Has Vanderbilt Locked Up its NCAA Tournament Invitation? Just a Minute
Vanderbilt has lived the life of a NCAA bubble team the last couple of weeks, which doesn’t help any of the Commodores’ or its fans’ stress levels, but that situation may have been alleviated Wednesday night.
The Commodores won its second-straight game against a ranked opponent, defeating No. 12 Texas A&M 86-84 in College Station, Texas. The win comes after the Commodores defeated then-No. 24 Ole Miss, 77-72.
Road dubs hit different 😤#AnchorDown⚓️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/n59rijAmZo
— Vanderbilt Men's Basketball (@VandyMBB) February 27, 2025
“The games are important now,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said after Wednesday’s win. “You want to play meaningful games at the end of February, play meaningful games in March and we are. We haven't been validated in some of our road performances. We're at Florida and winning most of the game against No. 2 ranked team in the country and just had a bad four minutes there. We're at Tennessee and pretty much led the entire game on the road at Tennessee. So, we've had moments where I feel like we're sometimes better, but you've got to win. That's why I'm not complaining about this win, how we did it. We've had sometimes before where I think we should've won, we didn't. We'll take it any way possible.”
After Vanderbilt’s road trip to the Lone Star state, the Commodores saw their tournament odds rise from 58 percent to 78 percent, which is a huge jump. It nearly makes them a lock for them to be one of the many SEC teams to earn an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
However, before any celebratory bottles are opened, there’s still a way that Vanderbilt ends up at home in March. Or at least in a tournament that’s not the NCAA Tournament.
So, how could that end up happening? Well, staff writer Taylor Hodges lays it out in today’s Just a Minute episode.
Here’s the how the Commodores will end the regular season with the SEC Tournament taking place March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt Commodores Final Regular Season Games
- March 1: vs. No. 14 Missouri, 5 p.m., SEC Network
- March 4: vs. Arkansas, 9 p.m., SEC Network
- March 8: at Georgia, 11 a.m., ESPNU
Vanderbilt Commodores On SI:
-8b6c726067ba8eb0b5197041f28d1b64.jpeg "Taylor Hodges")
Taylor Hodges is a staff writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI covering all-things Vanderbilt. Taylor brings more than a decade’s worth of award-winning sports writing, photography and video experience covering every level of sports — from Little League baseball to professional sports and other sports like hunting and fishing. Taylor is fueled by his lifelong passion for sports that began the same day Kirk Gibson hit his legendary World Series walk-off home run, Arkansas beat Texas in Austin and No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami in the Catholics vs. Convicts game.