Fred VanVleet wins Illinois' Mr. Basketball public poll

[SubGod22]

We'll know more when he gets on campus and plays with the guys.

And I haven't seen any ranking where he's a borderline 4* recruit. I know he's just outside the 150 with Rivals. Don't remember if he cracked Scout or not. Maybe he really is underrated. Is he a top 100 talent? Many of us believe so, but we're also biased. Time will tell.

I'd hate to see him waste a year of eligibility like Wessel has. If it's in his and the teams best interest, I hope he takes it. If coach thinks he can play 10-15 minutes a game and help us next year, I'll be happy with that. But right now, there are a lot of guards ahead of him. And I never include Mitchell who some think will actually play and contribute a decent amount.

[_kai_]

All I know is that I saw an interview where Fred said "I'll do anything coach asks me to do when I get there, I'll be the water boy if he asks me to."

Something tells me that if Gregg tells him straight up that it's beneficial to the team that he redshirts, he does it, and does it with a smile and a great work ethic. He seems to be that type of young man.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

ESPN recently upgraded Fred to a grade of 91. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a grade of 92 = 4 stars?

[_kai_]

ESPN recently upgraded Fred to a grade of 91. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a grade of 92 = 4 stars?

There is something interesting that I've noticed about Fred's rating. (They upgraded his rating a couple months ago btw, it wasn't real recent.)

The interesting thing is that on Wichita State's clubhouse page, on the right side of the page, they list FVV as having a Player Grade of 92, yet on FVV's page, they list him as a 91.

There is a huge difference between having a 91, and a 92. If you look at their rankings, I'm 99% sure that there isn't one player with a 92 ranking that isn't in the ESPNU Top 100, and yes you're correct that the difference between a 91 and 92 is that 91 is 3 stars, and 92 is 4 stars.

I wonder if the 92 on WSU's page is just at typo, or that's the initial ranking they gave him, but they ended up putting him at a 91 so he wouldn't be included in the Top 100.

[Kung Wu]

There is something interesting that I've noticed about Fred's rating. (They upgraded his rating a couple months ago btw, it wasn't real recent.)

The interesting thing is that on Wichita State's clubhouse page, on the right side of the page, they list FVV as having a Player Grade of 92, yet on FVV's page, they list him as a 91.

There is a huge difference between having a 91, and a 92. If you look at their rankings, I'm 99% sure that there isn't one player with a 92 ranking that isn't in the ESPNU Top 100, and yes you're correct that the difference between a 91 and 92 is that 91 is 3 stars, and 92 is 4 stars.

I wonder if the 92 on WSU's page is just at typo, or that's the initial ranking they gave him, but they ended up putting him at a 91 so he wouldn't be included in the Top 100.

Split the difference and call it 91.5?

[_kai_]

Split the difference and call it 91.5?

Round up, to 92. win/win.

[RoyalShock]

What is truly strange is that his rating is, for some reason, kept separately between player and team page. Why not have one rating on his player page and reference that when rendering the WSU recruit page?

Sorry, I put my software developer hat on for a moment.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

There is something interesting that I've noticed about Fred's rating. (They upgraded his rating a couple months ago btw, it wasn't real recent.)

The interesting thing is that on Wichita State's clubhouse page, on the right side of the page, they list FVV as having a Player Grade of 92, yet on FVV's page, they list him as a 91.

There is a huge difference between having a 91, and a 92. If you look at their rankings, I'm 99% sure that there isn't one player with a 92 ranking that isn't in the ESPNU Top 100, and yes you're correct that the difference between a 91 and 92 is that 91 is 3 stars, and 92 is 4 stars.

I wonder if the 92 on WSU's page is just at typo, or that's the initial ranking they gave him, but they ended up putting him at a 91 so he wouldn't be included in the Top 100.

When was the last time we landed a 4 star kid? Mo Evans? Or was he a 5 star? Just curious.

[brandenmckissick]

When was the last time we landed a 4 star kid? Mo Evans? Or was he a 5 star? Just curious.

Well according to ESPN, he's the highest rated player we've had since at least 2006, the database doesn't go back any further than that.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Evans was 5*

[brandenmckissick]

Evans was 5*

I'll be honest, my earliest Shocker memories are my dad taking me to see games in the Jamar Howard/ Fridge Coleman era. I didn't start paying a while lot of attention until the Sweet 16 year. What's the story behind that kid?

[shockmonster]

Not sure he was a 5*. He was ranked around 70-80. Is that 5 or 4?

[Dan]

I'll be honest, my earliest Shocker memories are my dad taking me to see games in the Jamar Howard/ Fridge Coleman era. I didn't start paying a while lot of attention until the Sweet 16 year. What's the story behind that kid?

Good lord, i'm getting old. Maurice evans was a stud from collegiate who crossed paths with wsu when we were really bad. He ended up transferring to texas and plays in the nba.

[RoyalShock]

I'll be honest, my earliest Shocker memories are my dad taking me to see games in the Jamar Howard/ Fridge Coleman era. I didn't start paying a while lot of attention until the Sweet 16 year. What's the story behind that kid?

Adding to Dan's response, Mo was a scorer who could quietly put up 20 points just about any time he wanted. Played with Jason Perez. Mo got crosswise with the coaching staff his sophomore year, said he had no plans on leaving, then transferred prior to his junior year. Evans chose WSU over KU and I believe, OSU. Rumor has it that Mo's choice brought an NCAA investigation at the behest of either Roy Williams or OSU's Eddie Sutton. Considering we entered into a schedule agreement with OSU shortly after all that went down I don't think it was Sutton.

[brandenmckissick]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the info guys.