To: Vander Blue, Madison Memorial High School Senior and Basketball Extraordinaire

From: The Grateful Red

Subject: Signing with Marquette… Please reconsider

Vander Blue,

I’m writing this e-mail not as a Badger Herald sports columnist, but as the sorrowful spokesperson for the UW student section, the Grateful Red.

Five months ago you decommitted from Wisconsin basketball after giving an oral commitment to the Badgers following your sophomore year of high school.

Ross was less hurt when Rachel suggested they take a break than UW fans were upon hearing this news.

Still, students who follow recruiting here (Max Henson) held out hope. You kept Wisconsin on a short list of schools including Florida, Arizona, UCLA and in-state rival Marquette, and the rumors were your mother desperately wanted you to stay in-state.

Clearly, you are a bona fide recruit. Besides being given five-stars by Rivals.com, you have attracted attention of three schools outside the state that have seven Final Four appearances and two national championships between them this decade. The only other time Wisconsin finds itself on a list with those schools is in Playboy’s Top 10 Party Schools article (which is nothing to be ashamed of).

Last Sunday though, you finally picked a school and chose to become an MU Warrior, err, Jumping Jesuit, I mean a Gold…?

(Quick Google search)

Right, you chose to become a Marquette Golden Eagle.

I’m writing you not as a bitter and irrational fan, but as someone who as given much thought about which basketball program is in your best interests.

And I have to say, picking Marquette over Wisconsin is like the Bears trading for Jay Cutler. It seemed like a good move at the time, but now the over-hyped frat boy has a 10-7 TD to interception ratio, while Kyle Orton has led the Broncos to a perfect record with nine touchdowns to a single interception.

Best as I can tell, there are four major reasons you chose Milwaukee over Madison.

And you guessed it, I have a response for every one of them.

Big East vs. Big Ten — The 16 teams that are mostly on the East Coast — except for Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame, Louisville and Cincinnati… OK, whose idea was it to call them the Big East? — form the top conference in college hoops.

This is undisputed.

It’s also a reason a top recruit who wants to play in the NBA one day should stay the hell away.

Think about it. Going up against the top competition every game can help you improve. Or it can wear you down and expose weaknesses to be picked apart on film by scouts. It also means if you aren’t among the very best, you are probably going to be overshadowed by whatever stud UConn or Syracuse produces.

We can call this the Memphis/Stephen Curry Effect. John “I swear it’s a coincidence that two of my final fours have been vacated” Calipari has seen five players taken in the NBA Draft in the past two years. For two of them, Robert Dozier and Chris Douglas-Roberts, I can confidently say would not have been drafted if they played in the Big East instead of against weaker competition in Conference USA, and I think its doubtful Joey Dorsey would have been drafted either. Curry has benefited from the same situation. The sharp-shooting 87-pound guard is definitely an NBA talent, but I’m skeptical he would have been picked No. 7 overall without being able to fire at will at Davidson.

It is pretty simple Blue. You will stand out against the weaker competition in the Big Ten, increasing your draft stock and livelihood.

Playing Style — In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Blue said the different styles of play were a big reason for him choosing the Golden Eagles.

“I would say that had a big impact,” Blue said. “Marquette’s style of play is more fit for the Big East, and that’s up and down, in your face, hard-nosed defense. It’s like the difference between (scoring) 70 points a game and 50 points a game. There’s more shots going up.”

First a little point and then my main point.

Marquette plays “in your face, hard-nosed defense.” And Wisconsin doesn’t? Don’t get me wrong, I admired the man-to-man MU played when Tom Crean was coaching with Crean’s recruits. But I’m pretty sure Bo Ryan and the Badgers know a little something about hard-nosed defense. I believe Joe Krabbenhoft has the stitches and scars to prove it.

My main problem though Blue, is the implication that you wouldn’t star in Wisconsin’s boring swing offense.

Let me introduce you Devin Harris and Alando Tucker. Maybe you’ve heard of them… or seen them in the NBA.

As a combo guard, Harris is more comparable to you, so let’s look at his numbers. In Harris’ junior year, before he turned pro and was picked No. 5 overall, Harris averaged 19.5 points and 4.4 assists per game. Last season at Marquette, the Gold’s leading scorer was Jerel McNeal at 19.8 points per game. And in case you didn’t know Blue, McNeal went undrafted.

The point is, Ryan knows how to use talent when he gets it. That boring swing offense helped Harris earn a $42 million contract.

Friends at Marquette — As Blue has made clear, he thinks of MU freshman Jeronne Maymon like a “brother.” I admit, I have no defense for this. The only thing I can say is I bet Keaton Nankivil could become your brother too. Just something to think about.

Buzz Williams vs. Bo Ryan — In his interview with the Journal-Sentinel, you made it clear Blue that Williams was a huge reason for your Brett Favresque flip flop. Well stacking Ryan’s career wins next to Williams’ wouldn’t be fair, so I will omit it as evidence. Just consider this: Ryan has coached three Big Ten champs and two Big Ten tourney champs and the Badgers have been at March Madness every year under Bo.

Williams simply has a bald head. To me, there is no comparison.

I doubt this e-mail will change your mind, but you and the Badgers were a perfect match.

When you next come to the Kohl Center, its not Blueeee you are hearing, but BOOOOOO.

Michael is a senior majoring in journalism. He can be reached at [email protected] for more discussion on Blue.