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Tier VI: Total rebuild = ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Could Desmond Claude and the new-look USC Trojans under Eric Musselman make a run to March? Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
Memphis Tigers
Michigan Wolverines
USC Trojans
TCU Horned Frogs
Washington Huskies
Vanderbilt Commodores

Even in a world where college basketball rosters change dramatically from season to season, it's truly impossible to tell how good (or bad) any of these six teams will be in 2024-25.
First, consider the number of returning scholarship players in this tier.
Memphis: 1
Michigan: 2
USC: 1
TCU: 1
Washington: 2
Vanderbilt: 2
Four of these six also have new coaches. Only Memphis (Penny Hardaway) and TCU (Jamie Dixon) didn't make a change there.
Hardaway faces the most pressure to win entering 2024-25, given the Tigers' second-half collapse last season and the off-court issues that don't seem to end. PJ Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter and Colby Rogers are a dangerous perimeter group, but the team will need to find consistency and chemistry.

Dusty May (Michigan) and Eric Musselman (USC) have the highest expectations of the first-year head coaches in this tier. May is leaning on transfers Vladislav Goldin, Danny Wolf and Roddy Gayle Jr. -- all ready-made Big Ten starters. Meanwhile, Musselman built mostly via mid-major transfers, though former Xavier transfer Desmond Claude was a huge get and Northern Colorado transfer Saint Thomas will make an impact. -- Borzello
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It's fun being a Vandy fan again

On the eve of our first Vandy MBB game, I was just remembering how crappy things were at this time last year. Vandy football was a dismal 2-8 after losing eight consecutive games with a team that had quit, with no hope in sight. Vandy MBB was about to lose the first game of the season to Presbyterian, effectively ending their season before it began. What a difference a year makes. I'm about to change into Vandy gear to head to the grocery store. What an awesome time to be a Vandy fan!

Have to admit, Vandy doesn’t win that game without the help of the refs…..

Just kidding, suck it losers. Sorry your DB fell down on that QSkinner reception.

We whipped your asses up and down the field, all the while being as banged up as we’ve ever been and we just kept fighting.

Refs tried to screw us but replay got it right. Love all of the Auburn coaches trying to place blame elsewhere. Fantastic.

Off topic Pitt- "Those guys wanted more money. We didn't need those guys."

Really interesting story on Pitt's turnaround from 3-9 to undefeated this year. Not too different from VU honestly. NIL factored in to a great degree but maybe not the way you'd expect.

Schools coming after CCL

I know CCL isn’t going to leave, and big schools aren’t going to take the gamble after just 1 season of success, but as a thought experiment…

How many of those who wanted to fire CCL after the GA State loss would be okay if CCL got hired away by another school? Which do you prefer: a 4-year CCL extension, or he get hired away and another school pays us a decent buyout?

WaPo: "It's the season of Vanderbilt"

Click here to read the article.

Vanderbilt, one of those programs people worry about falling off the face of the hundred-yard earth in the future rich leagues now forming in dreary boardroom imaginations, has surged from 2-10 in 2023 to 6-3 this fresh November. Its grinding 17-7 win at Auburn means it has beaten both Alabamian behemoths for the first time since 1955, when it clipped the Crimson Tide 21-6 in Nashville and bested Auburn 25-13 in the Gator Bowl, of all places.

Its celebrated quarterback, Diego Pavia, just notched a transfer-portal coup just about unrivaled in the standings of the motley. Within 350 days, he piloted New Mexico State to a stunning win on the hallowed Auburn ground, then helped steer Vanderbilt to a suddenly less stunning win on the same hallowed Auburn ground. Then he dispensed this pearl: “A lot of people didn’t take a chance on me. They’re just another team that didn’t so I just want to make them pay for what they did.”

Aw, every coach must fumble some roster calls, even if Hugh Freeze of Auburn (3-6) seems to be fumbling amok. But not every coach gets to be 42-year-old Clark Lea, an “old” Vanderbilt fullback retaining some of those old fullback shoulders. Now he coaches Vanderbilt for a fourth season already, and he’s looking back 11 months to that 2-10 finish and saying to reporters in Auburn, “I don’t know that anyone will actually understand what December was for us, except for that (inner) circle.”

He called it “rock-bottom,” but now after such football wonders as the 14-play, 78-yard, almost-nine-minute, fourth quarter drive that clinched merriment at Auburn, he’s getting to say, “I never lost any belief in what we could do, I just think at those moments you just kind of look at the climb ahead and it can, you know, it take your breath away a little bit. But again, I believe in Vanderbilt. I came back because this is such a special university, and it’s such a special city. It’s my home. It’s my alma mater. And I just believe that the world needs a strong Vanderbilt football program. And part of my responsibility is to deliver that.”

ESPN’s Football Power Index

Before the game Saturday, ESPN’s computer rankings (and everyone else’s also) had Vanderbilt ranked behind Auburn. Now after our win against Auburn on the road… we’re still ranked behind them. Ranked at #34 now.

Sagarin is the same story but worse. Auburn is now ranked 47 and Vanderbilt 52.

I mean, I guess it makes sense. Auburn lost against a team like Vanderbilt, so they must not be all that good. So our win over Auburn shouldn’t count for much.

By the way, Sagarin has us at 9-point underdogs against SCar on a neutral field.

sc will be a tough out

Vu will absolutely need to bring its A game, and energy, to stay with and beat the cox. their losses have been single digit to bama and lsu among others, and they seem to have found their rhythm offensively in crushing both Oklahoma and A&M .
I’m hoping Pavia , Stowers, and Seddy are close to 100% , and that Beck stays up late trying to re-ignite his creative juices in game planning for a big, fast defense.
edit:
had not seen similar post below. that said, perhaps it bears repeating anyway, as the cox are for real.

No suit and tie

I am certain that God will forgive me but I won't be wearing a suit and tie to church today. I have several good-looking Vanderbilt polo shirts and I'll pick the best one and proudly wear that. Is everyone else having as much fun this fall being a Vandy fan as I am? I'm sure you are. It has been a great feeling to wear my Vandy gear everywhere and get an "Anchor Down" or "Go Dores" from people I encounter. It has been a thrilling and remarkable season so far and there is more to come. Today it is not just a slogan---it really is Good to be Gold! Anchor Down and beat South Carolina.

Projected top-25

Yeah, we are in.

So is South Carolina.

If this is the way it plays out, ladies and gentlemen, we will have ourselves a matchup between ranked teams Saturday afternoon at the Dud! Should be fun, be there if you can!

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