Madison Memorial's Blue officially re-opens his recruitment
posted by Mark Miller at 5/19/2009
By Mark Miller Wishoops.net Editor Things are about to get a bit crazy for Madison Memorial junior Vander Blue.
As if things haven’t been crazy enough already for the ultra talented 6-foot-3 wing guard over the past seven days.
Saying he made up his mind to re-open his recruitment earlier today, Blue ended seven days of rumors by announcing he was no longer verbally committed to play college basketball at the University of Wisconsin during a press conference Tuesday at the Genesis Center on the south side of Madison.
“As of right now, I am no longer verbally committed to the University of Wisconsin,” Blue said. “I am going to open up my recruitment and go out there and take some visits and see what else is out there.
“I still want to say … I think Wisconsin is a great school and offered me a great scholarship. It’s just at this point in my life, I am not ready to take that step. I want to take a step back and see what else is out there for me. There is still a good chance I end up here in the long run if this is what I feel is right for me.”
Highly regarded NCAA Division I schools from throughout the country now will undoubtedly come calling on Blue, who is ranked No. 26 nationally in the class of 2010 by Rivals.com.
An explosive and dynamic backcourt player who earned Most Valuable Player honors while helping Madison Memorial capture the WIAA Division 1 state championship in March, Blue is easily one of the elite in-state recruits of the past decade. He had given a verbal commitment to play for coach Bo Ryan and Badgers in April of 2008.
Blue said he began to have second thoughts about that commitment as early as several months ago.
“This has been going through my head for a while now,” Blue said. “I feel like I made a decision too early … prematurely. Now, I’m more mature and I’m just going to enjoy being 16. When the time comes around, I will visit some schools and take it from there.”
Madison Spartans grassroots coach Shelton Kincaid said he has already fielded calls from college coaches interested in beginning the recruitment process with Blue.
“College coaches have already called and started to inquire about Vander,” Kincaid said. “He has not crossed UW off his list. In fact, UW remains high on his list.
“We will be out on the circuit again this summer. He will probably play with the Madison Spartans. We will go to some big tournaments. I don’t believe Vander will have any problem creating hype with college coaches.”
Blue’s teammate and friend at Madison Memorial, 6-7 class of 2009 forward Jeronne Maymon, is part of a seven-player recruiting class at Marquette and will begin his freshman year with the Golden Eagles in the fall. Some have speculated Blue might follow Maymon and play in the Big East Conference for the Golden Eagles.
“Jeronne is like my brother,” Blue said. “Blood could make us no closer. To be honest, we barely talk about basketball. The only thing we really talk about basketball is LeBron (James) and Kobe (Bryant). I’m a LeBron fan and he’s a Kobe fan.
“That was never an issue with us. Nobody has ever tried to persuade me to do anything. I am just making sure it is right for me.”
Several times throughout the 40-minute press conference, Blue, his mother, Rita, and his grandfather, Art Wilson, referred to articles that ran last week on Madison.com and in the Wisconsin State Journal, as well as various Internet blogs and message boards.
The stories of Madison.com and in the Wisconsin State Journal were written by longtime Badger beat writer Rob Schultz, who used anonymous sources to question Blue’s academic standing as it related to gaining admission to Wisconsin. Those articles ran on the heels of reports from a pair of Internet sites last week that said Blue had re-opened his recruitment.
The backlash from the articles and subsequent reaction on blogs and message boards by fans played no small role in Blue’s decision Tuesday to re-open his recruitment.
“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.”
Vander Blue said he had experienced a great deal of stress over the past several days, in large part due to the articles and blogs.
“My mom and family keep me out of the newspapers so I really wasn’t aware of it,” Blue said. “But I came home from school and my mom had it out on the table. I took a quick look at it. I’m a cool and calm kind of guy so I didn’t really get all hyped up or angry. I just started texting people like I always do.
“It hurt my family more than it hurt me because I knew it wasn’t true. My mom is walking around and people are looking at her saying, ‘Her son is just a basketball player.’ But that’s never been the strategy of my family. It’s always been school and then basketball.
“Just to see how these so-called Wisconsin fans and what they had to say on those blogs … that really made me second guess whether these people really wanted me here. I know if I was a fan and heard about a recruit or something like that, I would be more like, ‘What can we do to help him?’ Let’s not make him feel like the worst person in Madison. That’s how I felt. I just felt like I was in a small corner and trapped and couldn’t get out because everybody was going off information that was incorrect. They didn’t come from … my family. I just want everybody to know how I feel about the whole article. It really took an effect on me and my family and how things are.”
Blue met with Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore prior to the press conference and told Moore of his decision to re-open his recruitment.
“Howard Moore told me he was going to recruit me harder than ever,” Blue said. “I would still love to play for the Badgers, but at this point right now I am not ready to make that commitment.”
When asked if the style of play used by Wisconsin factored into his decision to re-open his recruitment, Blue said it did not.
“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.
“This is a decision I made for me and my family. It’s a lot off my chest right now. I can just be a kid and finish the school year. That’s all I am worried about right now.”
Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette and Minnesota figure to get heavily involved with Blue in coming weeks along with many other high-major programs from across the country.
“A lot of schools have called and want Vander to take part in their elite camps,” Kincaid said. “Many of the schools that were recruiting Vander prior to his commitment have gotten involved.”
Blue said he will likely take some official visits in the fall before making his final selection.
“I’m looking for a place where I can go and say, ‘Yes, this place is right for me,’” Blue said. “A school that I can bring to my family and be on the same page and all are comfortable with the situation.”
Exactly which school that will be is anybody’s guess at this point.
Comments 1
On
5/20/2009 5:36:38 PM
gurple11 wrote:
Blue and Mason (Madison East) aren't the greatest of friends. Actually they kind of despise each other and since Mason committed I think that might have something to do with it.
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