Vander Blue

[TrevorCandelino]

People were saying the same thing about Trevon Hughes after his Wisconsin high school basketball career.  They were saying he'll be in the NBA, he's finally an athletic guard for UW, etc.  Pretty sure he won't be in the NBA any time soon.  If Olando Tucker goes to a different school that fits his game more, he's in a much better situation right now.  Brian Butch might have been the 1st McDonald's All-American ever to redshirt his freshman year.  He was 1 of the best 26(?) high school players in the USA.  He was never even close to a top 100 college player at Wisconsin.

Devin Harris is doing great for himself.  Others who were expected to be after Wisconsin are not.  Who knows what will happen with him?

I am not getting into the verbal committment/tampering thing again but I will say this again.....Vander Blue is very very good....He is much better than Travon Hughes at this stage....Nobody outside of Lebron James or a Kevin Durant is a can't miss but Vander is as special a high school guard that WI has seen in a long time....The only other WI high school guard I can remember with as much natural talent was Calvin Rayford from Milw. Washington that ended up at Kansas.....

[GGGG]

I am not getting into the verbal committment/tampering thing again but I will say this again.....Vander Blue is very very good....He is much better than Travon Hughes at this stage....Nobody outside of Lebron James or a Kevin Durant is a can't miss but Vander is as special a high school guard that WI has seen in a long time....The only other WI high school guard I can remember with as much natural talent was Calvin Rayford from Milw. Washington that ended up at Kansas.....

I am not sure I agree with you, but even so, I think Calvin Rayford is a great example of how guards from Wisconsin can be overated.  Calvin Rayford was highly regarded, but really never did much at Kansas.  He ended up as a back-up to Jacque Vaughn as a senior. I would think that Blue could be better than that.

[BrewCity83]

I don't think that's necessarily the case.  I don't know if you saw Butch play at Appleton, but what made him stand out was that he had perimeter game.  A couple different scouting services named him the best perimeter shooting big man in the class of 2003, and there were thoughts the he would be best served staying light weight and becoming a Novak type player.  People continually raved about his sweet stroke, his ability to run the court like a small forward, and how he was the perfect European type big man who could handle the ball and stroke it from three.  Playing in the swing would not have been a problem at all if he hadn't bulked up and slowed down.  If he'd stayed thin and kept working on the stroke he had in high school, he would have had a much better chance of making the NBA than by bulking up and becoming a true center.

If that's true about Butch, then you can also blame Bo for mis-developing him.

[GGGG]

Bo's a good coach and thought he did what was best.  I am sure that both Butch and his parents knew and approved the course he took before he even got to UW.  Part of Butch's problem as a perimeter player is that he wasn't nearly as quick as Novak.

[dennycrane]

I disagree with that. He goes to Arizona he would of played in NBA. Olson was good at developing players for NBA. I do not think going to MU would have helped him as Crean did not have a good record with bigmen.

Lute can make players grow taller, run faster and jump higher. Lute also has the cure asthma. Those are the things that kept Butch out of the NBA. It was not a lack of skill or understanding of the game.

[mu-rara]

But MU really hasnt' had a great team either.  I mean, yes they got to the Final Four once, but hasn't been to the Sweet 16 before or since.  Bo has at least gotten the Badgers to the Sweet 16 three times. 

I guess we all like to rip on the Badgers, but Bo is a good coach and Wisconsin is a solid basketball program.  Vander Blue would be just fine there.

2 of those 3 times he should have been at least an Elite Eight / Final Four team.  He makes great teams good.

[LON]

2 of those 3 times he should have been at least an Elite Eight / Final Four team.  He makes great teams good.

Bo may have 3 sweet 16 appearances, but look at who they beat to get there.

This year was the first time Bo beat ANYONE ranked higher than a 9 seed...

[Badgerhater920]

Bo may have 3 sweet 16 appearances, but look at who they beat to get there.

This year was the first time Bo beat ANYONE ranked higher than a 9 seed...

+1. A statistic often overlooked by Bo-worshipers.

[mu-rara]

Bo may have 3 sweet 16 appearances, but look at who they beat to get there.

This year was the first time Bo beat ANYONE ranked higher than a 9 seed...

I agree.  What I meant to say is BoBo underperformed in 2 of the 3 years he was in the Sweet 16.

[avid1010]

Many WI alum. are growing tired with Bo's recruits.  He just never has the talent to compete at an elite level.  Look at the Duke vs. Nova game last night.  Nova had better athletes at 4 of the 5 positions and Duke didn't look like they belonged on the court with them.  Now picture WI in that spot?  Will they have better talent next year?  Will Vander Blue be happy running the swing offense with a team lacking athleticism?  If he wasn't from Madison, UW wouldn't have had a chance.  There is no doubt in my mind that his talent will be contained by Bo in many areas of his game.  We'll see what he does, but the thought of him playing for UW worries me much less than the thought of him playing for a BEAST team other than MU.

[GGGG]

Now *that* I think is a fair criticism of Ryan.  I think his recruiting isn't as good as it should be.

[bilsu]

Lute can make players grow taller, run faster and jump higher. Lute also has the cure asthma. Those are the things that kept Butch out of the NBA. It was not a lack of skill or understanding of the game.

Arizona weather might of cured his asthma.