Vanderbilt suddenly has a thin backcourt, but the frontcourt issues may have been solved

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports Since Vanderbilt ended its basketball season a month ago, the Commodores have now seen five players depart the program — six, if you count Scotty Pippen Jr., who entered his name in the NBA Draft (though technically leaving the door open for a possible return.)

Individually, the departures aside from Pippen don’t hurt. Vanderbilt frankly expected to lose seniors Max Evans and Clevon Brown, though not necessarily to the transfer portal — it might have been nice to have them back next season, but that wasn’t exactly something they planned on. Losing a pair of fourth-year juniors in D.J. Harvey and Ejike Obinna shouldn’t have been unexpected, either,…