Vanderbilt Commodores Basketball Projected 2011-2012 Depth Chart
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 4, 2011 2:07 PM EDT
in Vanderbilt Commodores Basketball
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PrintBasketball season is approaching, but if James Franklin has his way, Festus Ezeli and his team will have to wait to earn front page headlines.
Vanderbilt football's hot start has been the focus of middle Tennessee's media coverage, and rightfully so. Franklin's hard work on the recruiting trail and three straight wins have helped elicit a buzz that the team has only duplicated once in the past decade. However, with a bye week disrupting the flow of coverage surrounding the gridiron 'Dores, our attention will briefly flip to those tall guys who have been at Dudley Field for every game of the season so far.
Memorial Madness, which marks the first official day of team practices, happens October 14th. Less than a month later, the team opens up their 2011 campaign at home against Oregon. In between, we'll either be gearing up for a Vanderbilt football bowl bid or slowly turning our attention towards the most talented basketball squad to ever play in Memorial Gym. The team returns all five of their starters from 2010. Every player who logged significant minutes, with the exception of Joe Duffy, will be working to bring the Commodores to their first ever Final Four in 2011-2012.
These returning players are bolstered by a pair of impact recruits. Kedren Johnson and Dai-Jon Parker will immediately address the team's lack of depth in the backcourt. Both are considered high-level prospects and each will be given the opportunity to earn rotational minutes from the second that they step on Ingram Court. A third recruit, Shelby Moats, could end up prying his way into playing time at the team's very deep power forward position. The additions of redshirt freshmen Josh Henderson and James Siakam will pad the team's depth as well.
The end result is the deepest and most talented team (on paper) to ever call Memorial Gym home. The expectations will be high as Kevin Stallings's touted recruiting class of 2008 will make their last run at legendary status. Here's what our depth chart looks like in preliminary form. Expect changes to occur as the preseason wears on, though Ezeli, Taylor, and Jenkins's spots in the starting five are basically locks.
PG: Brad Tinsley | Kyle Fuller | Kedren Johnson
Brad Tinsley is this team's steady hand at point guard. He's proven that he can calmly control an offense and score when needed from anywhere on the court. He's not an All-SEC talent, but he's the kind of player any elite team needs to make a deep run in March. Behind him, sophomore "Oh God" Kyle Fuller and freshman Kedren Johnson will battle for backup minutes and occasional stretches alongside Tinsley. Johnson is the more explosive talent, but Fuller's experience and development will give him the edge at backup for now. However, don't be surprised to see the first-year player's minutes increase as the season goes on at OGKF's expense.
SG: John Jenkins | Dai-Jon Parker | Johnson | Jordan Smart
John Jenkins will be looking to lock down the SEC Player of the Year award this season, which could be his last in Nashville. The team significantly upgraded their depth behind him with the addition of Parker, ESPN's 33rd ranked recruit in 2011. The freshman is touted as a strong, but streaky, shooter whose slashing game will complement Jenkins's work from behind the arc. Kedren Johnson could see minutes here as well thanks to his size (6'4", 215lbs) and his penchant for physical defense.
SF: Jeffery Taylor | Rod Odom | James Siakam
Jeffery Taylor will have the opportunity to prove that he's reconciled his immense physical talent with his erratic killer instinct in his senior season. Air Sweden is one of the country's best defenders at the 3 and performed capably at power forward in small-ball lineups. Behind him, the lithe Rod Odom will earn minutes as a key rotational player after a solid freshman year in 2010. James Siakam, a redshirt freshman, is a tenacious defender and rebounder who is more of a natural 4 than a true 3. Unfortunately, his lack of size suggests that he'll spend more time at small forward in 2011.
PF: Lance Goulbourne | Steve Tchiengang | Odom | Siakam | Shelby Moats
Oddly enough, Lance Goulbourne is listed as a Guard/Forward on the official Vanderbilt roster despite playing the bulk of his minutes in 2010 as the team's starting power forward. His rebounding ability improved immensely last season, and if Goulbourne can continue to develop his game he'll give the Commodores an all-star starting five. Versatile big man Steve Tchiengang looks like he'll be at full strength in 2011 after offseason ankle surgery, and he will get the chance to stretch defenses at both PF and C this year. Odom, thanks to his height and some added bulk, will likely get some minutes as a finesse 4, while freshman Shelby Moats is another shooting big man in the classic Vanderbilt mold.
C: Festus Ezeli | Tchiengang | Josh Henderson
Festus Ezeli will look to cap his fifth year on campus with a SEC title. The big Nigerian was perhaps the NCAA's most improved player in 2010-2011 and has elicited early buzz as a potential lottery pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Tchiengang, despite lacking the height of a true center, has the girth and grit to spell Ezeli for stretches on the court. Josh Henderson, a redshirt freshman, brings a true face-up game to the post for Vanderbilt, and could be a good change-of-pace player for the team if foul trouble becomes a factor for the Commodore big men. He still needs to add bulk to be effective in the NCAA, but he'll have chances to contribute throughout the 2011-12 season.
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Solid Work
interested to hear Stallings take on the freshmen and whether he will add more to the offensive play calling to highlight the strengths we have
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I expect to hear a lot more once official practices start
By all accounts it looks like the freshmen are going hard in workouts already.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 4, 2011 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Final Four
I still cannot believe that we are talking such elevated goals for a Vanderbilt team. With all the hype it is amazing to think that an Elite Eight appearance could be disappointing.
My, the air is thin up here. I think I’m getting dizzy.
The real interesting thing will be to see who gets into the rotation.
I think the biggest job this season will be for coach to figure out who gets the minutes.
It will be interesting to see how he splits up the playing time early. I think he’ll try to get to the bench a lot in non-conf play, both to keep starters healthy/fresh and to give minutes for the young ones. But it will be tough for him to split up these minutes among the freshmen and sophomores. Those minutes are so vital in getting guys ready for the SEC.
In SEC play CKS needs to ride his stars as much as possible (at least in games that are still close). That leaves very few minutes for breaking in young fellas and certainly not enough time to give meaningful minutes to more than one guy at backup spots. And those SEC minutes are so valuable in development that whoever gets those minutes has a huge advantage.
I think we end up in a 10 man rotation. I think Moats RSs. I think Siakam doesn’t make the rotation just because he’s still developing as an offensive guy, and at the 3-4 he’s got about 4, maybe even 5 guys ahead of him.
Here are the real PT battles I see:
Kedren and Kyle – this is the obvious one. Last year Kyle and Brad combined for 47 minutes since Brad was both the 1 and the backup 2.
With Dai-Jon eating up those backup minutes at the 2, there are fewer minutes to go around at the 1 now and one more person to get into those minutes. With a position like PG that depends on feel and ability to keep the offense flowing, if one person really takes control of this spot, it could leave the other mostly out of the rotation (this is where we get down to 10).
Dai-Jon vs. Odom vs. Lance/Steve vs. Henderson – Bear with me on this one. Because we are so set with JJ at the 2, JT at the 3, and Fes at the 5, and since they’ll be getting a lot of minutes, these guys will all be fighting for minutes in what should be an incredibly flexible lineup for CKS.
- Dai-Jon very well could be pushing for way more minutes than he’ll have available after JJ. That means he could push Rod for minutes at the 3 if we were to go with 3 guards.
- Rod is kind of the under the radar guy. He showed last season why he was a Top 100 prospect, but it was also clear he wasn’t totally ready for prime-time. He the guy with the greatest mixture of experience and upside, and I think he could really show out at times. He’ll both be fighting to keep Dai-Jon from stealing minutes backing up Jeff, and he also might push for minutes at the 4.
- Lance, Steve and Josh will make for an interesting battle. Josh will certainly get minutes backing up Fes to some extent, just because CKS knows how valuable big man depth is. The question then is does Josh lock down that spot as the main backup at C, or does Steve’s strength and experience keep him splitting time at the 4 and 5. If Josh struggles defensively, will coach go mostly with Steve as the sub in big situations. If Steve is healthy, and Josh locks down the backup spot, does Steve push LG for the starting spot at the 4. If Steve isn’t healthy does Odom become the primary backup at the 4?
The main point here is that we are super flexible, and there will be opportunities for Stallings to find chances to get people on the court if they are performing. With DJ as a 2/3, RodO as a 3/4 and Steve as a 4/5, any place where one guy isn’t performing leaves an opportunity for another guy to take minutes.
I wish you could just mix and match guys all day long and get all 12 (or 13 if Moats doesn’t RS) opportunities, I’d love to see about 1400 different combinations and looks, but where flow and chemistry can be so important, it is necessary to limit yourself enough to let guys get comfortable in their roles. It’s one of those problems you’d love to have, and it may work itself out just through injuries or guys just clearly outperforming others.
In any case, as long as JJ, Jeff and Fes are healthy, I feel super confident that we can put a team around them.
Dai-Jon is a smallish 2
Who also can’t handle the point right now. I do think that we’ll see some 3-guard sets but I’m not sold on the idea that he’ll be any real threat for rotational minutes at the 3, though his presence could push other players there. Johnson’s size and physical defense may make the ’Dores more likely to run Johnson/Tinsley/Jenkins out there for D purposes than Dai-Jon…although how much Stallings utilizes the zone and how other teams are shooting could completely change that.
Odom only gained about 8-10 pounds this offseason, if the Vandy roster is correct. I was hoping he’d bulk up to about 225 so he could be more effective on the boards, but it seems like he’ll be a finesse 4 when asked to slide over. Nothing wrong with that, especially since he’s likely the starter at the 3 next season, but it would have been nice to see him add size if he could have packed on mass without losing speed. Still, if this means that he’s focusing on defending wings instead of crashing the boards, I’m cool with that.
I’ve gotta think that Steve is the first big off the bench at either the 4 or 5, and it’s possible that he’s pushing for a starting gig as the season progresses. A lot will depend on his return from injury and Lance’s ability to continue last year’s growth. If Goulbourne improves half as much as he did last year, look out. He’ll be a double-double threat every night. Henderson will probably be a foul-situation guy for most meaningful games thanks to the two seniors in front of him.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 4, 2011 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I didn’t realize Dai-Jon was only 6’3, he had another inch or 2 in my head. He has put on some weight though, if the team roster is accurate, he’s up to 190. Still, I guess he can’t really play a true 3.
But he’s supposed to be a great defender and really athletic might make him the guard best equipped for defending a winger in a 3 guard set, even if he has an inch and some pounds smaller than the others. I think if we do a 3 guard set, he’s likely to be out there, especially just because I do think we’ll be looking for chances to get him on the court with him stuck behind JJ.
3 guard rotation
I think due to the addition of Johnson and Parker that we will see more three guard lineups than we have previously. It will be interesting to see what the rotation will be, especially consdering that CKS generally doesn’t like to use more than 9 players. It is possible that he will go with more, but that would break precedent of the previous 12 seasons (though he hasn’t had this level of talented depth before.
It will also be interesting to see how Henderson and Siakam do and what kind of PT they receive. RS freshmen have generally not gotten much PT at all under CKS, and we really haven’t had much success with a player who has taken a voluntary redshirt season. Ezeli is the only player to my recollection who has thrived, and he did so for very obvious reasons that do not apply to 99.9% of the players out there. It is possible that it could have worked out for Nwankwo, but we never got to find out.
If you try to go further and distribute minutes, it also seems that either one of the reserve guards is out of the rotation, or we go three guard on a regular basis. I also forsee a lot of reduced minutes for JT, JJ and BT, which will probably help their production.
I think, at least early in the season, Josh will get a good shot at some minutes. With the injuries to Steve and Fes last season, CKS will really wants to have Josh ready to contribute in SEC play.
Add in the fact that both Fes and Steve (especially Steve) are still working their way back and I think Josh will get a lot of play early. What happens after that depends on how well he does. I feel pretty confident that CKS will do his best to be in a position to have 3 legit centers with an option of going super large with Steve and Fes/Josh on the court together.
Love the fact that if things work out we can go small, medium or large at will.
I agree that Hendo is more likely to earn minutes than Siakam
Siakam’s position is too crowded, while Henderson is one of only two true centers on the team. I don’t expect Hendo to be an above-average rebounder this year, but it seems as though he could be an offensive presence in limited minutes. I’ve heard good things about his face-up game and mid-range shooting. Both would compliment Festus’s game well in case of foul trouble.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 4, 2011 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Vanderbilt Basketball
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by Harbinger of Joy on Oct 4, 2011 6:57 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
The more I think about it...
The guys who play off the bench are the guards who can bring the best combination of defense with enough offense to not be ignored, and whichever post player rebounds the best, especially on the defensive end.
We need to be able to let Taylor stay at the 3 position defensively as much as possible and end defensive possessions much more efficiently than we did last season.
Our guards were extremely effective and efficient last season, but were not particularly good on defense and were a bit overworked – having a comlemetary player or two off the bench will help this area greatest. And our starting post players were actually very good on the boards and defensively, but we got less and less production from our bench as the season wore on. I don’t know who these players are going to be, but I would guess that the players who possess those qualities would have the greatest chance of cracking the rotation.
great writeup, great comments
October 14 won’t answer many of these questions, but it will expose us to the immense depth and talent on this squad. I can’t wait. Oregon will get a healthy dose of the big 6 due to matchups and their size, but we will get to see everyone play decent minutes before Texas.
by vanalyst on Oct 4, 2011 10:35 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Posting this here instead of the FanShot re: our three studs
only two other schools have 3 Pre-Season Wooden Top 50 players. Ohio State and UNC. Just think about that for a minute.
With that said, I do not see CKS running them like horses for the whole season. I expect to see alot of our younger guys and our back ups through the first month+ of the season. It is imperative that we blow teams out of the water so we can get our freshman more playing time. The key to a long run is having incredible depth without having a drop off in talent and without reducing your playbook on the offensive and defensive sides of the game.
Also, I would not be surprised if Steve is used sparingly for the first month or so. He is still recovering from surgery and CKS is known to protect his players if he can. Even if Steve is 100%, with our depth at 4, I imagine Odom as the backup 4 and Josh as the backup 5.
First guy off the bench will be Kendran at the 1 or 2 (only for defensive purposes) especially if we match up with a slashing PG that scores a ton.
Vandy Fan. Yankee by birth, Southern by choice.
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First defensive sub at 1 or 2 will be Dai Jon
This kid may not have Johnson’s height, but his instincts and quickness are way more advanced at this point. Let’s not forget that he has proven this against elite talent like Duke signees Quinn Cook and Austin Rivers. The 2-3 extra inches Johnson has doesn’t make up for Parker’s incredible lateral quickness.
Agreed
Johnson’s height and ball-handling could give him opportunities to shine in a 3-guard set in the SF slot, but Parker’s defensive chops will give him immediate minutes over his fellow freshman.
Kyle Fuller has slimmed down a bit and has the experience edge, but it seems likely that he’ll cede minutes to Parker as well if the kid’s defense is as good as advertised.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 5, 2011 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions
Tempo Team
A thought just crossed my mind. A 2nd team “press unit”.
Our starters are set with the seniors plus JJ. They get the game going well. Very strong offensively. Get the other team worked up. Then we bring in our “press unit”.
OGKF, Parker, Johnson, Odom and Steve. A whole lot of speed and athleticism. Pick up full court. Attack the other team defensively. Jump the passing lanes. Trap the ball. Do everything they can to up the tempo. Force the other team into a high energy running game.
The 2nd team should have enough offense to make this work. Might have a touch of an issue on the boards and interior defense. But this should work against most teams.
With them having run hard and furious, bring back the first team to work against some tired folks. Rinse and repeat as needed.
3-guard lineup
The thing is… all this talk about the 3-guard lineup assumes roles are the same on both ends of the court. But why make that assumption? A 3-guard lineup of Jenkins, Johnson, and Parker could work perfectly: On offense, Johnson is the point with two capable ballhandlers on the wings. Jenkins will spread the defense, Parker will cause havok with his slashing and Johnson can either distribute, slash past a bigger player, or punish a guard inside. On defense, Parker guards the points (solving our achilles heel from last year—our inability to defend quick point guards), Jenkins guards the 2s and Johnson has enough size to play the 3s if they’re not both quick and large. It would work just as well with Tinsley or Fuller instead of Jenkins. This is the advantage that a big, strong point guard like Johnson can provide you.
Right
I think the three-guard lineup would have to include Johnson thanks to his size, but he could play alongside 2 of the 3 of Tinsley/Parker/Jenkins to make it work. Guarding opposing 3s is tricky, especially given how good Taylor is there, but I’m sure Stallings could make it work.
by Christian D'Andrea on Oct 6, 2011 5:53 PM EDT up reply actions
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