CBB Rank 2025: No. 37, Vanderbilt Basketball

Mark Byington just took Vanderbilt basketball to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. What’s next in store for the Commodores?

The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Vanderbilt basketball.

Vanderbilt was, prior to 2023ish, considered the laughing stock of the SEC. But since the birth of the NIL era, the Commodores have emerged as contenders in both basketball and football. Shoutout to athletic director Candice Storey Lee, who has truly energized the athletic programs on and off the court. 

Vanderbilt basketball, who won 20 games for the first time in two years last season, retains a few solid pieces, but also lost a really good offensive weapon in Jason Edwards. Such is life in the portal. In the arms race that is SEC athletics, the ‘Dores did manage to reload quite well. 

At point, it’s likely to be former Arizona State Sun Devil guard Frankie Collins starting. He had a bit of a lost season with TCU last year, and in an odd twist, broke his foot against Vanderbilt last December. He’s now a Commodore, and will provide some solid ball spacing. Returnee Tyler Tanner, who flashed as a freshman last season, will likely back up Collins. Tanner scored 16 against New Orleans and 14 against Cal in the non-conference portion of the schedule. 

Off-ball, there are two very deserving candidates for the starting shooting guard spot. Louisville transfer Mike James and Oklahoma transfer Duke Miles could vie for a position in the starting lineup. James was afflicted with MRSA and missed the entire 2024-25 season at Louisville, but the big-bodied guard was efficient in Kenny Payne’s last season at the helm in Louisville. Miles was an excellent shooter last season at Oklahoma, making 43.0% of his deep shots, but “only” averaged 9.4 PPG as Jeremiah Fears controlled the offense. Both will make an impact in the 2025-26 season, and freshman Jaylon Dean-Vines will also see playing time. 

At the wing, Tyler Nickel returns, one of two double-digit scorers to return to the ‘Dores. Vanderbilt is one of just three SEC teams, joining Texas and Alabama, to return multiple 10+ PPG scorers. Nickel started all 33 games for the Commodores last season, and had performances of 20+ points against both Seton Hall and Texas A&M. “Other Tyler”, Tyler Harris from Washington, is a solid bench option that could see increased playing time if Nickel were to miss time or if Harris keeps up his blue-hot shooting from behind the arc. Harris averaged 49.5% from deep, an insane clip, on three attempts per game for the Huskies last season. That’s elite for any position, let alone a wing. Freshman Chandler Bing (yes, that’s his real name) has never watched Friends before, but that shouldn’t stop him from getting onto the court as the depth option behind Nickel and Harris. 

Returner Devin McGlockton will hold on to the starting power forward spot. McGlockton transferred in from Boston College prior to the 2024-25 season and pretty much replicated that production at Vanderbilt, averaging 10.3 PPG and crashing the boards for 7.9 RPG. McGlockton’s best game last season might have come in the first contest of the year. Against UMES, McGlockton was a perfect 10-10 from the field, scoring 24 points and adding 13 rebounds. Uber-efficient Cornell transfer AK Okereke shot 67.0% from inside the arc last season, which led the Ivy League. He’ll back up McGlockton at the four and might be the most underrated pickup in the portal for the team. 

Former almost-five-star prospect Jalen Washington joins the fold after three years at UNC. He’s struggled to find a niche, yes, but he has improved every season. If he can become more consistent and have more games like he had against Boston College last January (18 points, six rebounds, and three assists), he should cement himself as the team’s starting center. But he’ll face competition from big-bodied Mason Nicholson. The Jacksonville State transfer is listed as 6-9 and 307 pounds. Though he wasn’t a consistent threat offensively last season, he was efficient (64.4 2PT%) and averaged 1.7 BPG in 25.9 MPG. Fun fact, both Washington and Nicholson played for Gary West Side in high school in Gary, Indiana. The highest-rated freshman recruit in Vanderbilt’s Class of 2025, per 247Sports, Jayden Leverett, will provide depth at the center spot. 

The program also added EKU transfer George Kimble III, though he unfortunately will be out for the season with a knee injury. 

Does Vanderbilt go back to the dance in Byington’s second season? They have the continuity to do so, and might be a dark horse in the SEC, if that’s possible for a team coming off 20 wins to be. Also of note, there are three contributors named Tyler on this team. What are the odds of that?

Head coach: Mark Byington (2nd season at Vanderbilt, 13th season overall)

2024-25 record: 20-13 (8-10)

2025 postseason finish: Lost to Saint Mary’s (59-56) in first round of NCAA Tournament

Notable departures: 

• Jason Edwards (17.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.3 APG)
• AJ Hoggard (9.6 PPG, 4.6 APG, 2.6 RPG)
• MJ Collins Jr. (7.4 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 0.5 APG)
• Chris Manon (6.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.7 SPG)

Notable non-conference games: 

• at UCF (Nov. 8)
• vs. Western Kentucky (Nov. 26) – Battle 4 Atlantis
• Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 27-28) – Bahamas
• vs. SMU (Dec. 3)
• vs. Utah (Dec. 13) – Salt Lake City
• vs. Memphis (Dec. 20)

Projected Rotation

PG: Frankie Collins (6-1, 205, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 11.2 PPG, 4.4 APG, 4.4 RPG, 9 GP (TCU)

SG: Duke Miles (6-2, 180, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 9.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 43.0 3P% (Oklahoma)

SF: Tyler Nickel (6-7, 220, Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 10.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 0.9 APG

PF: Devin McGlockton (6-7, 230, Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 10.3 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 1.0 APG

C: Jalen Washington (6-10, 240, Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 5.7 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 0.5 APG (North Carolina)

6: Tyler Harris (6-7, 202, Jr.)

2024-25 stats: 11.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 0.4 APG (Washington)

7: Mike James (6-5, 198, Jr.)

Missed 2024-25 season

2023-24 stats: 12.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.5 APG (Louisville)

8: Tyler Tanner (6-0, 173, So.)

2024-25 stats: 5.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.7 SPG

9: AK Okereke (6-7, 244, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 13.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.1 APG (Cornell)

10: Mason Nicholson (6-9, 307, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 7.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 0.4 APG

11: Jaylon Dean-Vines (6-4, 181, Fr.)

247Sports Composite No. 206-ranked recruit

12: Jayden Leverett (6-11, 245, Fr.)

247Sports Composite No. 178-ranked recruit

13: Chandler Bing (6-5, 211, Fr.)

247Sports Composite three-star recruit

Vanderbilt Basketball team MVP: Devin McGlockton

McGlockton is a force on the boards. For instance, he collected 19 rebounds against Southeast Missouri State last year in 26 minutes. That’s almost one rebound per minute. Phenomenal. Sure, he had some games that should very well be forgotten: fouling out in two separate in-conference road matchups (Tennessee and Georgia) come to mind. But for the most part, McGlockton showed himself to be an above-average starting power forward in a very good league last year. 

This year, he won’t have star guard Jason Edwards to occupy the defense’s main attention, so it’ll be interesting to see how Byington utilizes McGlockton in his schemes this season. The star forward, however, will be invaluable for this team. 

Vanderbilt Basketball make-or-break player: Tyler Tanner

Tanner started off the year on fire, averaging 7.8 PPG in 20.9 MPG over his first 13 career games. But against SEC teams, he only averaged 4.4 PPG and shot 19.4% from deep. He had a stretch from early January to mid-February where he averaged 3.3 PPG and 1.7 fouls per game while shooting 11.8% from deep, just 38.9% from inside the arc, and 55.6% from the line. 

Outside of those 11 games, however, Tanner averaged a pretty-good-for-a-freshman 7.1 PPG. If that stretch of games where he struggled mightily was just an aberration, Tanner is in line for a pretty good year. If it’s indicative of a larger issue, Tanner’s inconsistencies might weigh down the Commodores’ offense. 

Key analytic: Steals per game

Vanderbilt averaged 8.9 SPG last season, good for third-most in the SEC and a rank of 25th nationally. Where did that come from? Welcome back, Tyler Tanner. For his offensive woes, his defense was typically quite good regardless. Against TCU, he had five steals in what turned out to be a single-digit victory. Ditto for a win over Southeast Missouri State, where Tanner had four steals. Overall, he had seven games of 3+ steals as a freshman. That’s pretty good. 

Even a seasoned ball-watcher might not know that Duke Miles averaged a whole 2.3 SPG in just 21.7 MPG for the Troy Trojans as a sophomore in the 2021-22 season. Miles was an above-average defender on the perimeter last year as well, averaging 1.4 SPG. Even in a rough loss to Missouri in February, Miles scored 18 of his team’s 58 points, adding 5 steals, half of the team’s takeaways in the loss. The Commodores’ defense is in good hands. 

Vanderbilt Basketball 2025-26 projections

Projected conference finish: 10th in the SEC

Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Second Round Exit