So far in the 2017-18 basketball season, the Vanderbilt Commodores have played (per KenPom) the 14th-toughest schedule in the country, and the 13th-toughest non-conference schedule. (Wisconsin’s two Big Ten games played to date push their overall schedule ahead of Vanderbilt’s.) That number will almost certainly go down a bit after upcoming games against Houston Baptist and Alcorn State, though they’ll also be buoyed again thanks to an SEC/Big 12 Challenge game against TCU.
That’s led to predictable teeth-gnashing that Vanderbilt “overscheduled,” and the team may underperform thanks to a difficult schedule, the bigger issue is that Vanderbilt isn’t as good of a team as many of us thought they were in the preseason.