Evaluating Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner's Historic Start to the Season

The Vanderbilt guard has been making history to begin the 2024-25 season with his perfect assist-to-turnover ratio thus far.

Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner (3) saves the ball from going out of bounds during an NCAA college basketball game against California Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. / Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There have been no shortage of storylines among the incoming freshman of this college basketball season.

Cooper Flagg is having one of the most dominant defensive seasons in NCAA freshman history, but do his struggles offensively keep him from being a generational talent? Dylan Harper is one of the most dominant self-creating drivers we've seen in a long time; can he challenge Flagg for the no. 1 pick? Just how much can Derik Queen's unreal offensive production make up for being an undersized big with defensive challenges?

There are a ton more surrounding the likes of Kasparas Jakucionis, V.J. Edgecombe, and Thomas Sorber, but one of the more interesting yet underdiscussed storylines to track has been Vanderbilt guard and freshman Tyler Tanner's start to the season.

Through 12 games and 253 minutes played, Tanner has notched 28 assists with zero turnovers, and has added 29 steals to go with that too. On top of that, he's on pace to be just the 21st high-major freshman since 2010 to notch 70% shooting at the rim while 70% or more of those makes are unassisted, as he's currently shooting 88% with an 86% unassisted percentage.

Tanner's intersection of unreal turnover economy and steal forcage as a point guard means he's holding and creating extra possessions for his team at a very high level, when combined with elite self-created rim finishing, has led him to having the 4th best box-plus minus among all freshman early on.

The highest assist-to-turnover ratio in NCAA history among players to play 15+ games and over 40% of their team's minutes belongs to Iowa State's Monté Morris. In 2014, Morris posted a 4.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, totaling 134 assists to just 28 turnovers. Tanner could very well break that record this season.

As it stands, it's hard to say he's a real draft prospect, though. He's a 6-foot, 170 lbs guard who's shooting 30% from three, and sub 6-foot-3 guard with shaky shots have a hard time making it to the NBA. But he's only a freshman with another three years to work on his weakpoints. Right now, Tanner is one of the most fun players in college basketball and has an interesting storyline to track in how long he can keep up this perfect assist-to-turnover ratio. That's surpassing enough expectations for a player who was nationally unranked in high school.

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