Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball, after amassing a 26-8 (11-7 SEC) record in the 2025-26 season, has earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament as a 5-seed in the South Region. It will face 12-seed McNeese in Oklahoma City on March 19.
The Commodores have had one of the most historic seasons in program history. Head coach Mark Byington led his team to a perfect 13-0 start in the nonconference slate, before notching 11 wins in regular season conference play, taking down Tennessee as well as Alabama and Kentucky. The team recently advanced all the way to the finals of the SEC Tournament on March 15, knocking out Tennessee and Florida before falling to Arkansas in the championship game.
Byington expressed his excitement to see his team compete on the biggest stage.
“Well, we’re obviously excited. It’s the best event in the world,” Byington said after the Selection Show finished. “To be able to play in the NCAA Tournament is a privilege. Our team is looking for a quick bounce back. We played really good in the SEC tournament, and it’s obviously a quick turn turnaround, one that we didn’t actually anticipate being this fast. So, we’re gonna play Thursday in Oklahoma City against the McNeese team that won [a] NCAA Tournament game last year. We’ll learn a lot about them tonight, but I know they’ve won 28 games. And so, if you won 28 games, [you] are good.”
This will be the Commodores’ second-straight year of making it to the Big Dance. They fell to the St. Mary Gaels in last year’s tournament as a 10-seed in the Round of 64. Byington touched on how he feels NCAA Tournament experience will help his team this year.
“I like the fact [that] I’ve got a lot of guys on my team with NCAA Tournament experience,” Byington said. “I do think that’s helpful. If you’ve never been there before, sometimes it’s big lights and big stage and everything else. When you’ve been there before, you understand what you’re getting yourself into [and] how you [need] to prep.”
The last time Vanderbilt made it out of the Round of 64 was 2012, where it made it all the way to the Sweet 16. The Commodores will look to rekindle that magic from over a decade ago in a week’s time.
Now, Vanderbilt will take on a new foe in the McNeese Cowboys. The specific timing of the matchup is still to be determined. The teams will play for a chance to be in the Round of 32, where they will face either 4-seed Nebraska or 13-seed Troy.
