Next Season

[Nashmann]

Most of the team's success this coming season will be how all the new pieces gel. Stack has his work cut out for him with so many new players added this offseason. Although CJS needs to play a lot of folks early, the team can't afford to lose games early in the non-conference portion. A tough balance. Will the team play in any pre-season games...trips like the Europe trip and get early practice time? Team bonding? Are any of the players getting together to practice/scrimmage on their own?

[Dsdore]

It looks like they have solid starters in positions 1 - 4 (Manyon, Lawrence, Smith and Taylor) with experience and talent. The question of course is center. I will be very pleasantly surprised if Dort is ready to start at the beginning of the season. Fortunately, the portal has given us some legitimate options. Kamateros brings skill and experience. He probably lacks size and athleticism to be a starting SEC center, but will probably be effective in the preconference. Depending on how quickly he picks up Stackhouse’s systems, I expect Lubin to be adequate at center in the preconference. Dort will have the preconference to improve. I don’t really expect Dort to be a legit SEC center this year (hope I’m wrong). For the SEC, I think it will be center by committee depending on matchups. If Dort is better than expected, we could be quite good. For me, one of the more interesting aspects for next year is the young talent that will be available behind the veterans. It should be exciting to watch them develop. I expect at least a couple to contribute in a meaningful way. Looking forward to it.

[Dsdore]

If Dort can be an effective defender without fouling that would be enough.

[Jason94]

It looks like they have solid starters in positions 1 - 4 (Manyon, Lawrence, Smith and Taylor) with experience and talent. The question of course is center. I will be very pleasantly surprised if Dort is ready to start at the beginning of the season. Fortunately, the portal has given us some legitimate options. Kamateros brings skill and experience. He probably lacks size and athleticism to be a starting SEC center, but will probably be effective in the preconference. Depending on how quickly he picks up Stackhouse’s systems, I expect Lubin to be adequate at center in the preconference. Dort will have the preconference to improve. I don’t really expect Dort to be a legit SEC center this year (hope I’m wrong). For the SEC, I think it will be center by committee depending on matchups. If Dort is better than expected, we could be quite good. For me, one of the more interesting aspects for next year is the young talent that will be available behind the veterans. It should be exciting to watch them develop. I expect at least a couple to contribute in a meaningful way. Looking forward to it.

Two of our best teams in the last 30 years had Chris Lawson and Ross Neltner at starting center - solid if not physically dominating players. While we don't have a Billy McCaffery or a Derrick Byars on this team, we do have really good talent/experience at 1-4 (three of the four players will be seniors, two 5th year) and as you note, a lot better depth at center than either of those teams had (the 1993 team had only 2 players taller than 6'-8" and the 2007 team had only two players taller than 6'-7"). In addition to the three players you mentioned, we also have Lang as a Freshman who is a big body and at the very least can give 5 fouls. Dort is certainly as physically gifted as any of the centers listed here, but also very, very raw. Kamateros is very experienced, but physically limited. Lubin has some experience and is really athletic, but is a bit undersized. None of them can replace Robbins, but since Robbins only played 40% of the available minutes at Center, they only have to replace the composite of Robbins, QMB, Dia and Dort. Dort should easily be as good as he was last season, and probably a whole lot better, so then it is replacing the approximately 20 mpg that we got from QMB/Dia. Both were really bad defensive rebounders for players their size, and were fair shot blockers. Dia shot ok from three but was horrible from inside the arc while QMB regressed in his FG% but was ok.

We had a great center last season who played an average of 16 mpg. After that we had ok to bad options that played the remaining 24 mpg on average. The centers we have do not match what Robbins could do, but I think they all represent an upgrade from QMB, Dia and freshman Dort, who ended up played much more minutes overall. So in my mind we actually are at least as good at Center as we were on the whole of last season, at least on paper.

[MrMemorial]

People might be underestimating Carter Lang.

His offer list included:

Stanford
Ole Miss
Virginia Tech
Texas A&M
Illinois

And some of the other usual suspects.

At around 6-10/250, he shouldn't get sand kicked in his face.

[Nashmann]

Anyone know whether Dort or Lang work or are working with a big man coach (not VU) over the off-season and summer?

[UltimateVUFan]

Will the team play in any pre-season games...trips like the Europe trip and get early practice time?

I would assume the team will play two “secret” preseason scrimmages against decent competition again this year. I believe those are more valuable than two exhibitions against weak competition.

As for foreign trips with a few preseason games, my understanding is all programs are limited to only participating in those experiences every four years.

[VandyManners]

My biggest fear is we start off slow once again as we learn to gel with all the new faces and experience. A slow start could once again prevent us from going to the dance. We will have to wait and see.

I really like Stack and I am pulling for him, but this is year 5. He needs to find a way to start hot and finish hot to give us a chance to be in the tourney. Not making the Dance or going to the NIT is not going to cut it for me after this season. A great coach could have turned it around sooner, and a good coach should be able to do it in year 5. So, let's get it done and stop with all the excuses. Everyone else is also dealing with the transfer portal, NIL, and the repercussions of COVID. Time to go dancing or time to move on...

[Jason94]

People might be underestimating Carter Lang.

His offer list included:

Stanford
Ole Miss
Virginia Tech
Texas A&M
Illinois

And some of the other usual suspects.

At around 6-10/250, he shouldn't get sand kicked in his face.

I wouldn't say that we are underestimating him, just understanding how CJS uses freshmen - he has been generally very cautious in their usage outside of either desperation (first season with Pippen, Disu and Wright when the roster was destroyed by CBD) or when a player is really ready (Smith), and even then it takes a while for them to gain a starting role. Dia and Shelby both had equally impressive offer lists (if not more so - Shelby was offered by Baylor 1 year removed from their NC) and both got very limited PT. Maybe Lang will be the exception, but it appears to me that we already have 3 legitimate center options, all three of whom have D1 experience.

CJS has shown that talent and offers is not a clear indicator of freshman PT in his system. A player has to meet his standards for understanding his offense and defense, and this is not an easy feat for most freshmen (this is a coach who had Manjon and Robbins coming off the bench for multiple games). If Lang does end up playing a lot given who we have at the center position, that would be a very pleasant surprise, but if Shelby couldn't get on the floor ahead of Thomas, Lang will have to be really strong to get PT ahead of Kamateros Dort or Lubin.

[buffy]

Real simple here. This is a guards game. And we have guards. Three legit that we know of, and possibly more. We're gonna be solid.

Our guards kept us winning after Liam went down. Now they have people around them that can shoot.

[Jason94]

My biggest fear is we start off slow once again as we learn to gel with all the new faces and experience. A slow start could once again prevent us from going to the dance. We will have to wait and see.

I really like Stack and I am pulling for him, but this is year 5. He needs to find a way to start hot and finish hot to give us a chance to be in the tourney. Not making the Dance or going to the NIT is not going to cut it for me after this season. A great coach could have turned it around sooner, and a good coach should be able to do it in year 5. So, let's get it done and stop with all the excuses. Everyone else is also dealing with the transfer portal, NIL, and the repercussions of COVID. Time to go dancing or time to move on...

I agree, but am not too worried about it as this is the best talent and dpeth overall that CJS has had. None of the returners are weak players or players with major holes in their games (like Thomas, Stute or QMB), and the freshman class is deep, long and talented. 1 or 2 of those players should be consistently in the rotation by mid-season.

I think a lot of the slow start had to do with the excessive tinkering that CJS did due to the conflict between the players he trusted (QMB, Thomas and Stute) vs. the most talented players (Robbins, Smith and Manjon). Was our loss to So Miss due to chemistry issues or Robbins and Lawrence playing 11 and 12 minutes, respectively? This year it appears that the most trusted players by CJS will be some of his best players (Lawrence, Manjon and Smith). There is no Thomas to play ahead of a Taylor, and no QMB to play ahead of Lubin, Kamateros or Dort. There is no scrappy but undersized Ansong who will be taking away critical PT and development from a promising freshman. There are questions about who starts and plays at center, but I think most agree that the 1-4 spots will get the majority of minutes from Manjon, Lawrence, Taylor and Smith, unless one of the freshmen turns out to be Scottie Pippen good and steals minutes from one of those spots.

The roster is set up for success and plays to CJS' strengths (developing and getting the most of his players) and away from his weaknesses (playing guys he trusts who may not be the most talented). The stuff that CJS is strong at are in many ways the difficult parts. Where he is weak is in roster management, which is something that is very easily improved through planning (and we are seeing signs of that improvement). I'm definitely not one who is all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to evaluating CJS, so if I perceived major issues with the talent or depth, I would say so. I really like the way the roster has come together and see a team that has easily the talent and depth to make the tournament considering how CJS has coached up his talent and the things that have held the team back in the last two seasons.

[mathguy]

Real simple here. This is a guards game. And we have guards. Three legit that we know of, and possibly more. We're gonna be solid.

Our guards kept us winning after Liam went down. Now they have people around them that can shoot.

Agreed. Obviously we will be better if we can get good production from our bigs, But if they are fairly ordinary, we still have pieces for a decent year.

[Hutch37]

Stack can be described in many ways but stupid is not one of them. He knows that he has to get them in the tourney and that needs to be the norm not the exception. The more I think about it we really got robbed last year. It took him a while to get his style players here. For the most part it has taken several years for his players to understand what he expects but with the changes in the game due to the transfer portal the long term approach can be a dangerous one. In filling out your brackets do you not love teams with senior guards that can really play? Well we have that. The big question to me is how quickly all these new faces can learn to play with the intensity and fearlessness required to earn playing time. I think the combo of experience and tons of new faces will make this a really fun team to watch. I hope our schedule starts off easier and builds to having at least a few tough matchups. We have to find a way to get on the national stage and the way we finished the season last year should hopefully have created some more eyes on us.

[Dsdore]

We’ve talked about the transfers and what to expect from them next year, but what about the freshmen (Isaiah West, Jason Rivera-Torres, Malik Presley, JaQualon Presley, Carter Lang)? Does anybody have information, maybe from premium sites, of what their games are like? It appears there is a lot of length and athleticism in the group. Does that translate mainly to defense and rebounding? What about offensively? Any shooters in the group? Slashers to the basket? Would you say this group as a whole will be better offensively or defensively? Or is it a well balanced group?

[MrMemorial]

We’ve talked about the transfers and what to expect from them next year, but what about the freshmen (Isaiah West, Jason Rivera-Torres, Malik Presley, JaQualon Presley, Carter Lang)? Does anybody have information, maybe from premium sites, of what their games are like? It appears there is a lot of length and athleticism in the group. Does that translate mainly to defense and rebounding? What about offensively? Any shooters in the group? Slashers to the basket? Would you say this group as a whole will be better offensively or defensively? Or is it a well balanced group?

To not violate anything, here are the shortened versions.

Isaiah West
The 6-foot-3 guard chose the Commodores over offers from Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and a few other schools that made his final list cut. While West isn’t a physically imposing type of guard, he has an intriguing skillset because of his twitch and quickness that allow him to create his own shot. That twitchiness and quickness also make West into an effective on ball defender. The combo guard is a threat from all three levels offensively because of that ability to get by defenders and to create separation along with his ability to hit shots at an efficient clip. The Vanderbilt signee is also steady enough to play both guard spots at an effective level.

Carter Lang
The 6-foot-9 center isn’t quite as imposing as other bigs but makes up for it with a unique offensive skill set for a big man that could allow him to have a bigger offensive role than any of Vanderbilt’s current bigs have. Lang is a versatile big man that thrives out of screening situations because of his ability to step out and shoot, finish around the rim after a drop down, and read the floor as a passer. The St. Anne’s-Belfield center is a valuable scoring piece because of his ability to stretch the floor with his shot making ability, finish around the rim off of one or two bounces, work mismatches in the post, and his midrange game. What makes Lang unique though is his passing ability and feel for the game. Those skills aren’t often found in the arsenal of high school big men.

JaQualon Roberts:
Indiana native is far and away the best athlete in Vanderbilt’s 2023 class and has an argument as the best athlete on Vanderbilt’s entire roster next season. That athleticism is practical too. Roberts’ athleticism allows him to make highlight plays around the rim, but it opens up much more than that. The fluidity, burst, length, and agility that the 6-foot-7 forward possesses make him versatile enough to guard most positions on the floor at a high level. The length and athleticism that Roberts possesses make him a great fit in Vanderbilt’s aggressive defense in particular. Once the Bloomington North forward is able to adjust to Stackhouse’s defensive system, he could be exactly what the Commodores need. A versatile, high energy, agile, high motor defensive piece who can block shots and force turnovers.

Jason Rivera-Torres:
"It's been going great," Rivera-Torres said of his team's season. "We are currently 25-0 and we just won the Regional Championship in our area and we have been named the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the entire country by MaxPreps which is amazing." Jason averages 15 points, eight rebounds, four steals, five assists and two blocks per game, he also maintains a 4.05 GPA. 6 feet 7 inches and 185 pounds.

Malik Presley
Passed on offers from Texas, Arizona State, TCU and others last fall. UPDATE: The 6-foot-6, 170-pounder held offers from Texas, Arizona State, TCU, Houston, LSU, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, Texas A&M, and others. Known for his athleticism and defense, Presley averaged 20.1 points per game, 9.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals as a senior for San Marcos TX.


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[Jason94]

We’ve talked about the transfers and what to expect from them next year, but what about the freshmen (Isaiah West, Jason Rivera-Torres, Malik Presley, JaQualon Presley, Carter Lang)? Does anybody have information, maybe from premium sites, of what their games are like? It appears there is a lot of length and athleticism in the group. Does that translate mainly to defense and rebounding? What about offensively? Any shooters in the group? Slashers to the basket? Would you say this group as a whole will be better offensively or defensively? Or is it a well balanced group?

No idea what to expect outside of I expect one to be good and another to be in the rotation, but your guess is as good as any as to who that might be.

We don't really have any need for any of the freshmen to play a starting role at 1-4, and if Lang ends up starting, he would have to be really good as a freshman. Someone playing a version of Smith from last season would be great, getting 15 mpg at the wings spot. Another playing 10 mpg at the post spots would also work.

CJS doesn't need any of the freshmen to be great for this team to had a really good year. Any contribution from a freshman will be icing on the cake, and setting up for next season.