The Vanderbilt Commodores may not have to wait until "Selection Sunday" to learn their NCAA basketball tournament fate.
Not with a schedule this week that includes tonight's game at No. 9 Kentucky and Saturday's home contest against No. 12 Florida.
Bryce Drew's Commodores have won four consecutive contests and are the latest Southeastern Conference team this winter to reside squarely on the NCAA bubble. The USA Today's latest tournament projection has Vanderbilt facing Illinois in a matchup of 11 seeds at a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, while ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has the Commodores (16-13, 9-7) as his last team in the 68-member field, facing Providence in Dayton in a pairing of 12 seeds.
"We know we have a tough stretch ahead with two ranked teams and then the SEC tournament," Drew said in his news conference following Saturday's 77-48 home drubbing of Mississippi State, "but what a great opportunity to have these two teams left on our schedule and, at this time, to still be able to play for something. We're encouraged and excited that we have something to play for now in this final stretch."
Two weeks ago, the Commodores appeared to be playing out the string, falling to 12-13 overall and 5-7 in the conference with an embarrassing 72-52 defeat at Missouri. They had three of their next four games in Nashville and took advantage of that, and last Wednesday's 67-56 win at Tennessee avenged a home loss to the Volunteers in January.
Saturday's performance was an impressive follow-up to the triumph in Knoxville, as the Commodores made 14 of 29 3-pointers in blasting MSU. Junior forward Jeff Roberson made five 3-pointers in tallying 23 points, while junior guard Riley LaChance had three 3-pointers in his 11.
Senior forward Luke Kornet, whose 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining on Dec. 17 gave Vandy a key 76-74 victory over UT-Chattanooga, had 10 points and eight rebounds Saturday.
"We haven't strung together four consecutive games where we've been this focused and played this hard and executed this well," Drew said. "It's a great compliment to the guys."
Said Roberson: "You want to play your best ball this time of year, and we're playing better and better, so it's exciting."
Vanderbilt hasn't won inside Rupp Arena in a decade, but simply splitting this week's games would do wonders for the Commodores in the Rating Percentage Index. The Commodores had an RPI of 48 as of Monday evening, with Florida at No. 6 and Kentucky at No. 7.
The Commodores defeated Florida in Gainesville, 68-66, on Jan. 21.
Simply getting to Dayton would be a welcomed accomplishment a year after it served as a point of embarrassment. Vanderbilt was picked to finish second in the SEC before the final season under coach Kevin Stallings, but the Commodores wound up going to Dayton and being throttled 70-50 by Wichita State.
"At the end of the year, you can get tired and different things like that," Drew said, "but when you're still improving as a team, it kind of rejuvenates you and gives you energy. From the practices to the games, I feel like we're still getting better, and the players feel like they're still getting better, and I think that motivates them.
"This team keeps getting better, and I think that's a good sign."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.