Thoughts On The Devon Hodges Commitment

Things are suddenly looking a bit brighter in the land of Badger basketball. On the heels of Wisconsin's 2-0 start in Big Ten play, Bo Ryan's program received their first pledge in the 2011 class from Romeoville, Illinois sophomore Devon Hodges.

From what I have read, Hodges does all of his damage from inside the three-point line. He played a little center for Romeoville last year as a freshman and at age 15, could still grow a few more inches. Hodges has 31 blocked shots this year in 10 games.

Corralling Hodges continues one of the recruiting trends of the Bo Ryan-era: pouncing on virtual unknowns quietly before their recruitment heats up. Many fans probably are hearing about Hodges for the first time today, or maybe last week when the scholarship offer was reported. The exact same thing happened with Ryan Evans late in the Class of 2008. While it is way too early to tell what kind of returns Evans and Ian Markolf will bring, Jon Leuer was another player that Bo's staff went after vigorously before most other major programs. Others that did not sign with Wisconsin include Florida's Chandler Parsons. The staff has a good track record for evaluating talent.

Wisconsin's Class of 2011 still has three scholarships unaccounted for to replace an outgoing class of Jon Leuer, Keaton Nankivil, Tim Jarmusz and J.P. Gavinski. Getting a player of Hodges' size and athleticism in this particular four-player class was a must. Finding a point guard in this class is also key. The state of Illinois is deep at this position in the current crop of high schoolers.

Hodges' verbal gives Howard Moore his second verbal commitment from the Land of Lincoln in the past 10 months (Diamond Taylor '09). Moore has obviously built up nice visibility and a good rapport with the Illinois Wolves AAU club that both Hodges and Taylor have played for. This signing bodes well for UW's chances with a couple of other Wolves to whom Wisconsin recently offered scholarships.

Vander Blue Verbals Early

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported late last night that Vander Blue became the first player to verbally commit to Bo Ryan's Badgers for the 2010-11 season. Most had expected Evan Anderson to commit first, but the rumors that Blue would make his choice quickly this spring turned out to be true.

Marquette and Indiana were reported to be the other offers recently extended to the 6'3" guard. Blue was named to the WIAA All-Tournament team as Madison Memorial marched to the D1 title game and will have one more year to team with Jeronne Maymon on another stacked squad before the Spartans truly become Blue's team in 2009. That is probably when his value will truly be judged. Like a number of other Badgers of recent vintage, Blue will now be monitored mercilessly throughout his final two high school seasons. Two other early commitments, Mike Flowers and Greg Stiemsma, both battled injuries after committing to the program and were not as impressive in their final campaigns as you would hope. I hope Blue has better luck.

Garnering commitments so early on a consistent basis is a testament to UW's good reputation as both an academic institution and a perennial basketball powerhouse. It's also a great move for the young men. They no longer have to endure the hounding of college coaches and hangers-on whispering in their ears. A free education is pretty swell, too.

As for Blue, he continued to see his stock rise after leading his team to a 3-1 record at the King James Shooting Stars tournament this past weekend. If Blue can develop his ball handling skills in the near future, he could develop into the point guard that Wisconsin needs in that recruiting class. He already possesses very good athleticism and good offensive instincts, though he needs to become more consistent. Blue said he plans to skip some of the ensuing tournaments this summer to focus on the books.

**Video of NBC15's interview with Blue regarding the announcement**