The Kentucky Wildcats are one of the few teams in college basketball, let alone the SEC, that consistently bring in more than three NBA level talented players on a roster. Due to the arrival and dominance of head coach John Calipari, Kentucky has been the class of the SEC once again.
However, this season Kentucky doesn’t look like the dominant team that everyone expects. In fact, even with three five-star players in Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray and Skal Labissiere, this Kentucky team looks like the weakest its been since Nerlens Noel played at the school — and everyone within the conference has taken notice.
The SEC has gotten much stronger and teams have filled their roster in order to compete. LSU brought in Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney. Texas A&M returned Alex Caruso and Danuel House. Meanwhile, Ole Miss brought back their electrying point guard Stefan Moody.
Even though all of these teams are great in their own right, the team that many people need to start paying attention to is the Vanderbilt Commodores because this year their team is real. Vanderbilt finally has a few players that could find themselves playing in the NBA and if their developed properly while in college, their team could be a scary one to face.
Firstly, you can’t have a discussion about Vanderbilt basketball unless the name Damian Jones is included. Jones is the biggest reason why Vanderbilt has a chance against anyone in college basketball. A true physical specimen, Jones is listed at 7’0″ and 245 pounds, and he has enough physical strength to match up with any center in college basketball.
However, if you watch Jones play, you know he’s more than just a physical player relying on brute strength to bully his opponents into submission.
Jones has a developing post game and if it reaches the level many expect him to take this year then it will spell trouble for everyone inside of the conference. In addition to his strength, Jones has a soft baby hook in the lane that he uses to throw off his opponents.
Furthermore, every time Jones is in deep enough position, he uses the drop step to his advantage. To start off the year he’s already putting in work, averaging 11.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. Look for all of those numbers to increase before the end of the year because Jones will be a huge focal point of Vanderbilt’s offense moving forward.
If you think that this team is a one-man show, then you’re sorely mistaken. Outside of Jones, there are a few players on the roster everyone will grow to love. Vanderbilt’s point guard Wade Baldwin IV is a special player and it could be argued that he’s the best point guard in the conference. The best part of any point guard’s game is obviously to get his teammates involved and put them in a position to get buckets. Baldwin does that and much more.
The biggest question mark surrounding Baldwin’s game was his ability to score, or more so his willingness to shoot. Baldwin in his sophomore season has started to get more aggressively offensively. This season he’s already averaging 14.7 points, and he’s shooting 51 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the three-point line.
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Baldwin also had a 21-point performance against Stony Brook in a 79-72 overtime win where he shot lights out (58 percent from the floor and 44 percent from distance).
In addition to Jones and Baldwin, Vanderbilt also has two other players on the roster that can score with the best of them. One of them is sophomore Riley LaChance. The 6’2″ guard was featured as one of our five players in the SEC who have flown under-the-radar that you need to know.
LaChance plays in the mold of Ben Gordon, Kenny Boynton Jr. and Jimmer Fredette, meaning that he’s a scoring guard trapped in a point guard’s body. LaChance this season has a legitimate shot to put up big numbers in his sophomore season because of the attention that Jones is going to get inside of the paint.
When Jones has to face double-teams, someone will be left open and most likely LaChance will be somewhere floating on the perimeter for an uncontested three-pointer.
The second is shooting guard Matthew Fisher-Davis. As a freshman last year Davis impressed as he averaged 7.2 points in 22.9 minutes per game. Now Davis plays 24.7 minutes a game and his scoring numbers have increased as well to 8.7 points per game. Davis will also serve as one of the key factors to Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament run.
The bottom line is Vanderbilt is pretty stacked this year and there’s a reason why they’re ranked No. 17 in college basketball. The question is can your favorite team matchup with them?
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