Vanderbilt is surging at the right time but it still has work to do
Vanderbilt is feeling good about itself and for good reason. The Commodores have won four of their past five games, including an 87-74 win on the road over Florida on Tuesday night.
Things are going so well for coach Kevin Stallings’ team, that center Josh Henderson almost effortlessly threw in an 80-foot shot just before halftime in the highlight of the day in college basketball. Meanwhile, Damian Jones almost couldn’t miss, making 12 of his 13 shots for a career-best 27 points.
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While the Commodores are playing some of their best basketball of the season of late, it’s much too soon to count on this team for an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. It’s only notable victories all season are the two times it has beaten the Gators and a victory over Texas A&M. That’s it.
While it doesn’t have a long list of impressive wins, it also doesn’t have many losses that make you cringe. The Commodores’ worst setbacks are against Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. None of those teams are very good, but they’re SEC teams capable of taking down anyone at the top of the conference who might be having an off night.
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Vanderbilt played a strong non-conference schedule that might help it get into the NCAA Tournament next month even though it came out on the losing end in the most important games outside the SEC, against Kansas, Dayton, Baylor, Purdue and Texas.
The Commodores fate might come down to whether it can pick off another win over a ranked team down the stretch of the regular season. It will play host to No. 16 Kentucky on Saturday and travel to No. 21 Texas A&M for the regular season finale a week later. On top of that, this team will probably have to make a deep run in the SEC tournament to keep its hopes alive.
So Vanderbilt still has work to do, but at least the Commodores are having fun and playing loose. You could see that in the reaction to Henderson’s shot and the way they handled Tuesday’s win. Did you see Henderson snatch a bite of a fans popcorn on the way to the locker room? Classic moment that might be very memorable in the context of the season if the Commodores can keep it up and earn a spot in the March Madness.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
