Vanderbilt landed at No. 24 in Monday's AP preseason men's basketball poll. The ranking arrives on the same day the Commodores host UAB in their only home exhibition. It is Vanderbilt's first preseason AP Top 25 appearance since 2015, according to the Associated Press. A poll does not tell Mark Byington how quickly his young roster will work together.
Vanderbilt says its roster includes seven freshmen and four sophomores. That makes Tyler Tanner's job more interesting than his scoring average. He averaged 19.5 points and 5.1 assists last season, according to the school's UAB preview. The assists show he has already created points for teammates. They do not establish who will finish those chances on this roster, or who will organize a possession when Tanner rests.
What the UAB game can show
The exhibition gives Vanderbilt a first home look at how much work its newer players can take on. Tanner can remain the primary ballhandler without having to start every useful possession. If someone else helps move the ball into an advantage, Tanner may have more chances to finish plays. If the offense stops when he sits, his individual production could hide a rotation problem. Those are questions for the game, not claims that either pattern has already appeared.
The Commodores beat Virginia in an outdoor exhibition in September, Vanderbilt says. Monday's game is their second preseason outing and the first at Memorial Gymnasium. UAB offers another opponent before Vanderbilt travels to Miami for an October 23 exhibition. That sequence gives Byington public chances to see which combinations can share playmaking duties before the regular season begins.
Vanderbilt tips against UAB at 6 p.m. Central. The No. 24 ranking is a statement of expectation. The more useful evidence tonight will be whether a roster with so many underclassmen can keep possessions organized around Tanner and during his minutes on the bench. An exhibition can show a first answer without settling the SEC season.
