Commodore Nation… this is the son of VandyClassOf81. In my 28 years of life, I’ve been a die-hard Vanderbilt fan. Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve watched at least 80% of Vanderbilt basketball games. I played basketball my whole life, and feel I know a decent bit about the sport. I keep up with this forum through my pops’ account, and with all the ridiculous bickering that occurs on this forum, I feel compelled to make my first ever post. I want to give an honest assessment of Bryce Drew’s performance and why I think he deserves more support than he gets from this forum. I’d appreciate any responses or thoughts. In the midst of this very, very disappointing season, I think it’s important to take a step back and lay out what’s happened and provide some context to the situation. Here goes…
The vast majority of Vanderbilt fans, myself included, were excited with Bryce’s hire. Stallings’ tenure had gotten stale, and our first round loss to Wichita St. was the last straw for me, a long-time supporter. Too many times we had accomplished too little with the talent level we had. Bryce Drew was a breath of fresh air and obviously different than Stallings – young, energetic, positive attitude, good recruiter. Non-controversial so far, I hope.
Now to Bryce’s first season. None of these players were recruited by Drew or his staff. That provides a pretty good barometer for what kind of coach a guy is, and what kind of adjustments he is willing to make to put his guys in winning positions, and if he can get guys to buy-in (which, for example, Stallings couldn’t do at Pitt). We were all disappointed with how we came out of the gates, when we were crushed by Marquette. We struggled mightily at the beginning of that season. Drew’s free flowing motion offense wasn’t working with the personnel we had, and was much different than the more structure offense they were accustomed to running. Our overall team speed was lacking, and guys couldn’t create their own shot (a common thing for Stallings teams; not a slight, just factual). Luke Kornet looked like a fish out of water playing the 5 with his back to the basket. We were always a step late on our rotations on defense. We were looking pretty bad. Now, for those of you that say that Bryce fails to make the necessary adjustments to put his team in positions to win, here is where I disagree with you. Our season turned around significantly that year for 2 reasons: 1) we significantly changed the offense, put in some more structured sets, ran a lot of pick and roll with Luke Kornet on the perimeter where he was more comfortable, and put guys in positions that fit their skill sets, and 2) it finally clicked for the guys on defense. I don’t know if you guys remember how we started playing midway through the SEC season, but in my mind, the key reason for turning things around was great defense. Doubling the post aggressively and always being there on the next 2 rotations (something this year’s team hasn’t mastered, they’re always late on the 2nd rotation which has led to a lot of open shots for our opponents). Yes, Drew, and our defense, was very lucky in having Luke Kornet holding down the paint. He’s one of the best rim protectors (without fouling) that I’ve seen ever at Vanderbilt, and honestly one of the best I’ve seen in college basketball. But still, to look at that season and not give Drew credit for the adjustments he made that led to an ultimately successful season is disingenuous (making the tourney in year one was success in my mind, though I was as disappointed as all of you about that first round loss). Drew adapted to the personnel he had and made the most of that season, moreso than most coaches in college basketball would have in my opinion. After this season, I was feeling pretty good about the program (and I think most of us were as well).
Drew’s second season was disappointing, obviously. It’s extremely important to note that in this second season, Bryce had THREE PLAYERS that he recruited to play his style of ball (Saben, Max, Ejike), and they were freshmen. The rest were inherited. I cannot take seriously any person on this forum who says that “Bryce and the staff cannot develop players” – guys, please keep in mind that the players that Bryce recruited are currently sophomores. The only players he has had for three years are Joe Toye and Clevon. I love Joe, but let’s be honest with ourselves, I’m not sure there is a coach in the country who could get consistency out of Joe. And Clevon is a solid role player, and I believe could be one on a successful/winning team, but I’m not sure more should be expected of him regardless of if Coach K or Phil Jackson were his coach. The point – regardless of your thoughts on Bryce Drew, it is not a reasonable position to hold that he cannot develop players based on the information at hand we have to evaluate. There’s no doubt that Saben has improved from year one to year two. And there is no doubt that Roberson and Riley LaChance had their best seasons as seniors. I digress… Back to Drew’s second season… during that second season, importantly, Saben (Drew’s only recruit getting meaningful minutes) was often the best player on the court, and the only one who could create his own shot. Regardless, the season overall was disappointing… I don’t think any of us appreciated just how important Luke Kornet was to our team the year prior. He was obviously very important, but in retrospect, he may have been the most important player to any Vandy team I’ve ever seen. Without Luke, we had no rim protection (outside of Clevon in limited minutes), and without Luke’s offensive threat in the pick and roll, the effectiveness of our big three (Riley, MFD, Jeff) was less than it would have otherwise been. Our team speed (outside of Saben), was still probably slowest in the SEC, and we struggled all season to create our own shot. We had one of the hardest schedules in the country. We competed in most every game, and had a few tough ones slip out of our fingers against good teams (e.g. Kentucky). I think we would all agree that the team’s record would not reflect the strength of that team. Still, we were all sad to see Riley, Jeff, and MFD’s careers end the way they did. But I (and almost all on this forum), were willing to forgive and look to the future… we were all excited about the best recruiting class we’ve ever had, and the highest expectations we’ve had in awhile (2012, with Festus, Jeff Taylor, Jenkins, Tinsley, and Goulbourne coming back, had pretty damn high expectations as well at preseason #7). But there was no doubt, ALL OF US were extremely excited for the future with DG, Simi, and Nesmith coming into the program.
Now, to this very disappointing season. Context – Drew’s first recruits out of high school are sophomores. He has 3 transfers in the program that are playing their first season here. And he has three highly touted freshmen coming to campus. To go ahead and address some of the most obvious things about the season:
1. The Transfer Experiment – I agree with a lot of you, our transfers have been very disappointing this season. They are average to below-average SEC role players. A lot of this is on Drew, and he deserves some criticism for this. Those spots could have gone to high school players we could develop over 4 years… Yanni is the best of the three, in my opinion. He plays good defense and is typically in the right position. His offensive game is developing, and he seems to be getting more comfortable with the speed of the game. He can be an 8 point, 6 rebound a game type contributor in the SEC, I believe. We are better with him on the floor on defense. But still, that’s his ceiling. Moyer can’t quite figure out his role. He’s still got two years left here, so let’s let that play out a bit. His shot selection needs to improve and he needs to realize that his most valuable role is as a defender, rebounder, and trash-bucket energy guy. Ryan has been most disappointing. He’s shown flashes of brilliance, but the amount of potentially game-changing, open three-pointers he has missed has been gut-wrenching (last night against Bama we saw a few perfect examples). When you’re a three point specialist, you’ve got to make those, and he hasn’t this season. Given that, his overall impact on our team has been extremely disappointing. When taken in total, those three have been a big disappointment. Let’s see if they make any improvement next year, then we can be real judges of Drew’s ability to develop players.
2. Darius Garland injury – I don’t want to belabor this, there has been a ton of discussion on the topic. My opinion is that we would be a .500 team or better in the SEC with him. If you cannot see that we would be a significantly better team with him vs. without him, I’m not sure you have a great feel for the sport of basketball, and I don’t think I have the energy to debate with you. He’s the best individual player to wear the black and gold, ever, and his impact on our team cannot be overstated. An extremely unfortunate injury for our season, obviously. But one thing I’m happy to debate is all of you who say “Drew put all of his eggs in one basket.” Seriously? I didn’t hear any of you saying this at the time DG signed with us. This is because this argument does not make any sense, at all. Drew recruited and signed the best player in Vanderbilt history. His injury was completely random and unlucky, and could have happened to any player. Unfortunately, we lost other point guards to transfer (Willis and Austin), and with DG’s injury, we have been left extremely limited at guard this year, which has been our key weakness. Answer honestly – how would you have done this differently if you were the coach? Not recruited Garland?
TO BE CONTINUED...
The vast majority of Vanderbilt fans, myself included, were excited with Bryce’s hire. Stallings’ tenure had gotten stale, and our first round loss to Wichita St. was the last straw for me, a long-time supporter. Too many times we had accomplished too little with the talent level we had. Bryce Drew was a breath of fresh air and obviously different than Stallings – young, energetic, positive attitude, good recruiter. Non-controversial so far, I hope.
Now to Bryce’s first season. None of these players were recruited by Drew or his staff. That provides a pretty good barometer for what kind of coach a guy is, and what kind of adjustments he is willing to make to put his guys in winning positions, and if he can get guys to buy-in (which, for example, Stallings couldn’t do at Pitt). We were all disappointed with how we came out of the gates, when we were crushed by Marquette. We struggled mightily at the beginning of that season. Drew’s free flowing motion offense wasn’t working with the personnel we had, and was much different than the more structure offense they were accustomed to running. Our overall team speed was lacking, and guys couldn’t create their own shot (a common thing for Stallings teams; not a slight, just factual). Luke Kornet looked like a fish out of water playing the 5 with his back to the basket. We were always a step late on our rotations on defense. We were looking pretty bad. Now, for those of you that say that Bryce fails to make the necessary adjustments to put his team in positions to win, here is where I disagree with you. Our season turned around significantly that year for 2 reasons: 1) we significantly changed the offense, put in some more structured sets, ran a lot of pick and roll with Luke Kornet on the perimeter where he was more comfortable, and put guys in positions that fit their skill sets, and 2) it finally clicked for the guys on defense. I don’t know if you guys remember how we started playing midway through the SEC season, but in my mind, the key reason for turning things around was great defense. Doubling the post aggressively and always being there on the next 2 rotations (something this year’s team hasn’t mastered, they’re always late on the 2nd rotation which has led to a lot of open shots for our opponents). Yes, Drew, and our defense, was very lucky in having Luke Kornet holding down the paint. He’s one of the best rim protectors (without fouling) that I’ve seen ever at Vanderbilt, and honestly one of the best I’ve seen in college basketball. But still, to look at that season and not give Drew credit for the adjustments he made that led to an ultimately successful season is disingenuous (making the tourney in year one was success in my mind, though I was as disappointed as all of you about that first round loss). Drew adapted to the personnel he had and made the most of that season, moreso than most coaches in college basketball would have in my opinion. After this season, I was feeling pretty good about the program (and I think most of us were as well).
Drew’s second season was disappointing, obviously. It’s extremely important to note that in this second season, Bryce had THREE PLAYERS that he recruited to play his style of ball (Saben, Max, Ejike), and they were freshmen. The rest were inherited. I cannot take seriously any person on this forum who says that “Bryce and the staff cannot develop players” – guys, please keep in mind that the players that Bryce recruited are currently sophomores. The only players he has had for three years are Joe Toye and Clevon. I love Joe, but let’s be honest with ourselves, I’m not sure there is a coach in the country who could get consistency out of Joe. And Clevon is a solid role player, and I believe could be one on a successful/winning team, but I’m not sure more should be expected of him regardless of if Coach K or Phil Jackson were his coach. The point – regardless of your thoughts on Bryce Drew, it is not a reasonable position to hold that he cannot develop players based on the information at hand we have to evaluate. There’s no doubt that Saben has improved from year one to year two. And there is no doubt that Roberson and Riley LaChance had their best seasons as seniors. I digress… Back to Drew’s second season… during that second season, importantly, Saben (Drew’s only recruit getting meaningful minutes) was often the best player on the court, and the only one who could create his own shot. Regardless, the season overall was disappointing… I don’t think any of us appreciated just how important Luke Kornet was to our team the year prior. He was obviously very important, but in retrospect, he may have been the most important player to any Vandy team I’ve ever seen. Without Luke, we had no rim protection (outside of Clevon in limited minutes), and without Luke’s offensive threat in the pick and roll, the effectiveness of our big three (Riley, MFD, Jeff) was less than it would have otherwise been. Our team speed (outside of Saben), was still probably slowest in the SEC, and we struggled all season to create our own shot. We had one of the hardest schedules in the country. We competed in most every game, and had a few tough ones slip out of our fingers against good teams (e.g. Kentucky). I think we would all agree that the team’s record would not reflect the strength of that team. Still, we were all sad to see Riley, Jeff, and MFD’s careers end the way they did. But I (and almost all on this forum), were willing to forgive and look to the future… we were all excited about the best recruiting class we’ve ever had, and the highest expectations we’ve had in awhile (2012, with Festus, Jeff Taylor, Jenkins, Tinsley, and Goulbourne coming back, had pretty damn high expectations as well at preseason #7). But there was no doubt, ALL OF US were extremely excited for the future with DG, Simi, and Nesmith coming into the program.
Now, to this very disappointing season. Context – Drew’s first recruits out of high school are sophomores. He has 3 transfers in the program that are playing their first season here. And he has three highly touted freshmen coming to campus. To go ahead and address some of the most obvious things about the season:
1. The Transfer Experiment – I agree with a lot of you, our transfers have been very disappointing this season. They are average to below-average SEC role players. A lot of this is on Drew, and he deserves some criticism for this. Those spots could have gone to high school players we could develop over 4 years… Yanni is the best of the three, in my opinion. He plays good defense and is typically in the right position. His offensive game is developing, and he seems to be getting more comfortable with the speed of the game. He can be an 8 point, 6 rebound a game type contributor in the SEC, I believe. We are better with him on the floor on defense. But still, that’s his ceiling. Moyer can’t quite figure out his role. He’s still got two years left here, so let’s let that play out a bit. His shot selection needs to improve and he needs to realize that his most valuable role is as a defender, rebounder, and trash-bucket energy guy. Ryan has been most disappointing. He’s shown flashes of brilliance, but the amount of potentially game-changing, open three-pointers he has missed has been gut-wrenching (last night against Bama we saw a few perfect examples). When you’re a three point specialist, you’ve got to make those, and he hasn’t this season. Given that, his overall impact on our team has been extremely disappointing. When taken in total, those three have been a big disappointment. Let’s see if they make any improvement next year, then we can be real judges of Drew’s ability to develop players.
2. Darius Garland injury – I don’t want to belabor this, there has been a ton of discussion on the topic. My opinion is that we would be a .500 team or better in the SEC with him. If you cannot see that we would be a significantly better team with him vs. without him, I’m not sure you have a great feel for the sport of basketball, and I don’t think I have the energy to debate with you. He’s the best individual player to wear the black and gold, ever, and his impact on our team cannot be overstated. An extremely unfortunate injury for our season, obviously. But one thing I’m happy to debate is all of you who say “Drew put all of his eggs in one basket.” Seriously? I didn’t hear any of you saying this at the time DG signed with us. This is because this argument does not make any sense, at all. Drew recruited and signed the best player in Vanderbilt history. His injury was completely random and unlucky, and could have happened to any player. Unfortunately, we lost other point guards to transfer (Willis and Austin), and with DG’s injury, we have been left extremely limited at guard this year, which has been our key weakness. Answer honestly – how would you have done this differently if you were the coach? Not recruited Garland?
TO BE CONTINUED...
