'10 WI SG Vander Blue (Marquette Verbal)

[TroyD92]

Jerry Smith pt 2.

[Jwill535]

For them to set up a meeting like this to get ahead of the academic situation shows more then anything that Bo and were doing everything they could to help Vander to be able to successful at UW. Vander decided to decommit at that meeting which shows that something at that meeting pushed him over the edge to decommit. The only thing that would make sense is that he didnt want to do what the coaches laid out for him.

[badgerbasketball33]

well ebay has been right about everything so far and I believe he said it was a summer school issue. If thats the case then is he really the type of kid we want at uw?

[TroyD92]

Originally Posted by badgerbasketball33

well ebay has been right about everything so far and I believe he said it was a summer school issue. If thats the case then is he really the type of kid we want at uw?

Dont start this, summer school could be as simple as he doesnt have enough, elective credits, or he needed another foreign speech credit (UW requires four)

[Heavystarch]

Yeah I would say (along with 99% of the board here) that this was Vander's decision, not UW's. Either way, it looks like UW will still be recruiting him. As Troy said, cthis could turn into the Jerry Smith situation all over again.

Visits were a long time coming - he wanted to decommit to do so

Rivals

Some quotes regarding the situation. UW looks to be in the picture

[Heavystarch]

Wisconsin High School Boys Basketball / Youth Boys Basketball

Mark Miller's take, here are a few highlights. Recommended if you have a few minutes

“I am not a 4.0 student, but I’m not somebody who doesn’t go to class,” Blue said. “My grades aren’t top notch but I am there. I am a student-athlete so I felt totally disrespected in all aspects.”
When asked if his grades were good enough to gain admission to UW, Blue responded … “Oh yeah, I’m good. But too many people don’t know that right now because they are going off Rob Schultz. All that information was totally incorrect.”

Rita Blue was visibly upset and hurt with the portrayal of her son in the articles.

“I called this press conference so that we can clear some information up regarding my son, Vander Blue, and the newspaper article that was written by Rob Schultz,” she said. “As a parent, I am very upset with how the media portrayed him. They did not come to the source. I am the source for Vander Blue.

“With the article that was written, it affected my family emotionally. Words cannot express.”

A lot more there about that. All I have to say is that snake Schultz got his due here

Looks like my theory could have been wrong too

“They had Devin Harris come through here and he was an up-tempo college player. That wasn’t the case at all. You have to adjust to the game. That’s all a part of the game.

Appears that the Schultz article might have been a large cause for the decommitment

I am not naive enough to think that there is not much more below the water that never came to surface, but I do feel Schultz really upset the Blue family.

[OnWisconsin07]

This is a very sad article to read. Of course the kid is gonna be hurt by people bashing him. The unfortunate part is that the true Wisconsin fans that understand the game and understand recruiting were not those making these ridiculous posts....most of the intelligent fans kept their mouths shut and waited for credible information to be released. The immature and media frenzy fans were the ones venting and posting over and over their ridiculous opinions and comments. It's truly sad if Vander felt like he was not wanted in his home state. I do feel for Vander and his family.

Although I feel that the writing may have been on the wall before Schultz's article, Wisconsin is going to have a very hard time now making up ground again in Blue's recruitment. I really hope that it is true that Moore and Wisconsin are going to recruit him harder than ever. And I also hope that Vander's quotes about still being very intersted in Wisconsin are true and not just meant to calm down the storm.

And I am due for one minor freak out here....I will literally puke if he ends up at another big10 school (namely Minnesota...sorry, Ebay) or Marquette! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It makes me sick to even think about that possibility. With all that has happened, I really hope that if he ends up somewhere besides Wisconsin, that it's a truly elite ELITE program.

[OnWisconsin07]

One thing Vander really needs to realize is that anyone can post anything on the internet. It would not surprise me one bit if trolls from other schools were posing as Badger fans and making the fanbase look like idiots who were bashing Vander. Heck, on sites such as JSOnline and BadgerBeat, you don't even need to register with the site.....you can post directly under ther article multiple times under many differant names.

I am not naive enough to think that I or any number of Badger fans can convince Vander to attend UW, but I do hope that he realizes that the real Wisconsin fans want nothing more for him than to come to UW and succeed.

[TroyD92]

Shultz reminds me of that stupid women who attacked the kid at OKST, and caused the coach to go off the deep end. These journalist need to understand that these arnt professional athletes who are making millions of dollars, they have no right to attack players publicly like this, and the fact that this guy had the nerve to even post that about his academics still astounds me.

[badgerbasketball33]

Originally Posted by Heavystarch

You are starting it on this board, and this is as far as it will go. Vander bashing will not be had here

there was no bash. ebay and basically the whole other members of the board speculated about his academic situation. i nearly asked a simple question. dont even put that on me.

[OnWisconsin07]

Originally Posted by Ebay09

Hey guys, sorry I havn't posted on here in a few days, I got caught up with that article. I would also like to thank you for all the kind words and faith in what I was writing on this site.

So now that Vander has moved on, the next question is where does he end up?

That, I cannot tell you. I do have some ideas of where he wants to go and what teams have already offered, but in talking to Vander, he wants some mystery out there for people to wonder about.

So, Ebay, any chance you can give us your honest opinion about Wisconsin's chances in re-entering the picture and ending up with Blue in a Badger jersey in 2010? Unlike those posters on the article message boards, we can handle it.

[Madtown94]

Originally Posted by Ebay09

No I know you can handle it, thats why I decided to join this site .

I really don't know at this point, it all depends on how his out of state visits go. There are also other personal factors that I'm sure he will be taking into consideration. A lot also depends on how his summer goes is Madison, considering he feels a bit betrayed by the city right now.

On FB, just over the past 3-4 weeks it sounded like Vander was excited to be a Badger. Have the rumors over the past few months been true that he was starting to think about other schools or did this just come on in the past week and a half after the "meeting" and subsequent article fiascos?

It would be a shame if he thinks Wisconsin fans don't want him or were hatin on him. I know tons of diehard Badger fans and we're all extremely disappointed he has now decommitted as we were thrilled he had chosen to be a Badger. Was looking forward to seeing him be the best player at UW yet. He could still be that hometown hero playing for the hometown school as I can guarantee the UW faithful would be estatic if he still decides on wearing the Badger Cardinal & White.

At this point he needs to see what else is out there so I hope he enjoys the recruiting process. Hopefully as a little time passes he will look at UW objectively, as it still is going to be one of the top options, athletically and acedemically out there. Even though he is currently seeing the downside of jealous geeks sitting behind their computer screens, as a home town player he WILL get that extra love from the fans if he becomes a Badger.

[BigMikeJ]

EBay,

I've been watching this thread for a few days and finally decided to post. I normally don't do this, in fact I set up an account just to comment on this topic.

First of all, its too bad that Vander seems to feel the city is "against him" simply because of one article written by one individual and a few negative internet posters. Those people are in the minority and its not even close! He needs to know that the VAST, VAST majority of those interested in Badger Basketball are in his corner. We would love to have him in Red & White once his H.S. career comes to an end.

I have been a season ticket holder for years. The majority of my friends, family, etc... are Badger fans and I have not heard one negative comment regarding Vander in regards to this situation. In fact, EVERY person I associate with wants him at the UW. I have seen him play and he would be a fantastic addition to the Wisconsin program. Listening to him for the first time yesterday, he seems like a very down to earth and humble kid. His mom has also done a very good job raising him to be a good person. I thought that was quite obvious.

All of that being said, its his decision. I just hope he doesn't factor the few negative posters and one newspaper article into his decision. Unfortunately, he'll get that stuff wherever he goes. I comes with the territory. For now he simply needs to be a kid (remember that's what his is), enjoy the summer, keep his academics as a priority, take his visits and make the decision that suits him best. If that call is to become a Badger, he will have more support that he ever imagined from the city and it's fans. I am positive of that.

[Jcwisco]

To this day my favorite players at UW are Devin Harris and Micheal Flowers hands down. Its to bad Vander has decided to decommit for the time being because in the limited time I have seen him play he posseses every quality that those two had which is why after the state tournament I got about as excited as I have ever been for a Wisconsin Recriut. I think Troy's line is 2010 cant come fast enough sums it up best.

Who knows how it will all play out but as far as style of play goes, if that is one of the reasons he is looking elsewhere D Harris is all the further he needs to look. When he was here Bo let him do whatever he wanted and gave him tremendous freedom. The reason you have not seen that since is because no one close to his ability has run the point. If Vander does decide to come and you see these other recruits develop you are going to see a whole new side of Bo.

And no one will be questioning his "style of play" again....

[Heavystarch]

BadgerBeat.com - Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball: Blue decommitting from UW ... for now

More from the snake Shultz

Downplays his fiasco, and never says anything about him writing the piece. Then points out message boards and comments on articles as the cause of the grief. I hope Schultz gets a bad case of the swine