Why Mark Byington is Projecting Leap from Duke Miles

As Duke Miles was in the midst of catching heat for his chaotic transfer portal process, Mark Byington and the Vanderbilt staff couldn’t be more unfazed by any of the talk surrounding him. 

Miles committing to Virginia, decommitting, committing to Texas A&M and decommitting before ultimately landing at Vanderbilt may be a red flag to people outside the Huber Center, but the Vanderbilt staff knows Miles. As a result, they scoff at anyone questioning his character. 

Vanderbilt assistant coach Kenneth Mangrum coached Miles for three seasons at Troy and was quick to vouch for him and his personality. After coaching him for a few weeks, Byington is too. 

“It was a topsy, turvy spring for him, but that’s not an indictment on his character,” Byington told Vandy on SI. “He is a great person.” 

Byington and the Vanderbilt staff did a thorough background check on Miles outside of Mangrum’s recommendation and believed that every aspect of his character “checked out.” 

In a similar way, their evaluation of his tape gave them enough reason to offer him a scholarship and lucrative NIL deal in order to get him to be the final player on their roster. Miles’ 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game as well as his 43.0 conversion rate from 3-point range in 2024-25–his only SEC season–stood out to Byington and company. 

So did the things he’s capable of that he didn’t show in that season, though. Miles has created his own shot some within Vanderbilt’s practice and pickup settings, which was part of the appeal of his game in the eyes of Byington and his staff.

Perhaps Miles can finally channel some of his off the bounce ability like he did at High Point and Troy in the SEC. Byington is certainly encouraging it more than Oklahoma’s coaching staff did when Miles played alongside one-and-done guard Jeremiah Fears. 

It was the Fears show the whole way for that team. Need someone in a ball screen, Fears. Need someone to go get a bucket, Fears. Need someone to touch it every possession, Fears. Not Miles. That’s what you do when you’ve got a lottery pick that can do what Fears could do. 

Miles embraced his role as a swiss-army knife at Oklahoma and will have some aspect of that in his role at Vanderbilt, too. When Byington scouted him before Vanderbilt’s matchup with the Sooners he saw the capability for more within Miles’ game, though.

“He kind of was stuck in the offense playing with the lottery pick,” Byington said. “We were worried about him, especially if he was being used more and kind of used in a different way. He is a guy that can impact the game offensively, make shots. He’s very cerebral. Like, a high level intelligence that’s very impressive.”

Miles went for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field in that game against Vanderbilt, which Oklahoma won 97-67 and outscored Vanderbilt 61-27 in the second half.  

Now he’s on West End going through the motions with Vanderbilt each day as an example of how its recruiting has evolved since the beginning of Byington’s tenure. A player of Miles’ stature with the financial commitment Vanderbilt has made to him now has some expectations. It appears he’s living up to them. 

“Duke’s been extremely impressive,” Byington said.