Vanderbilt counting on new coach Mark Byington to revive the Commodores

Vanderbilt (9-23, 4-14 SEC)

The Commodores start a new era with Mark Byington hoping to tap into the magic he showed taking James Madison to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed knocking off Wisconsin. He replaces Jerry Stackhouse, who was fired in March after going 70-92 over five seasons. Byington faces a tall task of not only luring fans back to Memorial Gym but doing so in a season where the competition only gets tougher in the expanded SEC.

Players to watch

Devin McGlockton (junior PF, 6-7, 10.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg). He shot 57.5% from the floor and 36.7% beyond the arc at Boston College. He now is in the SEC and closer to home in Georgia.

A.J. Hoggard (graduate, G, 6-4, 10.7 ppg, 5.2 apg). He started 34 of 35 games last season at Michigan State, where he ranked 29th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. He also was an honorable mention All-Big Ten pick. He finished his career at Michigan State as one of only seven Spartans with 1,000 points and 500 assists in his career.

Jaylen Carey (sophomore F, 6-8, 7.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg). He followed Byington to Vanderbilt from James Madison where he played all 36 games for the Dukes. He scored in double figures nine times for a team that went 32-4.

Departures and arrivals

The team has only four players back from Stackhouse's last squad. JaQualon Roberts is the only one with any real playing time last season with four starts in 26 games played. McGlockton leads the transfers that includes four graduates. The Commodores will start with forward Kijani Wright out indefinitely with a health issue. The 6--9 Wright spent the last two seasons at Southern California where he played 57 games and was a 2022 McDonald’s All-American. Byington will have to get this group to come together quickly.

Top games

Vanderbilt opens the season Nov. 4 hosting Maryland Eastern Shore. Byington also has California visiting Nov. 13 before Byington's entree to the SEC starts Jan. 4 at LSU with the toughest stretch a three-game swing hosting No. 12 Tennessee on Jan. 18, a visit to No. 2 Alabama on Jan. 21 and a home game against No. 23 Kentucky on Jan. 25. The SEC Tournament is in Nashville a couple miles away starting March 12.

Facts and figures

Byington was hired in late March and goes from competing in a conference where nine of 16 members start the season ranked in the Top 25. When he walked in the doors, he had to build a schedule from scratch along with much of the roster. He wound up bringing in 10 transfers, so the Commodores' preseason has been spent getting to know each other on and off the court.

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