#Top10Thursday: Best point guards

[1979Shocker]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/101510/top10thursday-best-point-guards

1. Fred VanVleet, Wichita State

[SHOXAAC]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...t-point-guards

1. Fred VanVleet, Wichita State

Iowa State fans will need therapy when they find this out that their man is 3 spots behind little ole' Freddie boy from Hickup State.

[Shox21]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...t-point-guards

1. Fred VanVleet, Wichita State

As much as I appreciate Fred -- this article was from the middle of December (almost 2 months ago).

[Shocktoberfest]

Meh. Still works for me. He has just been ridiculously good as of late. Keep it up my man!

[Shock Top]

As much as I appreciate Fred -- this article was from the middle of December (almost 2 months ago).

Good. Because he has been even better since then.

Just lapping the field now!

[jazztrane]

At the Missouri St game after Fred missed his first two shots (the 2nd one pretty far off) I told my Dad something just doesn't look right with Fred lately. From that point on I think he has 31 points, 16 rebounds, 15 rebounds, 14 assists, 7 steals and 0 turnovers. I take full credit. :) Its like he heard me and wanted to show how wrong I was.

[Dan]

Fred's playing the best ball of his career in the last 2 games. The games where he struggles is when he gets in early foul trouble. Coincidentally, that's when we struggle as a team.

[Bluzrover]

Fred's playing the best ball of his career in the last 2 games. The games where he struggles is when he gets in early foul trouble. Coincidentally, that's when we struggle as a team.

Yeah, and not to beat up on Ron, but he has struggled a bit running the team which hasn't helped his draft stock. That's too bad for Ron but I'm sure he'll pick it up next year.

[ArtVandalay]

Baker had been playing the best basketball on the team prior to Fred's outstanding run over these last 2 games. It seemed to me, especially against Indiana State that Fred and Tekele both found a lot more room to cut and drive to the basket, and I feel this had a lot to do with ISU being draped all over Ron. It seemed like they weren't going to let Baker beat them, but it opened things up and allowed Fred and Tekele to get to the basket at will.

[Shocktoberfest]

Baker had been playing the best basketball on the team prior to Fred's outstanding run over these last 2 games. It seemed to me, especially against Indiana State that Fred and Tekele both found a lot more room to cut and drive to the basket, and I feel this had a lot to do with ISU being draped all over Ron. It seemed like they weren't going to let Baker beat them, but it opened things up and allowed Fred and Tekele to get to the basket at will.

Agreed. It's pretty clear what the defensive strategy has been against us lately. "WSU may beat us, but it ain't gonna be Baker who does."

[im4wsu]

Fred's playing the best ball of his career in the last 2 games. The games where he struggles is when he gets in early foul trouble. Coincidentally, that's when we struggle as a team.

Just got me to wondering about Fred's consistency this season:

T/O	Games	AST	T/O
Zero	7	43
One	5	28	5
Two	7	37	14
Three	5	26	15
Four	1	3	4

[GarH]

It's such a luxury to have to have Fred, Ron and Tekele. If a team focuses on one the other two will make them pay.

[forevershockerfan]

Yes, teams are doing a full court press, so to speak, on Ron. FVV got 2 early fouls in around 3-Valley games when that was a rare problem in our Non-Con. Then we have had our bigs Carter and Shaq having foul trouble as well on and off all Season. As we plunge ahead, let's hope our depth continues to grow because we have tough games ahead of us when expecting the unexpected will become a commonplace. With 8 new players and the issues mentioned above, 22-3 is something nice to build on from here. This Saturday will test us for sure and I expect a close game. We have proven for 5 years that we are road warriors at times like this and FVV seems to play well versus Illinois teams which is like home to him. Baker only recognizes 620 area codes at home and abroad. That means you might contain his scoring some but all the other things he brings to each game they can't begin to be stopped. That is why he is leading our team in 'blocks to return to sender' that follows Elvis song that says "no such number, no such area code zone baybay--ty, ty very mucho." The birds are very hungry and need a win and would lavish defeating our Shocks. So at home they are a handful and know they had UNI on the ropes only to miss throws at the end.

Here are things that have been helping us lately. FVV is penetrating under control with various positive results, Baker always plays in the confines of our game-plan no matter what our foes do, Cotton is slashing, scoring, and defending, and Carter when not in foul trouble has been scoring more and looking tough inside. While these 4 are overall consistent, it may come down to all the other players by committee filling in the gaps when our foes search for an edge that needs to be overcame. Again we know from here to 'expect the unexpected' because everything including the kitchen sink will be thrown at us as teams have had ample time to scrutinize us to see what might slow us down to a mild roar.

[pie n eye]

Yeah, and not to beat up on Ron, but he has struggled a bit running the team which hasn't helped his draft stock. That's too bad for Ron but I'm sure he'll pick it up next year.

I actually think there were stretches of games or during games where Ron looked better at point than Fred. Drake is the one at the top of my head but I know there were others. I'm not sure we've had a better back up PG than Ron other than the year Fred backed up Mal.

[Dan]

I'd take current Ron over freshman Fred as a backup. Freshman Fred was good, but was not near what he is now and probably not as good as Ron right now. My opinion.