Inside Vanderbilt’s rise into a force in the SEC

For the first time since 2019, the Commodores beat in-state rival Tennessee, 71-70. The crowd of over 8,200 fans went wild. Loud, excited fans made their way down from the stands for another court storming.

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Vanderbilt Athletics seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt.

On Oct. 5, the school’s football team shocked the nation with a 40-35 win over then-No. 1 Alabama. Commodores fans took down the goalpost and walked it to Broadway Street, one of the most famous locations in Nashville, before throwing it in the Cumberland River.

On Jan. 18, Vanderbilt men’s basketball took down Tennessee by a single point. That was the second time fans stormed the court (or field).

Just one day after the men’s victory, the women had the same success, also at home, in another nail-biting ending, and they’re currently ranked No. 24 in the AP poll.

“From our football team that started us off, winning big games [like] Alabama and being really good this year, I feel like that’s just carried us into the basketball season,” senior guard Iyana Moore told The Next. “The men’s [basketball team], they’re winning. We’re winning. I feel like if we have sports that are winning, people are going to want to come see what Vandy Athletics is about. Our football team really helped us start that way for us to have good crowds in basketball games.”

Vanderbilt isn’t typically known for sports. With a 5.1% acceptance rate for the class of 2028, Vanderbilt is one of the most prestigious schools in the country, ranking No. 18 nationally, and many call it the “Harvard of the South.”

The academic excellence isn’t irrelevant to the recent athletic success. Blakes, who has been making headlines since the Tennessee game, would likely not be in Nashville if it wasn’t for that.

“Vanderbilt has really good academics, which is a high priority in my family,” Blakes told The Next.

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Blakes kept her name on the national radar when Vanderbilt traveled to Florida on Jan. 30. Scoring 53 points, she broke the NCAA single-game scoring record for a true freshman and the SEC single-game record that had stood for 22 years.

Blakes said she didn’t know during the game how high her tally had climbed, but her teammates on the bench had a different reaction.

“Once I got to the bench, I’m like, ‘Forty-eight points! Keep scoring, keep going. Give her the ball,'” Moore said. “We celebrate each other, and for her to do something like that is very special.”

Moore was a standout freshman herself when she joined the team in 2021. The guard was named to the All-SEC freshman team in 2022 after starting 17 games and averaging 12.7 points per game, the second-most on the team. That season, Moore set a program record with nine 3-pointers against Alabama State and tallied her 100th career point in just her 11th game, becoming one of the fastest Vanderbilt freshmen to reach the milestone.

Moore has been sharing her knowledge with the team’s latest star rookie.

“Basketball can be taken away at any [given] moment, and when she goes out there, she’s playing hard every single game,” Moore said about what she’s told Blakes. “In practice, she’s playing hard. I mean, just keeping her on her toes and [not being] complacent, because you never know what could happen. If you’re continuously hungry, then it’ll all come when it’s supposed to come.”

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Moore joined the program alongside head coach Shea Ralph, who came to the Commodores after 13 seasons as an assistant coach at UConn. As a student-athlete, Ralph was part of UConn’s 2000 national championship team and scored 1,678 career points.

Ralph brought her husband Tom Garrick with her to Nashville as an assistant coach. Garrick led the Commodores from 2009 to 2015 and took them to five NCAA Tournaments.

“I wanted to see what I could do to further [Ralph’s] career and her goals,” Garrick told The Next. “I knew Vanderbilt was a wonderful place from my previous experience. I had knowledge of what we were about to embark upon, who she was going to be working with and for, and I knew it was gonna be a great opportunity for her.”

Ralph, Garrick and their daughter Maysen strive to bring the players into their family.

“To see her communicate with our team and know how she communicates with our daughter and see the parallels there, knowing basketball is the least of it,” Garrick said. “She knows a lot about basketball; she’s part of the great basketball history and lineage for her whole career. But to see her transfer what knowledge she gained from her experience at UConn and now impart that in her own way, in her own terms, has been more than satisfying. It’s been heartwarming for me to see someone I love and care about so much prosper and grow.”

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Now, halfway through their fourth season in Nashville, Ralph and Garrick want and believe they can make a deep NCAA Tournament run. The Commodores currently have a 18-6 overall record, a 5-5 conference record and a few wins over ranked teams, and they’re projected to get a No. 6 seed in the tournament. They still have some challenges ahead in No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 2 South Carolina. But for the first time since 2014, Vanderbilt is also a ranked team, and it’s ready to make more history.

“Our main goal for this program is to be a national-level team, year in and year out,” Garrick said. “To be a top-10 team, to be an NCAA participant deep into the tournament, to be a Final Four team and ultimately to be a champion. Now, that takes time, and a lot of elements go into that.

“I think in our four years here, we’ve made … inroads into becoming a preeminent program in the nation. That’s our goal. We believe in our system, we believe in our program, we believe in our university and we believe in the person guiding the program. If you’re not playing to win, what are you actually playing for?”