On Saturday afternoon, Memorial Gymnasium was rocking as the Vanderbilt Commodores made the Auburn Tigers’ 16-point advantage disappear as if they were performing a magic trick. Behind the efforts of sophomore stud Jeffrey Taylor, the timely shooting of guards John Jenkins and Jermaine Beal and the sudden consistency of junior center A.J. Ogilvy, the Commodores moved to 4-0 in conference play with ease once they shook off a week’s worth of rust.
It was easy, then, swaying to the sounds of the Vanderbilt alma mater and taking in the sea of black and gold, to be engulfed by the possibilities that this season — this team — appears to hold. It is fair to ask what their ceiling may be, what their potential is and if these Dores could plausibly compete for the Southeastern Conference title.
Unfortunately, Commodore fans, though this may be the most complete team Vanderbilt has seen in quite some time, a SEC title likely will not come this season.
The main reason for this currently resides in Lexington, Ky. There, you will find freshman John Wall, Kentucky’s point guard extraordinaire who has put the immensely talented Wildcats on his back and led them to the No. 1 ranking in the land. His explosiveness, finishing ability and uncanny court vision would be hard to stop in the NBA, let alone the SEC.
Since he is so consistent, it is hard to envision Wall having a late-season slump as the season wears on. Even if he does, however, Kentucky is stockpiled with talent, with Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins all capable of taking over games.
Thus, although one of Vanderbilt’s greatest strengths is their depth, matching up successfully with Kentucky — which they would have to do to win the SEC — seems far-fetched for any team, even one as talented as the Commodores.
In addition, in spite of Vanderbilt’s impressive SEC road wins over South Carolina and Alabama, both those games hint at legitimate causes for concern. Consider this: Against the Crimson Tide, Vanderbilt made only 54 percent of their 37 free throws, a percentage that — while good enough to beat Alabama — will not cut it against the elites of the SEC.
Also, against South Carolina, senior scoring machine Devan Downey went off for 35 points and caused six of Vanderbilt’s 20 turnovers. Again, the Commodores cannot afford to shoot themselves in the foot with that many turnovers, especially against teams with more than one legitimate scoring threat.
You can bet Bruce Pearl and John Calipari were licking their chops when they saw Vanderbilt’s sloppy play on the road.
Overall, then, while the progress of Kevin Stallings’ club is exciting and undoubtedly impressive, tempering expectations is probably a better bet than raising them.
