Aaron Bright impressed with 6-7 forward James Siakam

Vanderbilt already has prevailed at one Bay Area school in the NIT, but at least one inside observer thinks the Commodores will have a tougher time in their next try.

The Nashville team traveled more than 2,000 miles to California for the second time in a week for Tuesday night’s quarterfinal game against Stanford at Maples Pavilion.

“I’m going to go with the Cardinal,” said former Stanford point guard Aaron Bright, who finished his college career as a graduate student with St. Mary’s.

His Gaels lost to Vanderbilt 75-64 in the first round Wednesday in Moraga. Damian Jones, a 6-foot-10 sophomore center who leads the Commodores in scoring (14.6 points per game) and rebounding (6.5), hit 10 of 14 shots for 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

“He’s very explosive,” Bright said. “He’s a hell of an athlete. But I think he’ll have a tougher time with Stanford because of Stef,” referring to 6-11 Stefan Nastic.

Bright said he also was impressed with 6-7 forward James Siakam, a senior from Cameroon. “He crashes the boards every possession,” Bright said. “They’ll have to put a body on him.”

According to Bright, the Cardinal (21-13) should have the edge in the backcourt, particularly with Chasson Randle, who torched Rhode Island for 35 points in Sunday’s 74-65 victory.

“We don’t face a lot of athletes in the WCC like they have in the SEC, but Stanford does” in the Pac-12, Bright said.

He hopes his former teammates win and earn a berth in the NIT semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden. When the Cardinal won the NIT in 2012, Bright was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“Playing at the Garden was one of the highlights of my college career,” he said.

Maybe Randle can duplicate Bright’s NIT award. Randle needs 27 points to break Todd Lichti’s school career record of 2,336.

Vanderbilt, which finished seventh in the SEC with a 9-9 record, is one of the youngest teams in the country. It was the only SEC school to start three freshman guards.