NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Memorial Magic is back in a very big way for Vanderbilt with the Southeastern Conference’s only private university as the nation’s only program with both its men’s and women’s teams still undefeated. And both are playing some of the best ball in the long history of this program. The 11th-ranked men matched the best start in program history Saturday. beating LSU for Vanderbilt’s 16th win, matching the start by the 2007-08 squad. The women already are 16-0, ranked No. 7 and visit Texas A&M on Sunday needing a win to match the school-record 17-game streak by the 1992-93 Final Four team to open that season.Add in football with its its historic season, and Vanderbilt’s top three programs are a combined 42-3. Men’s coach Mark Byington, in his second season, said sharing the Huber Center, which opened in January 2025, allows him to watch Shea Ralph and her assistants and players work every day. He hopes she can say the same thing about his team. “Both teams prepare really hard, and we cheer for each other like crazy …,” Byington said. “The way that their culture is is very impressive, and I know it’s a reason for the success and just how hard they work. So I hope some … say the same thing about us and I think it’s what we try to do as well.”Credit goes to Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and athletic director Candice Storey Lee. They started their Vandy United fundraiser that helped build that new basketball building where the men and women have their own separate floors with gyms, locker rooms, meeting rooms and offices. Lee lured Shea Ralph away from UConn in April 2021. She fired Jerry Stackhouse and hired Byington after he coached James Madison to a first-round upset of Wisconsin at the NCAA Tournament in March 2024. He took a program that went 9-23 before he arrived to the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Byington, who coached alongside Curt Cignetti, head coach of Indiana’s top-ranked football team, during his tenure at James Ma …
