Feeling Blue

[brewcity77]

Vander Blue, that is. What a performance tonight from the young man. While he hasn't been regularly clocking this many points, for my money, he's exceeding expectations thus far. Looking at our depth, I was thinking Blue would be a 8-10 mpg kind of guy, providing some defense and spark off the bench. Instead, he has put in at least 20 minutes every night, is near double-digit scoring, and has been a tenacious defender.

When people said he'd be starting by Big East play, I for one doubted he'd get there that quickly. Instead, he's started a majority of games this year already and has been quietly putting up numbers across the board. While his shot needs work, it seems like he's already made improvements at getting to the rack just in the past month. And despite a poor start at the free throw line, he has gone 8/8 from the stripe in the past 4 games.

If VB keeps improving over the course of this season, I think he might have the kind of impact by the end of the year that many of the pundits were expecting. He's certainly not all-Big East just yet, but I can't remember it being this evident watching a player get better on a weekly basis in a long time.

And in case any trolls are wondering, if a certain guard at Southern Miss had put up the statline Blue did against Texas A&M-CC tonight, he would have new career highs in points, assists, steals, and blocks. And yes, I admit that was a bit of a trolling comment myself...but it's my thread, I think I'm allowed

[Lennys Tap]

I know some of our biggest fans think Vander isn't fit to carry DJ Newbill's suitcase but I haven't given up on him yet.

[CAINMUTINY]

Feeling Blue never felt so good!

[Markusquette]

He can really get into the lane and finish.  Keep up the great defense, working on the shot, and he's really a complete player.

[jficke13]

He can really get into the lane and finish.  Keep up the great defense, working on the shot, and he's really a complete player.

I feel like sometimes he looks like a deadly finisher in the lane. Last night he flashed some brilliance. Other times he looks just a little tentative around the rim and doesn't finish as strong as he should. I think it's just an adjustment thing to the speed/size of defenders at this level. Plus, with a year or two of workouts under his belt he'll probably put on some muscle and be more confident and aggressive at the tin and then we'll really see some dominance out of Vander.

[dwaderoy2004]

Let's not go all gasser on the kid.  He had a good game against a crappy opponent.  His jump shot is still poor, but he does everything else very well.  love the kid's potential...

[GB Warrior]

He has a good short game and plays great defense. He's going to be great. However, like was said, he beat up on bad competition. If his jumpshot doesn't improve this season, though, I think he's a liability in Big East play if you know that he won't try to take a jumper.

[GGGG]

Sometimes I am amazed at what I read on this board.  Vander Blue has by many counts, exceeded expectations.  He is doing things, like playing defense and rebounding well for his position, that has kept Erik Williams stapled to the bench the last two years.  He has a breakout offensive game, and what do we say?  Well, it was against crappy competition.

Who cares?  Everyone was playing the same "crappy competition" and he was our leading scorer.  He is a smart basketball player who is doing the little things necessary to earn playing time.  His offense will come around...he's nine games into his freshman year for goodness sakes...

[Skatastrophy]

Let's not go all gasser on the kid.  He had a good game against a crappy opponent. 

We put up more points on TA&MCC than any team besides Texas A&M, and held them to fewer points than every team they've played besides Kansas.

TA&MCC only lost to OK St. by 10 points.  They are not the worst team in the world. 

[hairy worthen]

Sometimes I am amazed at what I read on this board.  Vander Blue has by many counts, exceeded expectations.  He is doing things, like playing defense and rebounding well for his position, that has kept Erik Williams stapled to the bench the last two years.  He has a breakout offensive game, and what do we say?  Well, it was against crappy competition.

Who cares?  Everyone was playing the same "crappy competition" and he was our leading scorer.  He is a smart basketball player who is doing the little things necessary to earn playing time.  His offense will come around...he's nine games into his freshman year for goodness sakes...

+1

It dosen' matter who the competition was, if you can't see this kids ability then you are not watching closely. His defense is exceptional for anyone, much less a freshmen, He makes very few mistakes, he is silky smooth at times and is athleticism exceptional. He has exceeded my expectations and has a lot of upside.

[MarquetteDano]

+1

It dosen' matter who the competition was, if you can't see this kids ability then you are not watching closely. His defense is exceptional for anyone, much less a freshmen, He makes very few mistakes, he is silky smooth at times and is athleticism exceptional. He has exceeded my expectations and has a lot of upside.

Agreed.  He has exceeded my expectations.  I think the problem on this board is 90% of a player's evaluation around here is offense.  Because Blue isn't shooting 45% from three and has struggled a bit at the line, people are disappointed.

I have some news everyone... 50% of a player is DEFENSE!  And he is already one of our best defenders.  And last night was the best offensive player as well.  That is exceeding expectations in my book.

[APieperFan3]

Sometimes I am amazed at what I read on this board.  Vander Blue has by many counts, exceeded expectations.  He is doing things, like playing defense and rebounding well for his position, that has kept Erik Williams stapled to the bench the last two years.  He has a breakout offensive game, and what do we say?  Well, it was against crappy competition.

Who cares?  Everyone was playing the same "crappy competition" and he was our leading scorer.  He is a smart basketball player who is doing the little things necessary to earn playing time.  His offense will come around...he's nine games into his freshman year for goodness sakes...

Tough to please this crowd, Sultan. You should know that by now.

Although we are playing lesser competition, you still need to do things on both ends of the floor. Yes, most of our guys are taller/faster/stronger than those we have played, but you still have to play the game.

I try to compare these "cupcake" games to playing from the women's tees in golf (as a man)....

-Yes, you have a strong advantage right out of the gate; being able to hit the ball farther (Just as MU does with their overall talent)

But, you still have to do all the little things...hit fairways/greens (play good D)...chip (rebound)...and putt (score) in order to have a good round.

Is Vander going to put up 20ppg in Big East play? NO. (but hopefully in a few years )

Does that take away anything from him putting up 21, 5, 4 and 2 against TAMCC. NO.

He's learning and improving everyday. And nobody can be disappointed about that.

[GGGG]

Tough to please this crowd, Sultan. You should know that by now.

Yeah obviously. 

People on this board always seem to want the guy that is sitting on the bench.  "Hey, Vander has a bad jump shot...let's put Jamail in there to hit a couple"  or  "Buycks is a turnover machine...let's get Williams in there.  At least he can rebound."

I guess they know more than the coaches do...

[chren21]

I guess they know more than the coaches do...

That has nothing to do with it.  Both posts above you are referencing (I think) state basically that Vander is great at everything but his shooting leaves a little to be desired.  Also that the competition last night was not so good.  Whats wrong with that?  I said after the exhibition game that he should start every game and that he would be a stud and I still believe that.  But this does not change the fact that TA&MCC stunk, and that his shooting needs to improve.  What's the point of this board if you can't call out a default or the obvious regarding an MU player every once and awhile?

[AZWarrior]

I was only able to watch about 1/4 of the game, but I saw Blue hit a jumper from the right baseline, and his form looked **better**.  Was it my imagination (wishful thinking, maybe) or is his J-form improving?

[dw3dw3dw3]

I thought I saw the same thing, but the picture on TWS wasn't great. He also air mailed one of his jumpers. He still had his hitch (and low release point) on Saturday, so I'm not sure we were seeing anything other than someone playing with their mechanics. It has got to be in his head that he needs to change his form, so maybe he's just doing it now instead of waiting.  If he did have a different shot to begin with and the hitch is something new, its not that difficult to see your problems on tape and work them out over a couple days of shooting. It never struck me watching his Memorial highlights that he had horrible form (no sidespin, decent rotation), just the low release point/arc.

[brewcity77]

Sometimes I am amazed at what I read on this board.  Vander Blue has by many counts, exceeded expectations.  He is doing things, like playing defense and rebounding well for his position, that has kept Erik Williams stapled to the bench the last two years.  He has a breakout offensive game, and what do we say?  Well, it was against crappy competition.

Who cares?  Everyone was playing the same "crappy competition" and he was our leading scorer.  He is a smart basketball player who is doing the little things necessary to earn playing time.  His offense will come around...he's nine games into his freshman year for goodness sakes...

+2

I think it's amazing how we went from being unbelievably hyped that he was coming here, to tempering expectations, to being disappointed that he wasn't putting up numbers like Newbill and Gasser, never mind that he was playing excellent defense and still averaging close to double figures in scoring.

Bottom line, he doesn't come in as heralded as a Kyrie Irving or Harrison Barnes, but he's still putting up numbers across the board and earning 20+ minutes of playing time every single night. The flashes of athleticism that we have already seen will likely become more and more frequent as he gets more experienced and grows into his role.

The kid's going to be just fine.

[Clam Crowder]

I want to see a similar performance by him this saturday. His motivation will be higher than ever for that game, and I think that he will break out in a way that will make MU fans very happy

[ATWizJr]

We put up more points on TA&MCC than any team besides Texas A&M, and held them to fewer points than every team they've played besides Kansas.

TA&MCC only lost to OK St. by 10 points.  They are not the worst team in the world. 

No, but they are # 261.

[4everwarriors]

Before his career is finished, Blue will be in the company of a long list of great Warrior guards.

[MikeyT42]

Whats different about Blue in relation to other great guards this program has seen is that he doesn't have to score to make in impact. He is option 4 at best to score night in and night out. DJO Jae and JB (and Buycks) will do most of the scoring on any given night. Blue impacts the game in a variety of ways, rebounding, steals, off the ball defense.

When McNeal was on campus he was option 2 to score. You could argue he was number 3, but James got a lot of his baskets in transition and wasn't an option coming off of screens like Novak and McNeal were.

Wardle was a scorer his whole career. Anthony Pieper didn't score right out of the gate, but he didn't defend or make an impact unless he scored the ball.

Vander impacts the game on every single possession offensively and defensively. You could argue he makes poor decisions with the ball at times, as did McNeal, but that is limited because he is option 3 or 4 on sets.

I really think the sky is the limit for Vander.

[lab_warrior]

The guy is at the very least as good, if not better at this point as DJ, Matthews, and McNeal were in their freshman seasons.  And I would argue that he might be as good as DJ ever was on defense RIGHT NOW.  The shooting will improve, and it's probably a good sign that we're basically quibbling about ONE weakness in a freshman player's game, when the other phases are very solid right now.

[hairy worthen]

The guy is at the very least as good, if not better at this point as DJ, Matthews, and McNeal were in their freshman seasons.  And I would argue that he might be as good as DJ ever was on defense RIGHT NOW.  The shooting will improve, and it's probably a good sign that we're basically quibbling about ONE weakness in a freshman player's game, when the other phases are very solid right now.

Agree with eveything you said except that DJ was pretty damn good as a freshman. In fact you could make an arguement that his freshman season was his best

[dw3dw3dw3]

Thats an interesting topic, DJs defense (senior year) vs VBs defense. On the ball stopping penetration I don't see how you can't give the nod to DJ, his pressure his senior year was amazing to watch. VB has the ability to block shots 1 on 1 where DJ, usually needed a running start.  Off the ball, probably a toss up as DJ drew more charges and just knew where to be more than VB knows at this point, however VB does get his share of passing lane and double down steals. 

[Henry Sugar]

The guy is at the very least as good, if not better at this point as DJ, Matthews, and McNeal were in their freshman seasons.  And I would argue that he might be as good as DJ ever was on defense RIGHT NOW.  The shooting will improve, and it's probably a good sign that we're basically quibbling about ONE weakness in a freshman player's game, when the other phases are very solid right now.

I would like to see Vander shut down a single BE guard first before proclaiming his defense to be better than James'.  Then I would like to see Blue do it multiple times. 

Also, it's early (and doesn't reflect last night, which will certainly bump up the numbers), but here are freshmen season ORtgs for the four players

James - 104.9
McNeal - 87.7
Matthews - 99.1
Blue - 89.6