Haanif to announce on 9/5

[Lennys Tap]

Really?  Blue was a better college player in his 3 years, than was Gardner through 3 years..or even 4?

I loved Gardner. He was a unique and highly efficient offensive specialist. But for most of his career he could only play limited minutes because he was so out of shape. And he was a bad defensive player, in part due to lack of quickness/athleticism/jumping ability, in part because he was so gassed he took time off on the defensive end. He had some games (he was awesome against Syracuse his junior year) where he was our MVP.

Blue wasn't ready for prime time as a freshman and our expectations of him were much too high. His sophomore season was uneven. But in his junior year he was the best player on BOTH ends of the court and undisputed MVP of a team that shared the Big East regular season championship and reached the Elite 8. And in the biggest games (St Johns, Davidson, Butler, etc.) he put us on his back and dragged us across the finish line.

Blue led us to our second best season in 37 years. Gardner was a very good offensive player who played limited minutes. No contest, IMO.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Blue v. Gardner? I'd take Blue. Blue got his cup of coffee in the NBA. I don't think Gardner will ever get there. Avante doesn't have enough D 

I did really enjoy Gardner though. One of my all time favorites to watch.

[River rat]

Is haanif a tweeter? Any recent tweets? Are mu supporters tweeting love?

[muhoops1]

Nick NosKowiak has tweeted at him and about him coming to MU.  Also included Henry Ellenson a few times.  I'll admit I, a loser stalker but I love MU!

[Tums Festival]

If we land Haanif and Henry to add to Heldt and NN and I think we end up around 5 or 6 in the class rankings. Throw in Levin and big bro Ellenson and the class is as good as all but maybe Arizona and Kentucky and considering both those schools will lose guys to the NBA after one season, our group is potentially better long term.

[Stretchdeltsig]

When on Friday is the announcement?

[BrewCity83]

2pm EST, at his high school in FL.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

4 more crystal ball predictions for Haanif to MU. These guys are just riding on the coattails of others. But when Jerry Meyer, Corey Evans, and Mark Miller all agree, I am usually optimistic

[mubb34]

Corey just told me that it is between MU and Cal. Would be suprised if it was Gtown.

[mubb34]

And Jerry is very confident it is MU. I am expecting it to be us at this point. Onto Henry....

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Corey just told me that it is between MU and Cal. Would be suprised if it was Gtown.

This is good because I fear GTWN more than I fear CAL. It is bad because if we can't have him, I'd rather he go to the Hoyas.

[MU82]

Until the announcement, I am planning to hold my breath while hanging by my fingernails from a 27th-story window.

[hoyasincebirth]

Hmm choosing between Georgetown, Marquette, and Cal.

That sounds familiar:

http://youtu.be/RpnCkBZVI6o?t=26s

Hopefully the kid makes the right decision like the one in the commercial 

[Jay Bee]

2pm EST, at his high school in FL.

2 p.m. EDT.

[Johnny B]

Hmm choosing between Georgetown, Marquette, and Cal.

That sounds familiar:

http://youtu.be/RpnCkBZVI6o?t=26s

Hopefully the kid makes the right decision like the one in the commercial 

He picked the wrong hat.

[MU82]

Really?  Blue was a better college player in his 3 years, than was Gardner through 3 years..or even 4?  Blue was awful as a freshman.  Not much better as a sophomore.  Improved mightily as a junior - yet side by side Junior year to Junior year - I'm hard pressed to say Vander Blue was a better player.  Vander had some big moments as a junior for sure, yet given that he was so bad as a freshman/sophomore - it made his junior year seem better than it really was. As has been pointed out numerous times - his junior year was really no better than was Todd Mayo's last year.  Here's Gardner and Blue side by side as Juniors:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?add=davante-gardner&davante-gardner=2012-2013&i=1&p1=vander-blue

Again with the "Vander is awful" crap? Ugh.

We saw the definition of awful guards last season. Vander? He made a difference defensively and had some moments offensively his first two years.

He was poor offensively most of his freshman year, but that is pretty common. To say he didn't get much better as a sophomore is wrong. He improved his shooting percentages across the board to go along with 4.5 rebounds, more than a steal a game and usually defending the opponent's best perimeter player. He played 26 minutes per game for a Sweet 16 team - and thank goodness because your boy Mayo was a selfish jerk.

A whole lot of teams would take Blue's sophomore year. And we know what Vander did as a junior - he worked hard to become a much better offensive player on a team that had numerous options and he carried us to our biggest wins.

I don't know why you have such a "hate woody" (as willie would say) for Vander. His body of work for us was good. Not great, but good. A three-year starter on a team that went S16-S16-E8 and a player who worked hard to get better every year.

We should be lucky enough to have lots of "awful" players like Vander Blue.

BTW, unlike you, who rants against Blue constantly, this was my first strong defense of Vander. And I won't repeat it 500 times because that's not how I roll. You go ahead and keep calling him "awful," though.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Again with the "Vander is awful" crap? Ugh.

We saw the definition of awful guards last season. Vander? He made a difference defensively and had some moments offensively his first two years.

He was poor offensively most of his freshman year, but that is pretty common. To say he didn't get much better as a sophomore is wrong. He improved his shooting percentages across the board to go along with 4.5 rebounds, more than a steal a game and usually defending the opponent's best perimeter player. He played 26 minutes per game for a Sweet 16 team - and thank goodness because your boy Mayo was a selfish jerk.

A whole lot of teams would take Blue's sophomore year. And we know what Vander did as a junior - he worked hard to become a much better offensive player on a team that had numerous options and he carried us to our biggest wins.

I don't know why you have such a "hate woody" (as willie would say) for Vander. His body of work for us was good. Not great, but good. A three-year starter on a team that went S16-S16-E8 and a player who worked hard to get better every year.

We should be lucky enough to have lots of "awful" players like Vander Blue.

BTW, unlike you, who rants against Blue constantly, this was my first strong defense of Vander. And I won't repeat it 500 times because that's not how I roll. You go ahead and keep calling him "awful," though.

He said he was "awful" as a freshman. And he was. Put me in the camp that Gardner was a better player than Vander. And I say that while thanking Blue for his heroic shots vs. St. John's and Davidson (games in which he played poorly) and his epic game against Butler.

[wadesworld]

Two sides of the court. Vander played both well. Gardner played one.

[ATL MU Warrior]

He said he was "awful" as a freshman. And he was. Put me in the camp that Gardner was a better player than Vander. And I say that while thanking Blue for his heroic shots vs. St. John's and Davidson (games in which he played poorly) and his epic game against Butler.

Oh come on.  Davante Gardner a better basketball player than Vander Blue?  Sorry, but that's silly.

He was a better low-post scorer (duh, he had 5 inches and 100 lbs on Vander).  He could be a talented passer.  He couldn't move, jump, rebound (unless it came right to him), run up and down the court or play even a lick of defense unless his guy had the ball and was trying to back him down.  If he wasn't scoring, he let it affect the rest of his game and he wasn't doing much of anything else.

Davante was pretty much a one trick-pony...good thing for him that his one trick happens to align with what fans equate with being a good basketball player.

Vander was/was becoming very good at just about everything you can do in the game of basketball.

Vander will probably make an NBA roster again and hopefully will stick this time.  Gardner I would say has no chance...watching him in Summer League made that pretty obvious.

[tower912]

He had 2 inches and a hundred pounds on Vander, not 5.   Gardner was a one-trick pony.   We was a very efficient low block scorer.   And there is nothing wrong with that.   But he was not great on both ends, he was not a great rebounder (a fair % of his boards came off of his own miss), and he wasn't a leader.   Blue played both ends of the floor, led, and wanted the ball at crunch time.   

[Dawson Rental]

Until the announcement, I am planning to hold my breath while hanging by my fingernails from a 27th-story window.

I'd hate to lose you.  Think about picking up some of this on your way into work today.

[GoldenWarrior11]

ZOMG! Today is 9/5!

[Warrior Code]

ZOMG! Today is 9/5!

[NersEllenson]

Gardner was an elite caliber offensive player at the college level.  Vander Blue was not an elite defender, nor an elite offensive player at any point in his career.  Finding an elite offensive player at this level is a hell of a lot harder than finding a really good defender.  Yes, Blue was a better defender.  Vander made great strides his Junior year and turned into a very good player.  

I never said Vander was an awful player - other than his freshman year - he was given AMPLE opportunity to play - 20 minutes a game - and his production was poor.   And his defense as a freshman?  Okay, average maybe?  Certainly not Jerel McNeal good.  Here's Gardner and Blue as freshman.  

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?add=davante-gardner&davante-gardner=2010-2011&i=1&p1=vander-blue&vander-blue=2010-2011

And let's hope today is a good day for MU...come on down Hannif!

[BCHoopster]

Gardner was an elite caliber offensive player at the college level.  Vander Blue was not an elite defender, nor an elite offensive player at any point in his career.  Finding an elite offensive player at this level is a hell of a lot harder than finding a really good defender.  Yes, Blue was a better defender.  Vander made great strides his Junior year and turned into a very good player.  

I never said Vander was an awful player - other than his freshman year - he was given AMPLE opportunity to play - 20 minutes a game - and his production was poor.   And his defense as a freshman?  Okay, average maybe?  Certainly not Jerel McNeal good.  Here's Gardner and Blue as freshman.  

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?add=davante-gardner&davante-gardner=2010-2011&i=1&p1=vander-blue&vander-blue=2010-2011

And let's hope today is a good day for MU...come on down Hannif!

Blue really only had one good year at MU, his freshman and soph year were below average for the ranking he came out of high school with.  Then again most of these kids are over-hyped and
do not live up to there press clippings, ie.  Brian Butch, McD's All-American.  Blue made a couple big shots his junior year and had a few outstanding games, he needed another year in college.  His improvement was impressive, but had a long way to go.  Gardner offensively was very good, no D, no rebounding and seemed a little lazy.  Wes Unseld body but not his game.
Worked on Offensive skills but did not want to rebound.  Wes was a rebounding savant, like Dennis Rodman.  Cheatham will be nice addition to the program, but needs to put on some weight
like Sandy Cohen.  Will get a chance to play a little as a freshman but competition will be there.  Will have time to grow into the program.