College hoops has issues, but it’s the jam in Tennessee
Darius Garland, the face of Vanderbilt basketball for as long as he wants to be, put a big smile on it last week when he considered the season ahead.
“We’re going to turn a lot of heads,” Garland said, and there was evidence a few feet behind him on the Memorial Gym floor that this was not just an overconfident freshman overstating things in October.
Simi Shittu, a 6-foot-10 forward with guard skills — and like Garland, a guy with a strong chance of hearing his name in the first round of the NBA draft some day — was warming up. So was Notre Dame transfer Matt Ryan, flipping in corner threes like layups. And athletic 6-10 big man Yanni Wetzell. And rangy 6-6 freshman Aaron Nesmith. And sophomore guard Saben Lee, the freshman blur of a year ago who will now combine with Brentwood Academy product Garland to make some kind of blur soup.
“I feel like we could have the best backcourt in the country,” Lee said, and they should at least be among the fastest and most entertaining, and that’s part of why the college basketball season that starts next week will rule this state — and why this state’s college basketball will rival that of any other.
Vanderbilt isn’t even its best SEC team. That honor belongs to the preseason No. 6 and defending SEC co-champ Vols, back with reigning SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield and other key veterans to chase the program’s first Final Four. It’s as close-knit, mature and likeable a team as you’ll find. And it isn’t even the biggest national story of interest in the state.
That’s Memphis, coached by former Tigers and NBA star Penny Hardaway, back to revive the program and already jousting with the likes of John Calipari for elite prospects. And he isn’t the only Penny taking over a college basketball program in the state, because Brian “Penny” Collins is back home to see if he can build on the gains Dana Ford made with the TSU Tigers.
That’s not the preseason favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference, though. Collins’ college coach, Belmont legend Rick Byrd, has the expected best team again, and best player in Dylan Windler. And they aren’t the only Belmont favorites. The women’s team, which has three straight NCAA appearances and 46 straight OVC wins, is picked to win the league again with preseason player of the year Darby Maggard.
Windler, Maggard and the Bruins aren’t the only shows on Belmont Boulevard. In fact, the Lipscomb men — coming off the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance — will be favored against rival Belmont after finally breaking an 11-game losing streak in the series and pulling off the sweep last year. Preseason Atlantic Sun player of the year Garrison Mathews leads the loaded and A-Sun favored Bisons, and he’s as explosive a pure scorer as this state offers.
He isn’t the only joy to watch in Nashville, though. Sophomore guard Chelsie Hall is the franchise for Vanderbilt women’s basketball, a 5-7 doit-all guard who will be asked to lead a young and thin roster after some key defections from Stephanie White’s program. It’s not the most scrutinized SEC women’s program in the state, because Holly Warlick just signed a contract extension at Tennessee.
Coming off the first NCAA tournament home loss in program history — breaking a streak of 57 wins that dated back to 1982 — the Lady Vols lost Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared. They bring back a lot of young talent. Recruiting is going well. But Warlick is not winning at the rate this program’s heritage demands. And this is not the same team it could have been, at least in terms of pure tangibles, because Anastasia Hayes is not on it.
She was kicked off the team in August for the trusty catch-all “violation of team rules,” and her career will continue at hometown school Middle Tennessee. She will play there with sister Aislynn, and the next sister in line, Alasia, would seem to be a solid bet for the Lady Raiders. Rick Insell’s already-strong program (led this season by superb senior forward Alex Johnson) could be in store for future surges if the chemistry works.
That’s not where the MTSU men’s program stands. Suddenly. The challenge facing mid-majors in this sport was captured nicely by the Blue Raiders’ unjust omission from the NCAA field in March, followed by Kermit Davis’ departure for Ole Miss, followed by major roster turnover under successor Nick McDevitt. He won at UNC-Asheville and looks like a good hire, but this team is in line for some lumps.
Conference USA foes won’t feel sorry for the Blue Raiders after the run of the past few seasons. Rival Western Kentucky sure won’t. Rick Stansbury continues to stock the Hilltoppers’ roster with talent and, man, he sure does have a knack for that. On an unrelated note, the sport of college basketball is going through more embarrassment as last year’s FBI wiretapping revelations become this year’s trials. We’re getting confirmation of cheating in some prominent programs. Certainly not all, but some. We’re getting a glimpse at the sausage being made, and there’s more to come.
We’re reminded that the system is designed for this to happen, and that the NCAA won’t do anything that actually deters bad behavior as long as all that tax-free money keeps pouring in.