Mark Byington addresses conversation with players, staff about bracketology projections

March is rearing its head, which means every outcome matters when it comes to The NCAA Tournament. Wins, losses — bad losses. Fans are analyzing where their favorite teams stand, whether it be firmly in the field or on the bubble.

So it comes as no surprise that those inside these programs keep an eye on it themselves. For Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington, he opened up on how the Commodores are handling their projected spot in March Madness — the Last Four In.

“I try to stay away from it, but you can’t be naive and understand that the message isn’t getting through to the players,” Byington explained. “I mean, I’ll walk down the street, I’m going to Starbucks and somebody will yell at me, ‘You’re the last four in’. I obviously, know what they’re talking about and I usually just check it once a week, but with the guys we just talk about there’s not bad losses in this league, you just can’t have a lot of them.”

Entering the final week of February, Vanderbilt’s margin for error is slim to none that close to the bubble.

After losing to Kentucky by 21 points on the road during the week, Vanderbilt turned around and defeated a ranked Ole Miss team 77-72. According to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the win moved Vanderbilt into the ‘Last Four Byes’ cateogry in Lunardi’s latest projections.

“Every team’s good and the wins are really special and great and you’ve got to try to find as many of them and try to stop the bleeding, you can’t have consecutive losses for very long,” Byington continued.

“The mentality that I want for our guys and we’ve talked about this just put everything into the next game and don’t worry about anything else and that way we’re not worried about the past behind us or having unneeded anxiety about the future because we’ve got to win as many of them as we can and then let the selection committee do its thing.”

Vanderbilt has four games left on its regular season schedule, and immedietely has a massive opportunity to solidify their spot well within the NCAA Tournament. Set to travel to No. 7 Texas A&M on Wednesday night against an Aggies squad coming off two-straight losses, the Commodores have an opportunity to secure their fourth win over a ranked SEC opponent this season.

After that, they have another opportunity against a white-hot Missouri team in Nashville on March 1. Vanderbilt will round out its regular season against Arkansas at home, and then on the road at Georgia.