A Dull Answer to an Interesting Question

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MikeADore
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A Dull Answer to an Interesting Question

Post by MikeADore »

I had an online conversation with an Arkansas fan a few days ago. He was trying to take stock of SEC teams and how they might finish this season. After noting it looked like four teams, Missouri, Kentucky, Auburn and Florida could take a step back, he asked me if I felt Vanderbilt would be significantly better than those four teams. My reply:


Significantly better than Missouri, Florida, Kentucky and Auburn? No way. Better? Maybe. A decade worth of disappointment has made me very cautious about my expectations. I’ll white knuckle a 10-point lead with a minute left in the game.

This could be coach Ralph’s best all-around team. Her first season she started with 10 players on a team that lost three starters to transfer before Shea was hired. Most of the players she inherited had actually played very little college basketball due to injuries and a season shortened to eight games because of covid. Taking all that into account, I’ve said what coach Ralph faced was more build than rebuild. I stand by that. This program was in dire condition.

Year two she started with nine players (eventually eight with the loss of Amauri Williams), and this time it was a team that lost four starters, one (Brinae Alexander) to transfer, and three (Cambridge, Moore and Kaylon Smith) to pre-season injury. It’s not like rebuilding at a school like Vandy isn’t already tough enough. She faced some enormous and unexpected obstacles.

I say all this just to demonstrate why I feel this could be her best team in her three-year tenure. For one thing, she has 13 players. For another, she finally will have some size with six of the 13 players listed at 6’2 or more. Also, and this is my favorite thing, she has some shooters. Some combination of Iyana Moore, Justine Pissott, Jada Brown, Agata Makurat and Ryanne Allen should be on target in any given game. I’m hoping that allows the coaches to be a bit more creative on offense.

Questions abound. After yet another surgery (3 for ACL tears, 1 for torn achilles), Jordyn Cambridge will try again to play her final season of college basketball. Will she still have the quickness and strength to be a defensive stopper? Will Iyana Moore, an elite three-point shooter, return to form after missing all last season following ACL surgery? Nine of the 13 players are freshmen and sophomores. How will those youngsters fare against the physical specimens of the SEC? There is much to be settled, but I feel the true rebuild, in terms of personnel, can start this year.

So, I have the tiniest seeds of optimism. Sorta. Kinda. Maybe. Please.


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Re: A Dull Answer to an Interesting Question

Post by VandyJim »

Well said, Mike. Three things to guard our optimism:
1. As you mentioned, this team is very young, which means they will be making mistakes in games in an incredibly brutal conference. Young teams will make mistakes ... but they will learn from them.
2. Because they are so young, they do not yet know how to win. That will take time. But if Jordyn is fully back, she'll have a huge influence on them.
3. Can we stay healthy? The injury bug has hurt us for consecutive years now. I just want Coach to have a roster with limited injuries this season.

Mike, even with the three items above, I am really optimistic about this team. We won 12 games last season, now imagine if we get our leader back, we return an excellent shooter from injury, we bring in two legit transfers, and we add some excellent recruits that make us bigger, quicker, and more diverse on the floor. PLus Jayda, Sasha, and Ryanne returning with more experience. Yes, we should be very optimistic.

I can see this team, if healthy, going 16-15 or 17-14. That would be an excellent improvement.
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