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Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball
2024–25 Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team
University	Vanderbilt University
First season	1893
All-time record	1,681–1,249 (.574)
Athletic director	Candice Storey Lee
Head coach	Mark Byington (1st season)
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Location	Nashville, Tennessee
Arena	Memorial Gymnasium (capacity: 14,316)
Nickname	Commodores
Student section	Memorial Maniacs
Colors	Black and gold
Uniforms
Home Away Alternate
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
1965
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
1965, 1974, 1988, 1993, 2004, 2007
NCAA tournament round of 32
1988, 1993, 2004, 2007, 2012
NCAA tournament appearances
1965, 1974, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017
Conference tournament champions
1927, 1951, 2012
Conference regular season champions
1920, 1965, 1974, 1993

The Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team represents Vanderbilt University in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Commodores have won three SEC regular-season titles (1965, 1974 and 1993) and two SEC Tournament championships (1951 and 2012). They have competed in 15 NCAA Tournaments, making it to the Elite Eight once (1965) and the Sweet Sixteen six times (1965, 1974, 1988, 1993, 2004, and 2007). Vanderbilt has played in 14 National Invitation Tournaments, winning it in 1990 and finishing runners-up in 1994.

Memorial Gymnasium

The Commodores play their home games in Memorial Gymnasium. Memorial Gymnasium was built in the early 1950s. It was dedicated as the campus memorial to students and alumni killed in World War II; a plaque commemorating those who died is displayed in the gym's north lobby.

At the time of the gym's construction, there was a serious discussion within the Vanderbilt community about whether the school should de-emphasize intercollegiate athletics and refocus on its academic program. As a compromise between those who advocated increased athletics competition and those who argued in favor of de-emphasis, the gymnasium was built to hold only about 9,000 seats, and it would be readily adaptable to other uses—significantly, as a possible concert hall.

Consequently, the gymnasium floor was built up above its surroundings, more in the nature of a stage. The areas out of bounds along the sidelines were very wide, in contrast with the small facility which it replaced, where the walls were right along the sidelines and players could scrape their shoulders bringing the ball up the court. This necessitated the placement of the benches at the end of the court, which was not highly unusual at the time.

In addition, each goal was anchored by two far-reaching beams attached to support columns, with extra support coming from cables stretching all the way to the gym's ceiling. In the case of a backboard shatter or beam fracture, replacing these goals would be highly difficult, compared to the usual goal setup at most venues.

Memorial Gym is well known for its unusual design. The end-of-the-floor bench location is now unique in major college basketball, and SEC coaches who travel to Memorial, along with coaches from other schools who have played at Vanderbilt as a post-season venue, have said that the unusual setup gives Vanderbilt a tremendous home court advantage, since no other facility in which opponents play is arranged in such a way.

Year-by-year season records

Note: Fansonly.com reports Vanderbilt's overall record in 1937–38 as 9–12, while SECSports.com reports it as 10–11.

Source: Soconsports.com

Source: SECSports.com

Source: Fansonly.com

Vanderbilt coaching record

Conference championships

Vanderbilt has won 4 conference season championships, 3 conference tournament championships, and 1 division season championship.

First college basketball game played

Vanderbilt defeated Nashville YMCA in a score of 9-6, on 7 February 1893, in the first college basketball game played in history. Vanderbilt's start to college basketball occurred just two years after Dr. James Naismith originated the game of basketball at Springfield (Mass.) College.

Retired numbers

Only three male Commodores have had their jerseys retired by the university:

• Clyde Lee was perhaps the greatest player in Commodore history. He averaged the most points per game in school history and the balconies on the south end of Memorial Gymnasium are commonly referred to as the "balconies that Clyde built".
• Perry Wallace was the first African-American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference, and the first African American to compete in the SEC for his entire period of athletic eligibility.

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Commodores have appeared in the NCAA tournament 15 times. Their combined record is 10–16.

NIT results

The Commodores have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 14 times. Their combined record is 24–13. They were NIT champions in 1990.

All-Americans

Source: VUCommodores.com

SEC Players of the Year

Source: VUCommodores.com

Academic All-Americans

Olympians

• Jeff Turner- won the gold medal in men's basketball as a member of Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Other notable players

• Wade Baldwin IV (born 1996), basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Darius Garland (born 2000), basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers; All-star (2022)
• Saben Lee (born 1999), basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Simisola Shittu (born 1999), British-born Canadian basketball player for Ironi Ness Ziona of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Payton Willis (born 1998), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

Vanderbilt alums coaching in college basketball

• James Strong – Class of 2000, currently at Vanderbilt University
• Martin Bahar – Class of 2006, currently at The University of San Diego
• Darshawn McClellan - Class of 2011, currently at University of Texas at El Paso
• Sam Ferry - Class of 2010, currently at College of the Holy Cross

Coaching awards

• Jerry Stackhouse — SEC Coach of the Year 2023 and Ben Jobe National Minority Coach of the Year 2023
• Kevin Stallings – SEC Coach of the Year 2007 and 2010
• Eddie Fogler – 1993 National Coach of the Year by AP, UPI, CBS, USBWA, Scripps-Howard, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Basketball Weekly
• C. M. Newton – SEC Coach of the Year, 1988 and 1989
• Wayne Dobbs – SEC Coach of the Year, 1979
• Roy Skinner – SEC Coach of the Year, 1965, 1967, 1974, and 1976

All-time leaders

Totals current as of March 15, 2012.

Points

Points per game (min 50 games)

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Source: 2015–16 Vanderbilt Commodores Media Guide

Footnotes

1. Contrary to often-stated belief, Wallace was not the first African American to play an SEC sport. The first African American to play in the SEC was Stephen Martin, who walked on to the Tulane baseball team in the 1966 season, the school year before Wallace enrolled at Vanderbilt. Martin is often ignored as an SEC integration pioneer because Tulane left the SEC immediately after the 1966 baseball season. Wallace was also not the first black scholarship athlete to play in the SEC, although this was only because the football season precedes the basketball season within the school year. At the same time that Wallace enrolled at Vanderbilt, Kentucky enrolled two African Americans on football scholarships, Nate Northington and Greg Page. Page suffered a spinal cord injury before playing in a varsity game and died from the complications on September 29, 1967; Northington played in Kentucky's first two games of the 1967 season, first at Indiana on September 23 and then against Ole Miss at home on September 30 (he did not play again for the Wildcats, transferring to Western Kentucky after that season).

References

1. "Athletics". Vanderbilt University Brand Style Guide. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
2. "Vanderbilt Commodores History and Records" (PDF).
3. "Southern Conference Records" (PDF).
4. "SEC Annual Standings" (PDF).
5. "Vanderbilt Year-by-Year Results" (PDF).
6. "Vanderbilt First on the Court". www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2014-11-29/vanderbilt-lays-claim-true-birthplace-college-basketball.
7. "MBB Record Book" (PDF). a.espncdn.com.
8. "What we know about the first college basketball game ever played | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
9. Organ, Mike. "Historian: Vandy is birthplace of college basketball". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
10. KingJamesIV (2014-12-18). "The Birthplace of College Basketball? Vanderbilt". Anchor Of Gold. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
11. "Vandy Basketball Began in 1893". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
12. "CHC: VU first college to play basketball". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website. 2008-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
13. Traughber, Bill (March 12, 2008). "CHC: Vanderbilt Was the First College to Play Basketball" (PDF). vucommodores.com. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
14. "Vanderbilt basketball to celebrate 125th anniversary". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website. 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
15. Traughber, Bill (December 20, 2006). "CHC- Vandy Basketball Began in 1893" (PDF). vucommodores.com. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
16. "Historical highlights in VU men's basketball". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website. 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
17. Klein, Cutler (4 February 2018). "Did Vanderbilt play the first college basketball game 125 years ago this Wednesday?". The Vanderbilt Hustler. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
18. ^ Vanderbilt to Retire Foster's No. 32 at VUCommodores.com, 16 Dec 2021
19. "Tulane Mourns the Passing of Integration Pioneer Stephen Martin Sr" (Press release). Tulane Green Wave. May 16, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
20. Story, Mark (September 22, 2016). "UK reveals sculpture honoring first black football players". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
21. ^ "VU All Americans" (PDF).
22. "USA Basketball – Oops, 404 Error!". usabasketball.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
23. "Southeastern Conference". secsports.com.
24. "VU Coaching Awards" (PDF).
25. "Vanderbilt Official Athletic Site – Men's Basketball". vucommodores.com.

External links

• Official website

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