Senior Year Doesn't Help Draft Stock...

[mutpm]

We will never know what could have been, but I believe Vander made the right choice. If he came back and played marginally better than he did as a junior, he most likely has a ceiling of being picked in the 2nd round. I'd rather take my chances as an undrafted player than a 2nd rounder.

[Nukem2]

We will never know what could have been, but I believe Vander made the right choice. If he came back and played marginally better than he did as a junior, he most likely has a ceiling of being picked in the 2nd round. I'd rather take my chances as an undrafted player than a 2nd rounder.

The big benefit of staying is that he would, at least, have been closer to a degree. As it is now he is a basketball nomad. Would he be better off financially going to Europe rather than doing the D-League? Sure, he got a 10 day NBA contract. But, that's history for now. Guess he'll have to do the Summer League and try to latch on someplace.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Pretty sure Van was majoring in basketball, for better or worse.

[MUMac]

We will never know what could have been, but I believe Vander made the right choice. If he came back and played marginally better than he did as a junior, he most likely has a ceiling of being picked in the 2nd round. I'd rather take my chances as an undrafted player than a 2nd rounder.

In retrospect, with the way buzz "coached" this team, he was better off leaving. I am not sure staying would have meant much, with a coach who mailed it in.

That said, this is a deeper draft than last year. I understood why he chose to leave last year. As far as being drafted, it did not work out. That said, staying may not have been in his best interest.

[JohnnyRev]

On the other hand, I suspect that a main reason Buzz may have "mailed it in" last year was because Vander's leaving left him really short and I hear that he was not able to get Marquette permission to substitute a Juco for Vander (not academically qualified). It is possible that if Vander had stayed, Buzz would have continued his all-out coaching that had been so successful the previous three years.

[mutpm]

I don't think Buzz cut back on his all-out coaching. I have felt that whatever he tried, it didn't work the way he wanted it do with this group of players. I don't question Buzz's work ethic this past season.

[Phantom Warrior]

Buzz coached his ass off to try to win games. He is much too competitive and much too ego-driven to have not given 100% both in practices and during games. There is no way Buzz wanted his string of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances to end. Buzz just made some very questionable decisions relative to playing time and rotations, and this team did not have the type of leadership among the players that he'd had before. Wrong coach for wrong team at wrong time.

[Nukem2]

Buzz coached his ass off to try to win games. He is much too competitive and much too ego-driven to have not given 100% both in practices and during games. There is no way Buzz wanted his string of five straight NCAA Tournament appearances to end. Buzz just made some very questionable decisions relative to playing time and rotations, and this team did not have the type of leadership among the players that he'd had before. Wrong coach for wrong team at wrong time.

Yes, its hard to question Buzz's commitment. I would say Buzz made some bad decisions early on before the season and in the NC schedule. In an interview with Hunt in January(?), Buzz said he probably made some bad choices in trying to win games early on and did not stress fundamentals enough. Reading between the lines, seems like Buzz did not get the young guys firmly in touch with what Buzz would like to do and they just never really got into the flow. In the end, Buzz may have relied too much on his upperclassmen who were missing what Vander, Trent and Junior did for the team last year. As a result, a lot of square pegs and round hole this past season...?