Show Me My Opponent, 2023-24: Vanderbilt, Part Two
Now one spot ahead of Texas A&M Corpus Christi!
There’s long been this term “dead cat bounce,” but I’m a cat owner so I don’t like it. I prefer the term “new manager bounce” that gets used a bunch in Europe for whenever a soccer team fires their manager for the third time in a year. Someone new comes in, you get instant results for a couple weeks, and everyone is fooled into thinking the new guy is the guy. Then he loses seven of eight matches and you’re back to square one.
Vanderbilt has not fired their coach (yet) but when you have SEC talent, you’re gonna new manager bounce your way into a win or two no matter how bad you are. It took a perfect confluence of injuries, horrid end-game luck, and a quitting roster for Vanderbilt to go 0-fer in ‘18-19. It merely took Texas A&M losing the combined turnover/offensive rebound battle by 11 for Vanderbilt to pull off a buzzer-beating shocker this week.
I’d be more inclined to believe something fundamental has changed here if, you know, they were not 7-17, 2-9 SEC. Or if their defense was not the worst in the conference. Or if they weren’t the worst shooting team in the conference. But! They’re not going 0-fer. Missouri might, but I doubt it. The main event left in their season is Wednesday night in Nashville in March, when they finish out a 2-16 or 3-15 SEC season, followed by whatever day they decide they want to start winning college basketball games again and find a new coach.
BEHIND THE WALL ($): Works on contingency? No, money down!