Vanderbilt basketball's top 10 summer story lines
Vanderbilt men’s basketball is preparing for a much-anticipated 2015-16 season with the bulk of its team returning from a 21-win squad.
NBA draft prospect Damian Jones is back for another season. A loaded freshman class returns as sophomores. And the Commodores have prepared this summer to build on last year’s NIT run with a hopeful return to the NCAA Tournament.
Here are 10 story lines for Vanderbilt basketball from this summer.
COMMODORES IN PREMIER CAMPS
Story line: Jones, Vanderbilt’s center, competed at the first Nike Basketball Academy among 27 of the nation’s top college players.
Guard Riley LaChance participated in a 24-player tryout with the USA Basketball U19 team. He didn’t make it past the last cut, but his selection for the elite tryout speaks to how quickly LaChance’s stock has risen just a year after arriving on Vanderbilt’s campus.
Key Stat: Four college teams had a player in both the U-19 Team USA camp and Nike Academy this summer - Vanderbilt, Utah, Gonzaga and Georgetown.
Coach Kevin Stallings’ Take (on LaChance): “It’s a great recognition of what Riley accomplished in his freshman year. He earned it.”
SUMMER ON THE MEND
Story line: Three players were injured this summer, but they have mostly recovered. Luke Kornet had surgery in mid-June on a broken bone in his left foot, but he is now jogging. Wade Baldwin (foot) and freshman Samir Sehic (high ankle sprain) both wore walking boots for precautionary reasons earlier in the summer, but they are back to full strength now.
Key Stat: Last season, four players suffered concussions, the most impactful injury on the team.
Stallings’ Take: “We have been a little bit banged up, but nothing that won’t rectify itself before school starts in the fall.”
SAME OR DIFFERENT TEAM
Story line: Seven of the top nine players, including four starters, will return from Vanderbilt’s squad that went 21-14 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinal last season. The key losses were power forward James Siakam and backup point guard Shelton Mitchell.
So with most of the team returning, will next season’s squad be essentially the same in talent and tone as last season? Stallings said that no two teams are alike regardless of the returning roster.
Key Stat: Players returning accounted for 82 percent of points and 79 percent of game minutes last season.
Stallings’ Take: “I’ve learned that you can have the exact same guys back and have a completely different team. The dynamic just changes. But the confidence in the group that we are bringing back is such that if it changes, it will only change for the better.”
BAPTISTE IS BIG
Story line: Vanderbilt’s newest big man is, well, big. Recently arrived freshman Djery (pronounced Jerry) Baptiste is 6-foot-10, 235 pounds, and his frame is far more developed than his 19-year-old age suggests. With Jones sure to attract opposing defenders once again and Siakam now graduated, the Commodores could use some additional muscle around the middle. Baptiste may be a good complement in year one.
Key Stat: Vanderbilt could have as many as four players at 6-10 or taller in its rotation.
Twitter’s Take: LaChance joked about Baptiste’s appetite on Twitter after the big man arrived on campus. He tweeted that Baptiste “just ate 8 wings, a chicken pasta entree, salmon, mashed potatoes and broccoli and he is still hungry...this kid isn’t human.”
LUKE STILL GROWING
Story line: Kornet entered last season still searching for his offensive identity, and opposing defenses felt fine leaving him open on the perimeter. Those days ended soon after Kornet, now at 7-1, became the SEC’s best 3-point shooting big man. With another year playing alongside Jones, Kornet could add more low-post moves to his game.
Key Stat: Kornet was the only SEC player taller than 6-8 to shoot 40 percent from 3-point range (with minimum attempts to qualify) last season.
Stallings’ Take: “Luke made a tremendous amount of progress from his freshman year to this year. So if we can help facilitate that same step forward from his sophomore to junior year, obviously that would be an extremely good thing for our team."
HIT GROUND RUNNING
Story line: A year ago, the Commodores were stocked with freshmen learning the college game. This summer much of the team returns intact, and summer on-court workouts were spent fine-tuning the team rather than rebuilding it.
Key Stat: NCAA allows eight hours per week of team activities for eight weeks total during the summer, but only two hours per week in 5-on-5 situations on the court.
Stallings’ Take: “Our square one is so much farther along than our square one last summer.”
FINDING ANOTHER POINT GUARD
Story line: Baldwin captured the starting point guard job last season, earning All-SEC Freshman honors and breaking Vanderbilt’s freshman record for assists (155). But Mitchell transferred to Clemson, leaving a void where he averaged 20 minutes per game last season.
LaChance, who played point guard some in high school, is the likely candidate to move over from shooting guard when Baldwin needs a rest. Freshman Camron Justice, a 6-2 sharp-shooting guard, could also fill in at point guard, where he also played in high school. But Justice was primarily recruited as a wing because of his shooting touch.
Key Stat: Baldwin (155), Mitchell (103) and LaChance (102) rank first, second and fourth, respectively, on Vanderbilt’s all-time freshman assist list. Only one freshman had ever topped 100 assists before all three players reached it last season.
Stallings’ Take: “Riley is more than capable of playing the point. He did some last year, but not much. We know Riley can do it.”
CRESSLER ON THE COURT
Story line: Cornell transfer Nolan Cressler, a 6-4 guard, will debut in the 2015-16 season. He transferred a year ago and sat out last season, per NCAA rule. Coaches thought Cressler was one of Vanderbilt’s most dynamic scorers in practice last season, and he will add another long-range shooter to the SEC’s top 3-point shooting team. Cressler has two years of eligibility remaining.
Key Stat: Cressler led Cornell in scoring (16.8 ppg) and made 68 3-pointers as a sophomore. By comparison, Vanderbilt’s Matthew Fisher-Davis made 71 3-pointers last season, and LaChance hit 66.
Stallings’ Take: “(Cressler) is a wing that you want to bring off screens and get him into position to shoot or drive it. Nolan is a really good shot-maker.”
ROBERSON MAKING SUBTLE MOVE
Story line: Jeff Roberson may move from small forward to power forward at times. As a 6-6 freshman, he started 24 games at small forward, primarily as a defensive specialist. But with so many talented guards returning and Siakam’s spot left vacant, Roberson is a prime candidate to move closer to the paint.
Key Stat: Siakam averaged 9.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per 40 minutes. Roberson averaged 6.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per 40 minutes.
Stallings’ Take: “Our 4-men (power forwards) are doing a lot of the same things that our 3s (small forwards) are doing, so I don’t think that will represent a tremendous change for Jeff. We think he can defend the 4 because of his physicality. That will give us some flexibility to play a little smaller and a little faster.”
JONES PUTS OFF NBA DRAFT
Story line: Jones may have been a second-round pick, but that wasn’t enough to lure him to the NBA Draft after last season. He returns for his junior year as an All-SEC first-team selection with a chance to be a premier big man in college basketball. Jones needs to play with more physicality and aggression, and that’s certainly a focus in the offseason. If Jones reaches his full potential, he should have good standing in the draft next year and Vanderbilt’s season should go very well.
Key Stat: If Jones is healthy, he should finish his junior season as only the second player in Vanderbilt history to amass 1,200 points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks in a career, joining Will Perdue. (Keep in mind that blocks were first kept in 1979-80, after all-time standouts like Clyde Lee, Perry Wallace and others were done playing.)
Stallings’ Take: “Damian has the potential to be one of the top big men in the country next season, and we're excited to see him work with a promising group of returnees and outstanding incoming players.”
Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.