Rexrode: Vanderbilt over Kentucky means Vanderbilt is worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt should be in the NCAA Tournament.

That’s coming from someone who covered Vanderbilt’s first game, wondered how the team that took the floor that night would reach double figures in wins, wondered like a lot of other people what in the world was going on with the whole operation after Alabama 101, Vanderbilt 44 on Jan. 31, and has been reminded since then how surprising and enthralling sports can be.

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Friday’s 80-73 win over Kentucky in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena caps five weeks of work so compelling, Vanderbilt has become something completely different. At least to anyone watching from outside Jerry Stackhouse’s fourth-year program. It’s cohesion and heart and swagger. It’s wins over Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Kentucky again to completely change a résumé.

It’s a lightly recruited point guard transfer from UC-Davis torching all Kentucky defenders who dare approach. It’s a lightly recruited big man, an engineering graduate student with a passion for renewable energy, summoning all he can to joust inside with the reigning national player of the year. It’s a senior guard who has battled back issues and a junior guard who has rehabbed a torn ACL. Both dominating Kentucky.

It’s Stackhouse, with Vanderbilt fans all around chanting “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” as he sat on the SEC Network set right after the game, taking a shot at the crew of commentators for never picking Vanderbilt to win — standing up and getting after some folks as the fans got louder. And it’s his players, back in the locker room, catching the video on social media moments later and having a big laugh with him about it as he walked in the door.

“I mean, that’s Stack,” said Ezra Manjon, the blur of a point guard, the scorer of a game-high 25 points Friday and maker of clutch free throws, one of the most entertaining players in the SEC. “That’s Stackhouse. He’s passionate and he cares. That’s been Stackhouse. And it rubs off on us.”

And they should all be in the NCAA Tournament together, locked in right now, before we find out if Vanderbilt will get another valuable win over Texas A&M in the semis, before the potential opportunity Sunday to win the tournament and earn the SEC’s automatic bid. Not because of the aforementioned things that make this team so enjoyable. More because the NCAA selection committee asks one question that dwarfs all other considerations during this wonderful weekend of American sports: “Can this team win games against the rest of this field?”

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You can’t watch Vanderbilt these days and do anything but nod emphatically in response. Forget the bad losses early in the season, by a team that would lose by about 25 to the team this has become. Forget the uninspiring computer numbers — Vanderbilt this season has actually done a nice job of illuminating just how flawed the NET is. And forget the fact that big man Liam Robbins, this team’s most talented player and the centerpiece of the surge, is done playing college basketball.

The broken leg he suffered early in a March 1 game at Kentucky figured to erase any opportunity for a win in Rupp Arena. It didn’t. Still, it figured to make the committee question whether Vanderbilt could keep up this pace — it’s 10 wins in 11 games to get to 20-13 — and be the same quality of team without him. Those questions are asked about every team in consideration. Every injury is discussed. The current state of the team is what matters most.

The current state of this team is wins over Kentucky, Mississippi State, LSU and Kentucky without Robbins. With Quentin Millora-Brown, the engineering graduate student, doing all the little things inside to win and, on Friday, doing his best to keep Oscar Tshiebwe from grabbing all the rebounds. With Manjon cooking anyone who gives him a hint of an angle. With sophomore Tyrin Lawrence hitting the shot of the game, an elevated fadeaway jumper with 1:11 left to go up six, and with senior Jordan Wright going for 18 points and six rebounds, one of them requiring a backside walling-off of Tshiebwe to collect.

Oh, and with some promising freshmen coming up big, most notably backup point guard Paul Lewis hitting shots and competing so fiercely that Stackhouse went with Lewis and Manjon together for a stretch. A very good stretch. That’s how things are going for this team these days.

This is just insane. pic.twitter.com/aB7SXc1XN8

— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) March 11, 2023

It’s far from certain that it will get the program’s first NCAA bid in four years of Stackhouse, its first since Bryce Drew’s debut season of 2016-17, if it loses to Texas A&M. The Commodores should approach that game as they approached Kentucky, like a necessity. It’s hard to know how much losses to Grambling State and Southern Miss will matter or whether the committee still has reservations with Robbins out, or exactly how some of the hairs will be split among so many bubble teams that are so close.

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If you’ve watched this one much, you know: The question of whether it can win games against other tournament teams right now isn’t even a question. The better question right now, given the efficiency this team has found on offense and the cohesion it’s finding on defense, is which teams in the field it couldn’t beat. Expected No. 1 seed Alabama throttled Vanderbilt by 57 points once upon a time, and that would probably be a very different game now. How fitting it would be if it ends up as Sunday’s championship game.

“I honestly feel that we can win it all,” Stackhouse said. “If we get an opportunity to get in, this team deserves (it), the country deserves to see. … I played in the NCAA Tournament. I know what it’s about. You hear all the stories that come out when you advance and get to know these (players). They need to know Quentin Millora-Brown. They need to know Ezra Manjon. They need to know Jordan Wright. They need to know these kids because they’re special kids, not just good basketball players, they’re special kids. They’re part of a special environment here at Vanderbilt. I think the world and the country needs to see that.”

Yeah, he said it. And he wasn’t talking about the SEC tournament when he said “win it all.” And he might be a little bit high on his team with that. But that doesn’t change the fact that the 2023 NCAA Tournament is better with Jerry Stackhouse and the Vanderbilt Commodores in it.

(Top photo of Vanderbilt guards Ezra Manjon (5) and Trey Thomas (12) celebrating as Kentucky’s Jacob Toppin walks off the court: Steve Roberts / USA Today)

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