Latest news with #Byington
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Will Commodores make NCAA Tournament? Where Vanderbilt stands in latest ESPN bracketology update
Vanderbilt basketball was eliminated from the SEC tournament with a first-round loss to Texas on Wednesday, and it might've impacted its NCAA Tournament chances. Vanderbilt fell to Texas 79-72 on Wednesday but finished the season with a 20-12 record and an 8-10 record in the SEC, which is expected to lead all conferences in NCAA Tournament bids. The Commodores also have impressive wins, with victories over Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Missouri this season. Vanderbilt and first-year coach Mark Byington are looking to reach the big dance for the first time since 2017. REQUIRED READING: Vanderbilt basketball still confident in March Madness bid even after SEC tournament 1st-round loss "We beat a lot of teams that are probably gonna be 1- or 2-seeds this year, so we're a little bit banged-up right now," Byington said after the Texas loss. "I anticipate us being fully healthy the next couple days, and then we will look like we did maybe a week and a half ago. We played great basketball the entire year, but I think we had a stretch there in February, I think we were one of the best 20 teams in the country." While Vanderbilt has an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume, its three-game losing streak against Arkansas, Georgia and Texas haven't helped its cause. Here's a look at the latest on Vanderbilt's NCAA Tournament chances, according to ESPN's bracketology: The Commodores were listed as a No. 10 seed in ESPN's latest bracketology update and are firmly in the field as of now. Vanderbilt was listed one spot behind Oklahoma in the "Last Four Byes" section, with six teams projected behind the Commodores for an at-large bid. Vanderbilt should be fairly safe, barring chaos scenario bid stealers. Vanderbilt is 5-9 in Quad 1 games and 4-3 in Quad 2, with no losses in Quad 3 or 4 games this season. The Commodores fell to No. 48 in the NCAA's NET rankings after the Texas loss, which ranks behind North Carolina (37), Utah State (38), Texas (41), Oklahoma (43), Xavier (45) and Boise State (46), who are all also on the NCAA Tournament bubble. While Vanderbilt should be fine come Selection Sunday, ending the season with three consecutive losses leaves some room for concern as it awaits its NCAA Tournament fate. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Where Vanderbilt basketball stands in latest ESPN bracketology update
New York Times
02-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Vanderbilt upsets No. 14 Missouri: What overtime win means for Commodores' NCAA hopes
Foul or defend? No. 14 Missouri chose the latter, and Vanderbilt's Tyler Nickel made Missouri pay on Saturday, drilling a 3-pointer with four seconds left to force overtime and set up another dramatic Commodores win at Memorial Gym. SEC Coach of the Year? In most years, first-year Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington and Missouri's Dennis Gates — both of whom have engineered two of the sport's biggest turnarounds — would have been 1-2 in some order. And Byington's 97-93 overtime win might have been the difference. But most years don't have a coach winning possibly the best conference in men's basketball history outright with a week left in the regular season, as Auburn's Bruce Pearl just did. Advertisement Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament? That's a lock. A true lock. A 'lose the final two regular-season games and get blown out in your SEC Tournament opener, and you still won't sniff the bubble again' lock. That's the result of the best week for Vanderbilt men's basketball in many, many years: The Commodores will earn a bid for the first time since 2015-16, Bryce Drew's debut season. A dramatic Drew decline ensued, followed by the frustrating Jerry Stackhouse era. Byington has come in, essentially assembled an all new team and kept winning at a high rate as he did at previous stops James Madison and Georgia Southern. NICKELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL‼️ OT ⚓️⬇️ — Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) March 2, 2025 Vanderbilt is 20-9, 8-8 in the SEC and perhaps capable of a No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament after the Commodores went 9-23 last season in Stackhouse's last shot. Wednesday's win at Texas A&M was the program's biggest in years. Saturday's made this a week to remember. Vandy does it with rotating heroics, and it was Michigan State transfer point guard AJ Hoggard who sliced up the Tigers (21-8, 10-6) with 21 points, six assists and power drive after power drive in winning time that created excellent shots. Chris Manon had 23 points, primary bucket-getter Jason Edwards 17 and Nickel 12, including the tying dagger at the end of regulation on a pass from Hoggard. Missouri remains firmly in the hunt for a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, coming off an 8-24 showing in Gates' second season. Caleb Grill had 28 points on Saturday, and Mark Mitchell had 20. The Tigers led for more than 32 minutes. But they were stung by the same 'Memorial Magic' that got Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss earlier this season and by the decision to defend rather than foul. Of course, Vanderbilt was just 8-for-26 from 3-point range in the game, while collecting 18 offensive rebounds. (Photo of Chris Mañon: Carly Mackler / Getty Images)
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Curt Cignetti denies report he's pushing for Vanderbilt's Mark Byington to be Indiana coach
Mark Byington has been a revelation in his first year as Vanderbilt's men's basketball coach, inheriting a Commodores program that won nine games last season and guiding it to a 17-7 record and a likely spot in the NCAA Tournament heading into its game Saturday at Tennessee. With that success, naturally, has come outside interest and speculation. Byington's name has appeared on several lists of potential candidates at Indiana, which will look to replace coach Mike Woodson when he steps down at the end of the 2024-25 season. That chatter intensified Saturday, when college basketball reporter Adam Zagoria wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that Byington is 'a name to keep in mind' at Indiana and that Hoosiers football coach Curt Cignetti is 'pushing for him.' REQUIRED READING: Vanderbilt basketball vs Tennessee score today: Commodores take double-digit lead at half One of the figures at the center of the report denies the veracity of at least one aspect of it. Cignetti, who coached at James Madison at the same time as Byington, responded to Zagoria's post to say it was 'not true.' '(Indiana athletic director) Scott Dolson knows alot (sic) more about basketball than I do,' Cignetti wrote. 'I have my own team to focus on.' Byington coached four seasons at James Madison from 2020-24, overlapping almost entirely with Cignetti's five-year tenure at the Virginia school. He went 82-36 during that time, culminating with a 32-4 record and a run to the second round in the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years. Shortly after his team was eliminated, Byington was hired at Vanderbilt. In his first season in Nashville, Byington has emerged as one of a handful of strong candidates for national coach of the year honors. After rebuilding the Commodores' roster in the offseason, primarily through the transfer portal, he has Vanderbilt as a projected NCAA Tournament team, one that has notched high-profile victories against the likes of Kentucky and Tennessee. Heading into the weekend, he had the Commodores three victories shy of just their second 20-win season since the 2015-16 season. Though he's just one year into his time at Indiana, Cignetti could have notable influence at the school after leading the historically woeful Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff. Indiana, barring a change at North Carolina, is likely to have the most attractive coaching vacancy this season. The Hoosiers have won five national championships and are among the top 10 schools in the country in basketball spending, though they've largely struggled this century, having advanced past the first week of the NCAA Tournament only three times since 2003 (and never gotten past the Sweet 16). Byington's a Virginia native who has never coached farther north than his home state. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Curt Cignetti denies he's pushing for Mark Byington to be Indiana coach
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Loss to Auburn was a March Madness lesson for Vanderbilt basketball, Mark Byington
Vanderbilt basketball has improved leaps and bounds from Jerry Stackhouse's last season as coach to Mark Byington's first. But that improvement has still left the Commodores (17-7, 5-6 SEC) with a gap between them and some of the top teams in the country. That was evident in Tuesday's game against No. 2 Auburn (22-2, 10-1). Vanderbilt played quite well at times. The Commodores even overcame a 15-0 run to start the game from the Tigers and held a lead as late as 14 minutes to go in the second half. But ultimately, Vanderbilt couldn't keep it close in the 80-68 loss at Memorial Gymnasium. Auburn was overwhelming. The Tigers didn't just have National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome − who didn't even look like the best player on his own team. Instead, Denver Jones and bench player Chaney Johnson each put up 20 points. "They had some good bigs," Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton said. "I feel like me and (Jaylen Carey) ... I thought we were the best bigs out there tonight, we did a good job crashing the glass and finishing around the rim." McGlockton finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Carey had eight points and 10 rebounds. Vanderbilt won the overall rebounding battle, 37-29. But the Commodores also allowed Auburn to shoot 52% from the field. Vanderbilt shot 42% and was just 3-for-17 from 3-point range. While the Commodores had a respectable 12 turnovers, they forced just eight turnovers from the Tigers. "They don't have any weaknesses," Byington said. "They can play different styles of basketball. They really execute. Their offense is good, and I thought their defense was really impressive. Today, we struggled early getting rid of them." Vanderbilt put itself behind from the start with Auburn's 15-0 run to start the game. After that point, the Commodores outscored the Tigers. But as has happened in many games this season, Vanderbilt played poor defense in the second half, allowing 46 points on 61% shooting. Currently on the March Madness bubble, the Commodores won't be knocked too heavily for losing to a team considered by many to be the best in the country. But if Vanderbilt does earn a seed in the 9-11 range as it is projected, it will likely need to beat a team the caliber of Auburn − or Florida or Alabama, two other top-five teams that boatraced the Commodores − to advance out of the first weekend. "Maybe it was fatigue," Byington said. "They're deep. They've got big bodies, but can't quite put the finger on that. I'm not sure why the second half got away from us. We just weren't ourselves the first four or five minutes. We weren't ourselves like the last four or five minutes, and in between, we weren't that bad." Byington admitted he didn't really have a matchup defensively for some of Auburn's players. The Tigers have unusual size among their guards, while Vanderbilt's backcourt is relatively undersized. While none of them are quite as good as Auburn, the Commodores will face a gauntlet to finish out their season with road games at Tennessee and Kentucky, plus Georgia and Texas A&M, and home games against Ole Miss, Missouri and Arkansas. According to Bart Torvik, the Ole Miss game projects as a pick 'em and Vanderbilt would be favored against Arkansas. The Commodores are projected underdogs in every other game. BRACKETOLOGY: Where Vanderbilt basketball ranks in latest March Madness Ultimately, Vanderbilt will need to find ways to beat these elite teams. The Commodores already have wins over Tennessee and Kentucky at home, but the road tilts will provide an even bigger challenge. "We just got to try to find ways to get better, ways to improve," Byington said. "So when we're in these situations again, we can get one of these." Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@ or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball outmatched but there was a March Madness lesson
NBC Sports
28-01-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Vanderbilt finds success is costly. So far, two court-stormings have net them $750K in fines
When he was hired by Vanderbilt to rebuild the men's basketball program after years of mediocrity, Mark Byington envisioned a moment like the football team experienced last October, when fans stormed the field following a win over Alabama. Byington might have to start getting used to such moments. In the span of just over a week, the Commodores have edged No. 6 Tennessee and pulled an upset of ninth-ranked Kentucky — heck, they played No. 4 Alabama tough in a road loss in between — and finally crashed the AP Top 25 after nearly a decade in the hinterlands. They came in at No. 24 in this week's poll, one of 10 schools from the might SEC in the rankings. 'There's big-picture things I wanted to happen around here and ... at one point I want it to be where we're not surprised, that we don't feel like the underdog in these games, and we're going into them knowing that that our program is good and we expect to win,' Byington said. 'We're not there yet, so let the fans enjoy it.' Even if the celebrations prove costly. The court-storming after the win over the Vols cost the Commodores a $250,000 fine from the SEC, and a second storming after the win over the Wildcats earned them another $500,000 punishment. 'We got to start a GoFundMe page or something to pay fines,' Byington said. 'We'll figure it out.' They have a bit of time. The Commodores, who are ranked for the first time since Dec. 7, 2015, get a slight reprieve from what has been the toughest league in the country before traveling to SEC newcomer Oklahoma. Things only get tougher from there. Vanderbilt has a stretch spanning about a month where it visits fifth-ranked Florida, plays Texas and No. 1 Auburn, heads to Tennessee and Kentucky for rematches, welcomes No. 23 Ole Miss to Memorial Gymnasium, visits No. 13 Texas A&M and finishes up with No. 20 Missouri. 'It's not time to reflect, and it's on to what's next. And I've always kind of had the mentality,' Byington said. 'If you get too low in this league, I mean, it's going to stomp you and crush you. And if you get too high, somebody's going to knock you off. And so we keep it simple. Let's just keep getting better. We'll see what happens.' Tennessee's tough stretch Everyone in the SEC is going to have a brutal stretch at some point, and Rick Barnes and the Vols are going through theirs right now. After losing to the Commodores, they knocked off No. 14 Mississippi State before falling again, this time in a 53-51 slugfest against top-ranked Auburn in a game that wasn't decided until the closing seconds. Now, the Vols have a three-game homestand against ranked teams beginning with Kentucky. The Gators arrive for another showdown of top-10 teams, and then Missouri visits Thompson–Boling Arena. 'We have a chance to be so much better and I think we can get better,' Barnes said. 'We're coming to the end of January. A lot of basketball left. We want to be at our best at the end of the year and we got guys that are going to continue to work to do that.' Still streaking — barely Two-time defending national champion UConn heads into the week having lost three of its past five games, all to unranked foes, and tumbled six spots to No. 25 this week. The Huskies narrowly extended their poll streak to 52 consecutive weeks, the fourth-longest current run behind Houston (98), Kansas (77) and Tennessee (72). It won't be easy to keep it going this week. UConn plays DePaul before a trip to No. 9 Marquette. Missouri Valley love Drake received some Top 25 votes earlier this season and continues to roll along at 18-2 overall and 8-2 in league play heading into a game against Northern Iowa. But the Bulldogs aren't the only Valley team getting some respect. Bradley, which hasn't been ranked since the final poll of the 1987-88 season, picked up a vote. The Braves have won five straight to improve to 18-3 overall and 9-1 in the league. They next play UIC.
