On the same day that fellow SEC school Florida landed its first verbal commitment in the Class of 2019, Vanderbilt managed to do the same. Four-star shooting guard Austin Crowley, who was scheduled to take an official visit to Minnesota this weekend, announced via Twitter that he will play his college basketball for Bryce Drew.
A 6-foot-6 guard from West Point, Mississippi, Crowley currently attends Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas and made his pick just days after visiting Vanderbilt. Crowley, who played for the MoKan Basketball program on the Nike EYBL circuit, was also considering Minnesota and Ole Miss.
After winning 19 games and reaching the NCAA tournament in Drew’s first season at the helm, Vanderbilt fell to 12-20 last season. The hope for this season is that returnees such as guard Saben Lee can work together with a highly-regarded 2018 recruiting class to spark a turnaround and make the Commodores a factor in the SEC.
Should that happen the 2019 class, which now has its first member in Crowley, would be entrusted with the task of building on said momentum.