'I do love this time of year.” Inside Vanderbilt Basketball's Summer Program

For a few weeks it’s just them. They walk in and out of the Huber Center together. They go around Vanderbilt’s campus and eat at Sun and Fork together. They go downtown Nashville together. 

They become one. 

These few weeks are the time when a group of guys that may have crossed paths once or twice–or not even that much–throughout their college basketball tenures get to know each other. It’s when they surprise each other with what they can do on the floor. It’s when they all join together and align their goals towards winning big together like they all did individually a few months back as they each made the choice to join Vanderbilt’s roster. 

“For us the summer is really built on building chemistry and building that bond amongst each other so that they’re willing to do what it takes to win,” Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told Vandy on SI. “The focus is really big on building chemistry and guys building the team bond.”

This time of year there’s no starting lineup or rotation set. Perhaps each coach on the Vanderbilt staff has an idea of what they have in each player, but a good staff goes into each day of practice and drops their preconceived notions about which player can do what at the door. 

It’s the time of year where guys who don’t ultimately end up playing alongside each other, play alongside each other. It’s time for guys who aren’t point guards to see what they can do at point guard. It’s time for Mark Byington to get wacky and see if any of the things he throws at the wall will stick. 

“A lot of times people want to box somebody in and say ‘this is what they are,’” Byington told Vandy on SI. “I think that’s a mistake. So we’re using the summer to kind of see what they can do and what they do well and letting them play different areas, make different mistakes and figure out what’s right.” 

“We do a lot of experimenting,” Joyner added. “Seeing what guys do well, what guys don’t do well and seeing the areas we really need to work on with certain guys. It’s really a time for us to assess where we are and where they are and what they need to do to grow.”

There’s a reason these things aren’t open to the public–outside of Vanderbilt point guard Frankie Collins livestreaming some of the team’s pickup games on Twitch–if they were then Byington’s coaching intellect may be questioned at times. 

If you were to walk inside the Huber Center to catch some AC during a Vanderbilt practice–don’t even think about it, that thing is locked up–you’d likely see Jacksonville State transfer Mason Nicholson playing at a significant heavier weight than he will  during the season as he looks to drop his playing weight by 18 pounds over the course of the summer. You’d see 6-foot-10 center Jalen Washington handling it on the perimeter and creating his own shot at times. You’d see him playing alongside 6-foot-10 Jayden Leverett so Byington can get a look at that lineup. 

“Could there ever be a scenario where I play them together?” Byington said rhetorically. “I’m gonna do it this summer.” 

Put any two players on Vanderbilt’s roster together and you’d likely get that answer from Byington. That’s how he operates. That’s who he is. That’s why he’s here. 

This isn’t new to his current role, either. It’s what he did at Georgia Southern. It’s what he did at James Madison. It’s his identity. He will never change it, either. If he did, that would undermine everything he believes in as a head coach. 

“Mark is such an outside the box thinker,” Byington’s former assistant and current VMI head coach Andrew Wilson told Vandy on SI. “He always tries to buck traditional ways of thinking, like when he put everyone down as a point guard because he knows that in the recruiting process there’s certain words to use.” 

As you look around at the players on the court in the Huber Center, you’d see that philosophy brought to life. You’d also hear voices of multiple veterans trying to assert themselves as leaders while some become louder than others. As of his mid June interview, Byington thought Collins’, Oklahoma transfer Duke Miles’ and returning wing Tyler Nickel’s were the most prominent and effective of the bunch. 

Vanderbilt will need a voice to rely on when it gets punched in the mouth on the road for the first time and has to get off the mat. It also needs some now as its group of new guys learns what Byington wants to do and what he expects from each of them. 

“We try to go big picture,” Byington said. “It’s big picture framework on what we’re doing and like I said, we’re moving around lineups and seeing who plays well with each other and who can do what.”

Throughout the couple months that Vanderbilt’s summer program goes, Byington and his staff devote their time in the gym fully to that. Most college staffs feel as if they don’t get enough practice time in the summer. Rather than complaining about it, the Vanderbilt staff consolidates their time in order to try everything. 

They “stay away” from ATOs, quick hitters and baseline out of bounds plays. They don’t worry about what will work and who it will work against. They just sit there and watch the development happen. 

What Byington and his staff does try to put in are the staples of what he wants to do. He wants to be positionless. He wants his guys to hunt for steals. He wants to teach. He wants his guys to internalize that. 

“It’s the framework of our defense [we work on], but we’re also going to play multiple defenses this summer and see if any of those we’re good at,” Byington said. “It’s the framework of our offense, but then also kind of spacing and playing multiple guys together that might now be together and look at it because when you get to the season there’s so much pressure to win and it’s hard to make adjustments unless you’ve seen the team before. So, we’re kind of doing the major adjustments in the summer.” 

Until early November the pressure is off. Byington and his assistants will be in and out on recruiting trips. Byington will keep toying with things. Vanderbilt will keep toying with anything it thinks has a remote chance to work. 

That’s why Byington loves this time of year. He loves what it stands for. He loves his responsibilities. The revenue sharing talk can wait. So can the intensity of needing to win. 

Time to coach. Time to bond. Time to play. 

“It’s fun,” Byington said. “I don’t know if it’s my favorite time of year, but this is way up there. I mean, I do love this time of year.”