Mark Pope praises Vanderbilt's 'really impressive' buy-in, historic start under Mark Byington

Vanderbilt is off to its best start in a decade and a half, sitting at 15-4 on the year with a statement win over No. 6 Tennessee this past weekend in Mark Byington‘s first season in Nashville. That came following what was essentially a total roster rebuild, one that featured 11 incoming transfers and just one holdover from the Jerry Stackhouse days. Their nine leading scorers — every player averaging over two points per game, to be specific — are all brand new, just one being a freshman.

Of the entire group, four of them are graduate transfers with five others being upperclassmen out of 13 total scholarship players. They’re old and productive, but all playing together for the very first time. Take it from Mark Pope, who did essentially the same thing with a rebuild of his own in Lexington and finding immediate success: it ain’t easy.

There is a lot of mutual respect there, clearly. And the Wildcats won’t be taking the Commodores lightly for that reason.

“Certainly Vandy has done an unbelievable job. You know what an unbelievable job that staff has done on constructing this team and putting together pieces that fit and having guys fully buy in,” Pope said Thursday. “They’re playing incredibly hard and and have some real joy and moxie and toughness in their game. As a full reconstruct, that’s really impressive along those lines.”

Vanderbilt is now projected to make the NCAA Tournament at No. 38 in the NET with four combined Quad 1 and 2 wins, none bigger than the court-storming-worthy in-state victory over the Vols. They’re doing it all with no scholarship pieces taller than 6-8, doing it all their own way with positional versatility, pace and physicality to make up for size.

6-7, 230-pound forward Devin McGlockton has particularly caught Pope’s eye.

“They start with five guys on the floor that really shoot it, and they’re really, really mobile, so they force you to guard a lot of space — all of those challenges that come with it,” Pope said. “They’re also really physical on the glass. I mean, one of the top rebounders in the league is their undersized starting center, right? No. 99 (McGlockton) is — he’s unbelievable, he’s a second-hit guy.

“A lot of times, you have that first impact of hit on the glass, offensively or defensively, and then it’s a race to the ball. His second hit, he’s creating more space. He’s actually not racing to the ball, he’s trying to create more space where the ball can come to him. It’s really effective, and he’s got a real knack for it. He’s really talented.”

On the other end, they rank No. 19 nationally in forced turnovers and No. 6 in turnover margin while grading out at No. 16 overall in turnover rate, No. 10 in steal rate.

“The biggest thing is it gives them opportunities to switch a ton when they need switches, it gives them an opportunity to force you to guard a lot of space on the floor,” Pope continued. “They play with great pace there — 20, almost 21 percent of their possessions are in transition. They’re a high-turnover team. While their size could pose some problems, it certainly hasn’t done it with their ability to play with pace, to earn space on the floor and to turn teams over.

“They do a great job — I think they’re leading the country now in turnovers turned into points. They’re really effective at doing that.”

Picked to finish last in the SEC going into the season, Byington and his Commodores are quickly earning respect from their conference peers. We’ll see if that translates to more Memorial Magic with the Wildcats in town this weekend.