Vanderbilt finds success is costly. So far, two court-stormings have net them $750,000 in fines

When he was hired by Vanderbilt to rebuild the men’s basketball program after years of mediocrity, Mark Byington envisioned a moment like the football team experienced last October, when fans stormed the field following a win over Alabama.

Byington might have to start getting used to such moments.

In the span of just over a week, the Commodores have edged No. 6 Tennessee and pulled an upset of ninth-ranked Kentucky — heck, they played No. 4 Alabama tough in a road loss in between — and finally crashed the AP Top 25 after nearly a decade in the hinterlands. They came in at No. 24 in this week’s poll, one of 10 schools from the might SEC in the rankings.

“There’s big-picture things I wanted to happen around here and ... at one point I want it to be where we’re not surprised, that we don’t feel like the underdog in these games, and we’re going into them knowing that that our program is good and we expect to win,” Byington said. “We’re not there yet, so let the fans enjoy it.”

Even if the celebrations prove costly. The court-storming after the win over the Vols cost the Commodores a $250,000 fine from the SEC, and a second storming after the win over the Wildcats earned them another $500,000 punishment.

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“We got to start a GoFundMe page or something to pay fines,” Byington said. “We’ll figure it out.”

They have a bit of time. The Commodores, who are ranked for the first time since Dec. 7, 2015, get a slight reprieve from what has been the toughest league in the country before traveling to SEC newcomer Oklahoma on Saturday.

Things only get tougher from there. Vanderbilt has a stretch spanning about a month where it visits fifth-ranked Florida, plays Texas and No. 1 Auburn, heads to Tennessee and Kentucky for rematches, welcomes No. 23 Ole Miss to Memorial Gymnasium, visits No. 13 Texas A&M and finishes up with No. 20 Missouri.

“It’s not time to reflect, and it’s on to what’s next. And I’ve always kind of had the mentality,” Byington said. “If you get too low in this league, I mean, it’s going to stomp you and crush you. And if you get too high, somebody’s going to knock you off. And so we keep it simple. Let’s just keep getting better. We’ll see what happens.”

Tennessee’s tough stretch

Everyone in the SEC is going to have a brutal stretch at some point, and Rick Barnes and the Vols are going through theirs right now. After losing to the Commodores, they knocked off No. 14 Mississippi State before falling again, this time in a 53-51 slugfest against top-ranked Auburn in a game that wasn’t decided until the closing seconds.

Now, the Vols have a three-game homestand against ranked teams beginning Tuesday night with Kentucky. The Gators arrive on Saturday for another showdown of top-10 teams, and then Missouri visits Thompson–Boling Arena next week.

“We have a chance to be so much better and I think we can get better,” Barnes said. “We’re coming to the end of January. A lot of basketball left. We want to be at our best at the end of the year and we got guys that are going to continue to work to do that.”

Still streaking — barely

Two-time defending national champion UConn heads into the week having lost three of its past five games, all to unranked foes, and tumbled six spots to No. 25 this week. The Huskies narrowly extended their poll streak to 52 consecutive weeks, the fourth-longest current run behind Houston (98), Kansas (77) and Tennessee (72).

It won’t be easy to keep it going this week. UConn plays DePaul on Wednesday before a trip to No. 9 Marquette on Saturday.

Missouri Valley love

Drake received some Top 25 votes earlier this season and continues to roll along at 18-2 overall and 8-2 in league play heading into a game against Northern Iowa on Wednesday night. But the Bulldogs aren’t the only Valley team getting some respect.

Bradley, which hasn’t been ranked since the final poll of the 1987-88 season, picked up a vote this week. The Braves have won five straight to improve to 18-3 overall and 9-1 in the league. They play UIC on Wednesday night.

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