Congrats to Vander

[Nukem2]

Yes, everyone is saying he is making a mistake, but it is choice. Am I the first here to congratulate Van on pursuing his dream? Certainly ther are a lot of cons in his decision, but there are also a lot of potential positives. With his work ethic, I suspect he will be striving hard over the next couple months to get his name called on draft day. Wish he was staying, but he has moved on. Hopefully, he stays in school and finishes out the semester over the next few weeks. Thanks for the memories. Tomorrow nights BB Awards Dinner is going to be a real sob fest with all of the departures.

[mufansince72]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/22083950/marquettes-vander-blue-heading-to-nba

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

I think we should be congratulating Vander on a great career at Marquette as opposed to "pursuing his dreams." If Todd Mayo declared for the draft would we congratulate him for "pursuing his dreams?" I guess the point I'm trying to make is that many people can "pursue their dreams" but it's another thing to accomplish those dreams. Best of luck to Vander and I truly hope he makes the NBA and accomplishes those dreams.

[ge1974]

I think we should be congratulating Vander on a great career at Marquette as opposed to "pursuing his dreams." If Todd Mayo declared for the draft would we congratulate him for "pursuing his dreams?" I guess the point I'm trying to make is that many people can "pursue their dreams" but it's another thing to accomplish those dreams. Best of luck to Vander and I truly hope he makes the NBA and accomplishes those dreams.

Agreed! Thanks for the memories, Vander. We made three Sweet16's and one Elite 8 with him as a key part of our team.

[Goose85]

He had a great career and developed every year. Thanks to Vander for being a part of some incredible success at MU. Two sweet 16 and one elite 8. Game winning layup to win a game and clinch tie for Big East Title. Does the same to advance in NCAA tourney. Great memories. Good luck in the next chapter.

[TAS35]

Maybe I shouldn't speak for others, but I suspect that part of MU fan's criticism of this decision is that we are, in fact, pulling hard for the kid to succeed to the highest degree. This decision seems to many fans to make that outcome less likely, and that is unfortunate. We think with another year (and another improvement in his shooting percentage) he is a lock first rounder, but not this year.

Of course, part of it is that we want MU to win lots of games next year and this hurts that, but for me personally I love hearing MU players' names called on draft night almost as much as watching them win games. It is just another marker of programatic success.

The notion that this year's draft is weaker than next year's is not entirely accurate either, IMO. The draft weakness this year is at the top of the draft- through the lottery. There it is very weak- historically so. But Vander was never going there anyway. The bottom of the first round through the second is just as deep and talented as most year's. That makes Vander's decision tougher to take.

[mufansince72]

He had a great career and developed every year. Thanks to Vander for being a part of some incredible success at MU. Two sweet 16 and one elite 8. Game winning layup to win a game and clinch tie for Big East Title. Does the same to advance in NCAA tourney. Great memories. Good luck in the next chapter.

I echo your thoughts Goose. What makes this one hard for me to swallow though is the fact that Vander is one of the few kids that many of us have been following since his freshman year of HS. We have watched him several times at state, and throughout his college career. In some ways it feels like our own kid is leaving home! All we can do is wish him well, thank him for what he has done, and hope it works out well for him.

[Nukem2]

I think we should be congratulating Vander on a great career at Marquette as opposed to "pursuing his dreams." If Todd Mayo declared for the draft would we congratulate him for "pursuing his dreams?" I guess the point I'm trying to make is that many people can "pursue their dreams" but it's another thing to accomplish those dreams. Best of luck to Vander and I truly hope he makes the NBA and accomplishes those dreams.Well, no one was saying anything positive until I started this thread. I too thank Vander for all of his contributions ( though I was really silently saying that as I started this thread. ).

[Goose85]

I echo your thoughts Goose. What makes this one hard for me to swallow though is the fact that Vander is one of the few kids that many of us have been following since his freshman year of HS. We have watched him several times at state, and throughout his college career. In some ways it feels like our own kid is leaving home! All we can do is wish him well, thank him for what he has done, and hope it works out well for him.

Good point mufan, we have followed Vander a long time.

I think TAS35 had it right in another thread when he said the reason so many of us are disappointed is that we really want him to succeed and many fans think he has the best chance to do so if he stayed in college another year.

Of course we are selfish too, and are looking forward to a great season next year and our outlook is better with Vander, but I really think another year could have moved him into round 1.