The team was led by head coach Kevin Stallings and played its home games at Memorial Gymnasium.

[1] They returned three starters: swingmen Shan Foster and Derrick Byars and point guard Alex Gordon.

Vanderbilt lost two starters: Julian Terrell, their top rebounder (7.2 rpg), and rising-junior DeMarre Carroll, their second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg).

Terrell graduated, while Carroll unexpectedly decided to transfer to Missouri shortly after the 2005–06 season ended, a decision influenced by the fact that Mizzou's new head coach Mike Anderson is his uncle.

[3] The Commodores got off to a rocky 1–3 start that included an embarrassing home loss to Furman (15–16 final record, 8–10 Southern Conference).