Vanderbilt, Maryland Eastern Shore to show off new coaches, transfers

Two veteran coaches will debut at new stops when Maryland Eastern Shore visits Vanderbilt on Monday night in Nashville, Tenn.Mark Byington takes over at Vanderbilt after a 9-23 campaign cost Jerry Stackhouse his job after five seasons.Byington left James Madison one day after a second-round loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament, ending a 32-4 season that included JMU’s first NCAA win since 1983.Maryland Eastern Shore dismissed James Crafton after a 9-20 season — his fourth at the school — and hired Cleo Hill Jr. Hill spent the past six years at Division II Winston-Salem State, where he went 19-9 last season.Both Vanderbilt and Maryland Eastern Shore have significant rebuilds ahead. The Commodores were picked to finish last of the 16 teams in the Southeastern Conference preseason media poll, while the Hawks were pegged seventh in the eight-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.Byington’s energy and style of play should be a refreshing change of pace from Stackhouse, who went 70-92 and extended an NCAA Tournament drought that stretches to 2017.Byington will emphasize “position-less basketball” with a roster that lacks height. The Commodores’ tallest player is 6-foot-9 Southern California transfer Kijani Wright, who’s expected to miss much of the season with an undisclosed, non-basketball-related health issue.That leaves JaQualon Roberts and JMU transfer Jaylen Carey — both listed at 6-8 — as the Commodores’ tallest players.The transfer-heavy team — Byington was left with just one scholarship player when he arrived — will need to work hard to be competitive in the SEC