Virginia Tech and McGlockton (10.4) from Boston College. There has been AJ Hoggard (9.8), a graduate transfer from Michigan State, or sophomore big man Jaylen Carey (8.2), who accompanied Byington from James Madison, or Chris Manon (6.5), who has started 25 games after transferring from Cornell.
Each had reasons – an uptick in NIL funds, obviously, played a prominent role – for buying into what Vanderbilt was capable of in Year 1 under Byington.
But each did.
Freshman Tyler Tanner, who’d committed to Vanderbilt’s previous coaching staff out of Brentwood Academy, wanted to play at home. But Tanner also said, “I could see that coach was building something special here with the guys that he recruited out of the portal and everything. He was getting high character guys and guys that had won.”
McGlockton, an Atlanta-area native, wanted to be closer to home and play in the SEC. Nickel knew Byington because he grew up in Virginia near James Madison’s campus.
“I always liked the way he coached when I watched his teams,” Nickel said, “but when he was at JMU, that wasn’t the level I was going to play at. That was the only disconnect, but I always had respect for him. I always liked him as a guy and as a coach.
"So when he made the move to Vanderbilt and I was in the portal, we talked about everything and what he envisioned for me and us as a team, it just made a lot of sense.”
Estes: Vanderbilt basketball playing with house money after unexpected March Madness bid
Edwards credited Vanderbilt athletics director Candice Lee for his decision to attend Vanderbilt, noting that he was shown blueprints of the newly built basketball practice facility and other plans on campus.
“Not even just basketball,” Edwards said, “but the way she envisioned Vanderbilt athletics, I wanted to be a part of it. Because I understood how much it meant to her and how much it meant to the fans.”
After 20 wins and a return to the NCAA Tournament, it’s clear that Vanderbilt did fine – and quick – work in the portal.
Byington said he “wanted to find players that had something prove,” while acknowledging that “it's a hard process to try to shift through all that in about three weeks.”
Sounds like he won’t have to dig as much in the coming weeks.
“Vanderbilt is going to be back. We're helping start that,” Hoggard said. “This isn't the best yet. The best is yet to come. A lot more work to do, but Vanderbilt is on its way.”
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball: Jason Edwards, Tyler Nickel, others set to return
Continue reading...
Tyler Nickel says he is, too.
And Devin McGlockton assured fans of this Thursday: “A lot of us have another year, so we're going to keep building off what we built this year.”
Such sentiments from Vanderbilt basketball’s three leading scorers, all juniors, would be enough to whet appetites for what’s ahead if there wasn’t so much in play for them right now.
When Vanderbilt (20-12), the team that hardly anyone saw coming this season, faces Saint Mary’s (28-5) at 2:15 p.m. Friday in the NCAA Tournament’s first round at Rocket Arena, it’ll be the Commodores’ first appearance in March Madness since 2017 and a chance for their first victory in it since 2012.
More: Why Vanderbilt basketball will enter March Madness vs Saint Mary's with chip on its shoulder
This is also, in McGlockton’s words, “only a beginning” for an ascending program that won’t have to rely as much on the transfer portal moving forward.
“The way to be successful is not to rebuild an entire team,” Commodores coach Mark Byington said. “You've got to bring back a core group. You look at the top four teams in the SEC, they brought back a huge core and really good players, sometimes like multiple years. That is what we're trying to build for.”
As improbable as it seems for Byington to have taken the Commodores this far in his first season after being hired from James Madison, it’s even more so when considering how so many of his players barely knew one another when they arrived on campus.
Vanderbilt’s team this season had a mercenary feel to it, given how each its top nine scorers wasn’t on last season’s team. It was by necessity that Byington’s incoming staff added 11 players from the transfer portal in the wake of Jerry Stackhouse’s firing.
But these weren’t throwaways from other programs. These guys had played a lot of basketball. Entering the season, this Commodores’ roster ranked eighth nationally in minutes played last season, boasting 369 combined starts. That ended up mattering.
Edwards, who’s scoring 17 points a game, has been the biggest revelation, arriving from North Texas. But there were others. You’ve had Nickel (10.5) from Virginia Tech and McGlockton (10.4) from Boston College. There has been AJ Hoggard (9.8), a graduate transfer from Michigan State, or sophomore big man Jaylen Carey (8.2), who accompanied Byington from James Madison, or Chris Manon (6.5), who has started 25 games after transferring from Cornell.
You must be registered for see images attach
Each had reasons – an uptick in NIL funds, obviously, played a prominent role – for buying into what Vanderbilt was capable of in Year 1 under Byington.
But each did.
Freshman Tyler Tanner, who’d committed to Vanderbilt’s previous coaching staff out of Brentwood Academy, wanted to play at home. But Tanner also said, “I could see that coach was building something special here with the guys that he recruited out of the portal and everything. He was getting high character guys and guys that had won.”
McGlockton, an Atlanta-area native, wanted to be closer to home and play in the SEC. Nickel knew Byington because he grew up in Virginia near James Madison’s campus.
“I always liked the way he coached when I watched his teams,” Nickel said, “but when he was at JMU, that wasn’t the level I was going to play at. That was the only disconnect, but I always had respect for him. I always liked him as a guy and as a coach.
"So when he made the move to Vanderbilt and I was in the portal, we talked about everything and what he envisioned for me and us as a team, it just made a lot of sense.”
Estes: Vanderbilt basketball playing with house money after unexpected March Madness bid
Edwards credited Vanderbilt athletics director Candice Lee for his decision to attend Vanderbilt, noting that he was shown blueprints of the newly built basketball practice facility and other plans on campus.
“Not even just basketball,” Edwards said, “but the way she envisioned Vanderbilt athletics, I wanted to be a part of it. Because I understood how much it meant to her and how much it meant to the fans.”
After 20 wins and a return to the NCAA Tournament, it’s clear that Vanderbilt did fine – and quick – work in the portal.
Byington said he “wanted to find players that had something prove,” while acknowledging that “it's a hard process to try to shift through all that in about three weeks.”
Sounds like he won’t have to dig as much in the coming weeks.
“Vanderbilt is going to be back. We're helping start that,” Hoggard said. “This isn't the best yet. The best is yet to come. A lot more work to do, but Vanderbilt is on its way.”
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball: Jason Edwards, Tyler Nickel, others set to return
Continue reading...
