Mark Byington debuted as Vanderbilt's new coach by guiding the Commodores to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017. They won 20 games for the first time since 2011-12 and had 11 more victories than
the season before. Byington filled up his roster with 11 transfers. Byington has gone back to the portal for more help after point guard and leading scorer Jason Edwards left for Providence.
Guard Duke Miles started 34 games last season for Oklahoma where he scored 9.4 points a game and shot 43% from 3-point range. Tyler Harris led Washington shooting 49.5% from 3-point range, and Jalen Washington spent the last three seasons at North Carolina. Guard Mike James arrived after an injury sidelined him last season at NC State after two seasons at Louisville.
Edwards and Jaylen Carey left through the portal. Chris Manon's eligibility ended. Guard Chandler Bing from Atlanta is one of three freshmen. Another portal addition is 6-10 forward Mason Nicholson. He averaged 7.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season at Jacksonville State. Graduate transfer AK Okereke averaged 13.9 points a game at Cornell. Guard Frankie Collins played nine games for TCU before a season-ending injury against Vanderbilt.
The Commodores are playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis starting with Western Kentucky. They host SMU on Dec. 3 and visit Memphis, an NCAA Tournament team in March, on Dec. 17 and Wake Forest on Dec. 21. SEC play begins Jan. 3 at South Carolina. Alabama visits Jan. 7 followed by LSU on Jan. 10. They play both Kentucky and Tennessee home-and-home with both road games in the final three of the regular season.
The Commodores beat five AP Top 25 teams last season for the first time since beating six such teams during the 2006-07 season. ... They shot 45.1% last season and ranked seventh in the Southeastern Conference averaging 79.6 points a game. ... Vandy ranked second in the SEC forcing 14.1 turnovers per game. ... Tyler Nickel ranked second in the league shooting 45.2% from 3-point range in SEC play last season. He ranked fourth with 45 3s in league games. Vanderbilt went 13-4 when he made at least three 3s in a game.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
