Thoughts about the Season

[Vandamnit]

I am hoping Jason will jump into this thread and offer his typical detailed analysis, but figured I would give it a start. This was a weird season...for the conference, for the team, for sports in general. Vanderbilt, for the 3rd year in a row, had a devastating injury to a key player. We also played hurt through much of the season, with someone always below 100% or out for a covid protocol.

I think there were some positives. I did watch every game this season, tip to tail, and saw some really good moments. Topping the list was Pippen's play. He just got better and better throughout the season. He is a special player. I truly hope he sticks around next year. Disu was another bright spot, surpassing my expectations, especially as a rebounder. He is also a special player with a bright, next-level future. I saw improvements in the play of Jordan Wright, though his inconsistency was frustrating. He has a great motor, though, and plays with grit. I look forward to seeing his continued development. Max Evans played his best season. I really, really enjoy his game. He is lightening quick, and has a smooth stroke. If he decides to get that graduate degree....PLEASE stick around, Max. Clevon played hurt all season, and we could see glimpses of his potential, but it was limited by his pain. He'd be amazing with a true center, playing the 4.
The freshman all showed glimpses of potential, with Thomas and McBride playing fearlessly at times (sometimes too fearlessly).

A few players remain puzzling. Harvey showed a couple of glimpses of what we expected from him, but also struggled mightily on both sides of the ball for the majority of the season. Millora-Brown has great energy, just couldn't seem to finish on the offensive side, and had too many rebounds stripped from his hands. And Stutte seemed to lose his confidence as the season progressed.

I am of the opinion that we saw enough from CJS to warrant optimism. I liked his game prep later in the season. His lineups puzzled me at times, but he never found his core team, which says something.

Next year's success rides upon the return of our two leading scorers. If they can be joined by graduate student Evans, we ought to see significantly more success next year just given the team's overall growth (I have no sense of the contribution of incoming players). Capturing a Big through the transfer process may be the difference between an 8-8 season, and one with a conference winning record.

I always hate the end of the season. It brings me no relief, even when the team doesn't do well. I have watched and enjoyed aspects of almost every game, even when the wins were scarce. I have never forgotten that these young men are playing a game in the most turbulent year of most of our lives, balancing rigorous academics with a love of sport. That alone get my respect.

Go Dores!

[Hutch37]

we have to find a new big man - its been a while since a transfer really hit but the transfer market is going to be huge. Surely someone that can play will want to join us if they know that Pippen and Disu are back and good to go. I agree with the strange season comment- i am not sure how i have any degree of encouragement after watching only 3 reg season conference wins but our guys did seem to improve and start to figure out how CJS wants us to play. And the fight was there until the end . Disu's rebounding lets us play small with him as the 5 for a little while but we have to generate some more offense in the paint by big men and some offensive rebounding would be a real help.

we also need to develop another player besides pippen who can take it to the hoop. Every team in the league has multiple 6'7" guys who can drive except us.

and surely we are due some breaks on the injury front and in close games...

[charlestonalum]

Progress this year just like last year. Stack said in the SEC network interview after last night's game that he likes the challenge of coaching at Vanderbilt. He pointed out how proud he was of the development Pippen and Disu had this year, and he was particularly complimentary of Disu being name the SEC scholar/player of the year. He furthermore bragged about Nashville and it's fine restaurants. He said we need a big to join the others. In short he answered a lot of criticisms on this forum by saying he really liked our fans, he loves Vanderbilt and Nashville and implied he was busy trying to recruit a center. It has been a better year thai should continue to get better each year. We have a good coach, in my view. He said the magic is headed back to Memorial.

[Jason94]

I am hoping Jason will jump into this thread and offer his typical detailed analysis, but figured I would give it a start. This was a weird season...for the conference, for the team, for sports in general. Vanderbilt, for the 3rd year in a row, had a devastating injury to a key player. We also played hurt through much of the season, with someone always below 100% or out for a covid protocol.

I think there were some positives. I did watch every game this season, tip to tail, and saw some really good moments. Topping the list was Pippen's play. He just got better and better throughout the season. He is a special player. I truly hope he sticks around next year. Disu was another bright spot, surpassing my expectations, especially as a rebounder. He is also a special player with a bright, next-level future. I saw improvements in the play of Jordan Wright, though his inconsistency was frustrating. He has a great motor, though, and plays with grit. I look forward to seeing his continued development. Max Evans played his best season. I really, really enjoy his game. He is lightening quick, and has a smooth stroke. If he decides to get that graduate degree....PLEASE stick around, Max. Clevon played hurt all season, and we could see glimpses of his potential, but it was limited by his pain. He'd be amazing with a true center, playing the 4.
The freshman all showed glimpses of potential, with Thomas and McBride playing fearlessly at times (sometimes too fearlessly).

A few players remain puzzling. Harvey showed a couple of glimpses of what we expected from him, but also struggled mightily on both sides of the ball for the majority of the season. Millora-Brown has great energy, just couldn't seem to finish on the offensive side, and had too many rebounds stripped from his hands. And Stutte seemed to lose his confidence as the season progressed.

I am of the opinion that we saw enough from CJS to warrant optimism. I liked his game prep later in the season. His lineups puzzled me at times, but he never found his core team, which says something.

Next year's success rides upon the return of our two leading scorers. If they can be joined by graduate student Evans, we ought to see significantly more success next year just given the team's overall growth (I have no sense of the contribution of incoming players). Capturing a Big through the transfer process may be the difference between an 8-8 season, and one with a conference winning record.

I always hate the end of the season. It brings me no relief, even when the team doesn't do well. I have watched and enjoyed aspects of almost every game, even when the wins were scarce. I have never forgotten that these young men are playing a game in the most turbulent year of most of our lives, balancing rigorous academics with a love of sport. That alone get my respect.

Go Dores!

I don't have a ton to add to that - the overall record this year masks the significant improvement from last season. I don't feel as strongly that the current freshmen class will have the same impact as sophomores that this year's sophomores had in 2021, so you are correct that it is imperitive that Disu and Pippen return for CJS to have any chance for long term success. And even if they return, without the addition of a legitimate 5 our ceiling will likely be limited, and at this point even if they return, it would seem likely that Disu and Pippen stick around for just one more season and not likely two.

CJS absolutely has to improve his recruiting - and he probably has to improve the overall record for him to do so. That makes next year pretty critical in the overall future success for him and the near term success for our program. Our program has not suffered 4 consecutive losing seasons, and arguably, this was the best season of the last four. If we have no prospects for a good season yet again, and with a season where fans got used to not attending games, we could see an extended absence of Memorial magic.

[Jason94]

Progress this year just like last year. Stack said in the SEC network interview after last night's game that he likes the challenge of coaching at Vanderbilt. He pointed out how proud he was of the development Pippen and Disu had this year, and he was particularly complimentary of Disu being name the SEC scholar/player of the year. He furthermore bragged about Nashville and it's fine restaurants. He said we need a big to join the others. In short he answered a lot of criticisms on this forum by saying he really liked our fans, he loves Vanderbilt and Nashville and implied he was busy trying to recruit a center. It has been a better year thai should continue to get better each year. We have a good coach, in my view. He said the magic is headed back to Memorial.

I don't think he doesn't want to succeed, but recruiting a center and signing a center are two very different things. Right now we are really sure of only one legit SEC starter in our lineup next season - Wright. Even if Pippen and Disu return, we will need to find a starting wing guard and a starting center that have to be an upgrade from Harvey and QMB (not to say it cannot be Harvey and QMB, but they have to play much better than they did this season). Thomas and Stute have to get stronger - Thomas is better suited at the wing than at the point, but his lack of size and strength means he will struggle to score inside the arc and to defend. Stute has the height to do both, but was not effective at either, even in limited bursts. Overall, we have a depth problem that has to be resolved by getting better players if we want to look beyond next season. I don't currently see anyone on the roster with the potential of Pippen or Disu, even assuming strong development from the freshmen. That is the problem.

[EagleDore]

I agree with this, "I am of the opinion that we saw enough from CJS to warrant optimism. I liked his game prep later in the season." I think we've seen CJS grow as a coach. The players have been playing better, as a team, and we've seen multiple players develop their games. I believe our team played better and more energized defense as the season progressed. This team really fought hard down the stretch, and that says something good about motivation. Keeping Disu and Pippen around for at least one more year is very important as it will provide a core for success next year without a complete rebuild, and many have identified, correctly IMO, that recruiting is the biggest hurdle for success at this point. Getting a competent big man down low who can alter shots ( a la Kornet), score double digits and rebound decently would be great. Could we snag an assistant or a "big man consultant" to work with QMB like Ed Martin did for Perdue? Bottom line: we have reason to hope. I think we're on an upward trend.

[Versus75]

And we didn't really get a chance to see what Tyrin Lawrence could do. In limited action before a season-ending injury, Lawrence hit 9 of 12 2-point shots. His per 30 minutes of play stats were strong for an off guard: Rebounds (5.3), Assists (3.0) and Steals (1.4). It was that 0-fer-6 on 3-point attempts that hurt.

Lawrence was the only 4-star recruit among our true freshmen.

[roanoke]

I will throw in my two cents - and, oddly, it is a bit rosier than most folks on the board. And that is not usually my trademark.

I think we have a swarming group of talented and fast guards. Pippen is obviously the star - and I do think he should, on paper, come back for one more year. It is not a case where his family is strapped for money and he desperately needs to get some NBA cash. He is a star - but has a few things to work on. What I especially liked recently was how much he was directing guys in what they should be doing... Floor general. A year of "being in charge" and working on not being forced left will only help his draft stock. I really like Thomas. He is not tall - but he is fast and can shoot and he moves well on defense. Stack seems to want to press and pressure the ball in a perfect world - and Pippen, Thomas, McBride, Evans, and Lawrence are a very good stable of guys who can make life miserable for opponents. Lawrence, of course, must get healthy. Evans may be gone - but he made a great deal of improvement this year and can come back if he wants to. If he can be convinced - he is a quality defender and athlete. He figured out he had to be a scorer around mid-season - and he was one. His back to back alley-oops versus A&M showed how dangerous he can be. I don't mean to leave out McBride, either, he is really good. I like it when he and Thomas are on the court together - they have chemistry. So - I am optimistic about guard play.

The bigs are - as everyone has noted - the area of concern. Clevon probably was hurt most of the year. It is hard to come back from a knee - and that is something we have to remember for Disu next year too. Disu is an awesome player - a walking double-double. And think of how much better he would be if our 5's were a threat to score (and opponent bigs weren't doubling him.) Clevon went out with a 7 & 7 game - a really good one. He was really playing well before he got hurt last year. Like Evans, he probably can come back if he wants to - but with the injuries it might be a harder sell. Milora -Brown has a good motor - and will get better. As is mentioned above, he seems to get stripped of rebounds too often - and he needs to learn to finish around the hoop. But he is a good back-up center right now - and needs to advance to be an SEC caliber starter. And that leaves the obvious, desperate need for a transfer center to get lured here for next year. There should be a lot of them available. And if Pippen and Disu announce early on they will be back - we will be an attractive venue for one of them.

I am also impressed with Wright and have high hopes for Stute. They are also scrappy athletes who can complete the swarm defense CJS seems to like. (I like it too.) I thought we improved significantly on d as the season went on. I also like CJS's willingness to switch up man-to-man and 1-3-1 which we did well - when we had enough bodies.

On offense, (irony alert) we are better when we hit shots. And our shot selection can be pretty iffy at times. I like it when Pippen, Thomas and Evans are on the court because those are three guys who can really hit longballs and that is tough to defend. We do need someone besides Pippen to be able to drive to the hoop. We are a little too dependent on threes. I also think if we are going to have guys who aren't big scorers - they could screen a bit more. Harvey came around late - but did not score much for most of the season. Wright had some quiet scoring nights too. If a guy is a quality player who isn't scoring - let him screen for guys who are. Our 5's screened a bit this year - but we did not screen as much with the rest of the roster and that may be something to improve on going forward. Florida screens like crazy - it was interesting watching the difference in yesterday's game. We did a lot more standing in the corner on offense - again, that works, when you hit shots. But you need a back-up plan when they aren't falling.

Bottom line, I saw progress. I enjoyed watching this team play. We need a 5 to be a tournament team next year. And we need Pippen and Disu to come back. Evans would be gravy - but if he comes back too, we can be very good next year. Stack is a good coach - and he did good work with this team. But next year is a big year for him. It is time to win again.

[Jason94]

And we didn't really get a chance to see what Tyrin Lawrence could do. In limited action before a season-ending injury, Lawrence hit 9 of 12 2-point shots. His per 30 minutes of play stats were strong for an off guard: Rebounds (5.3), Assists (3.0) and Steals (1.4). It was that 0-fer-6 on 3-point attempts that hurt.

Lawrence was the only 4-star recruit among our true freshmen.

Maybe he will be great, but 14 of the 20 points he scored was against MIss Valley St., the worst team in D1, by a wide margin. Any number he had has to be taken with a large grain of salt because of the very small sample size and who he played against. Right now, if I had to rank the freshmen in terms of how much impact I would expect next season I would say 1) McBride 2) Thomas 3) Stute and 4) Lawrence. Not a slight on Lawrence, but more of taking into account the significant amount of playing time that the other three freshmen had this season and how valuable that can be.

[AuricGoldfinger]

One thing I noticed is that half of our losses were by single digits. On the one hand, that seems like a good sign that we're not too far off.

On the other hand, it feels like all of our wins were in games where we got out to big leads and were able to hold off the opponent through continued effective offense. The team did get better defensively--I thought the last home game against Ole Miss was their best effort of the season--but is still limited in the middle and vulnerable to penetration.

In several of those close losses, we just couldn't get over the hump and get clutch baskets and stops down the stretch. Some of that is mental, some is talent.

[vandyhank]

Glad to see improvement. But Stallings was right to shrug off "moral victories" for what they are - loses.

[BooMax]

Vanderbilt must hire a really good X/O guy that is a good to great COLLEGE coach that loves recruiting! No more, no less! It is the head coaches responsibility to build a program with either great recruiting or a college system that fits the players. The 4 and 5 out system is great after you stock up on great talents and/or keep a pipeline coming for the early exits to the NBA.

Being honest, Kevin was successful at times because of systems, but he also became LAZY with his recruiting while watching Jacobs baseball and as a dad I get this, but as an employer / fan it was unconscionable how poor his efforts were on Vandy until almost getting fired again.

Stackhouse hasnt proven he has ability to recruit or implement a college system, so he must do one or the other ASAP. People cant look at his games won with previous staffs recruits and say oh he can coach Vandy to NCAAT, because factually the "system" requires better and deeper talents. I have said, if he puts forth the efforts, he can recruit to the system but when Pippen/Disu leave under current recruiting efforts we are a bad mid-major team at the moment

[commadore]

Vanderbilt must hire a really good X/O guy that is a good to great COLLEGE coach that loves recruiting! No more, no less! It is the head coaches responsibility to build a program with either great recruiting or a college system that fits the players. The 4 and 5 out system is great after you stock up on great talents and/or keep a pipeline coming for the early exits to the NBA.

Being honest, Kevin was successful at times because of systems, but he also became LAZY with his recruiting while watching Jacobs baseball and as a dad I get this, but as an employer / fan it was unconscionable how poor his efforts were on Vandy until almost getting fired again.

Stackhouse hasnt proven he has ability to recruit or implement a college system, so he must do one or the other ASAP. People cant look at his games won with previous staffs recruits and say oh he can coach Vandy to NCAAT, because factually the "system" requires better and deeper talents. I have said, if he puts forth the efforts, he can recruit to the system but when Pippen/Disu leave under current recruiting efforts we are a bad mid-major team at the moment

Thank you for your incredible insight, Mrs. Drew.

[buffy]

Vanderbilt must hire a really good X/O guy that is a good to great COLLEGE coach that loves recruiting! No more, no less! .........I have said, if he puts forth the efforts, he can recruit to the system but when Pippen/Disu leave under current recruiting efforts we are a bad mid-major team at the moment

Thank you for your incredible insight, Mrs. Drew.

Look, I disagree with how Boomax et al. frequently interacts in our community and clearly I disagree with him on Bryce Drew being the answer. That said, I don't disagree with what's in this post.

[DoreRayMe]

Buffy, Couldn't have said it better. Dorerayme

[mathguy]

One thing I noticed is that half of our losses were by single digits. On the one hand, that seems like a good sign that we're not too far off.

I noticed this. We were, I believe, a depressing 0-5 in games decided by 5 points or less. We also had a cancelled regular season game against a team we beat (handily) in the SECT.

A little luck and non-cancelled game and instead of 3-13 we could have been looking at 6-11 or maybe even 7-10 ... and suddenly the season narrative is very very different.

I get the whole "you are what your record says you are" adage ... but this year I think we were a bit better than our record. I think we were closer to "middling" than "genuinely bad".

Certainly no reason to jump off the Stackhouse train just yet. Pippen and Disu come back ... we could be "kinda decent" next year, verging on "rather surprisingly good!".

Of course if they leave ... well ... I think we slide back to "disappointingly frustrating"

[GoVU]

I am a true believer in “your record in close games says how good your coach is. 0-5 in “close” games says a lot.

[buffy]

I am a true believer in “your record in close games says how good your coach is. 0-5 in “close” games says a lot.

Hmm. I disagree. I think "your record in close games" reflects the maturity of your team, not the planning of the coach. That's why senior led teams tend to excel at that.

[UltimateVUFan]

We also had a cancelled regular season game against a team we beat (handily) in the SECT.

I believe we had two regular season games against aTm cancelled.

[mathguy]

We also had a cancelled regular season game against a team we beat (handily) in the SECT.

I believe we had two regular season games against aTm cancelled.

Even better (for my argument)!! 3-13 "feels" like pretty much the same as 3-15 a year ago. But we didn't play two games against the other worst team in the league, and had some awful luck in close games ... 5-13 or 6-12 would have felt a lot different.

We were close to breaking through. We can be good next year if the big 2 return.