Bob Lutz: Leadership defines Shocker point guard Fred VanVleet

There’s a style to Wichita State basketball, a mood. It comes, I think, from junior point guard Fred VanVleet, who is as cool as a James Bond movie.

VanVleet doesn’t shake, rattle or roll. The Shockers’ junior point guard is a scene-setter, capable of stealing a scene but most comfortable blending into the background.

Until Saturday, in Wichita State’s 75-55 win over Tulsa at Koch Arena, VanVleet had not been performing offensively like a preseason All-American, which he was.

And when I mentioned his lack of a “monster game” to WSU coach Gregg Marshall on the eve of the Tulsa game, he took exception.

“Point guards, to me, are just like starting pitchers and quarterbacks,” Marshall said. “They’re graded on whether the team wins.”

Well, then, VanVleet gets an A-plus-plus-plus because the Shockers are 39-1 in games he started.

His 21-point, nine-assist performance in Saturday’s win might not be “monster,” but it was a whole lot more beast-like than his three previous games.

VanVleet came into the Tulsa game shooting 37.5 percent and one for nine on three-point shots.

“I haven’t played a good game to my standards yet,” VanVleet said Friday.

Saturday, those standards were met.

It was VanVleet’s spurt at the end of the first half – he scored the Shockers’ last eight points – that helped build a 40-22 lead.

“I guess you could say I was better today,” VanVleet said after the win. “I shot the ball a little better, I was able to get into a better rhythm. But I still have to make my free throws (he was 7 of 10) and there were a couple of wide-open three-pointers I would like to get to go down.”

Because of how calmly he plays, it’s not easy to detect the fire that burns inside VanVleet. But this is a guy who woke up at 5:30 every morning as a kid to go to the gym with his stepfather, Joe Danforth. This is a kid who grew up on the tough streets of Rockford, Ill., and whose father, Fred Manning, was shot to death in 1999, when he was 5.

VanVleet had to grow up quickly, but he did so willingly. He claims he has an old soul.

“Always been like that,” VanVleet said. “Obviously, with my dad passing when I was young it was just me, my brother and my mom for a few years. I was always the one who sat back and watched and I got to learn by seeing a lot of mistakes made by others. I was always playing with older kids, around older kids. I just had to shut up and listen.”

VanVleet is 21, but comfortable around everyone. Young, old. Black, white. Rich, poor.

Credit his mother, Susan, and his stepfather. They raised a good one.

VanVleet strikes me as someone who can help change the world, and he doesn’t discourage such thinking.

“I just want to change the culture and the opportunities people have,” he said. “I don’t think everyone is given the same opportunities. You can’t change everybody, but as long as you give everybody a clean slate and see who rises, that’s all you can do.”

VanVleet said he has opinions on the cultural issues that create such division in America, but recognizes his main duty, for now, is to play college basketball, help Wichita State win games and keep on top of things in the classroom.

His day as a leader in society will come. His day as a Wichita State basketball floor general is now.

“I’ve had some really good point guards,” Marshall said. “Joe Ragland, Malcolm Armstead, Clevin Hannah, Matt Braeuer my first year here. And I had a kid at Wintrhop my last three years there, Chris Gainer, who was very much like Fred.

“Not as talented, but cerebral like Fred and a floor leader. They’re both coaches on the floor who run the team and understand the system. Fred has so many attributes, plus such strength and quickness with his hands. He just has an uncanny way of making plays that help you win.”

VanVleet, Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton, Shocker veterans who know each others’ moves so well, will go down as maybe WSU’s best trio in history.

Make no mistake, though, VanVleet is the leader.

“He’s definitely a grown man who handles his business the right way,” said Baker, who added 19 points against Tulsa. “He doesn’t make immature decisions. It’s just how Fred lives; he makes plays for our team that help us win games.”

Every opposing coach, it seems, raves about the 6-foot, 195-pound VanVleet in post-game news conference.

Newman’s Mark Potter went on and on about VanVleet last week. Tulsa coach Frank Haith was similarly impressed Saturday.

“He’s so strong, powerful,” Haith said. “He’s not overly fast or quick, but he’s shifty and he has great instincts.

“The other thing I don’t don’t know if people talk about with him is his great hands. When he gets his hands on a ball, he comes up with it. I guess he might remind me of being a Jameer Nelson-type player, a compact guard who can do everything.”

VanVleet loves this time in his life. He loves being a college basketball player on a team that wins. He loves his role. He loves being a leader. He feels like this is what he was meant to do.

“We have relationships here with this team that are going to last for the rest of our lives,” VanVleet said. “I take a lot of pride in that. It makes things a whole lot easier when you’re looking at a teammate out there that you really care about and you know you have his back and he has yours.”

It’s hard to say where VanVleet will end up. He’ll definitely get an opportunity to play basketball professionally, but then what?

He carries himself like someone with big plans. Maybe he’ll return to Rockford, a city he loves but one that has been impacted by poverty and violence.

“Growing up, nobody was proud to be from Rockford,” VanVleet said. “That’s one of the reasons I love it so much. People would say they were from Chicago or from down south or something like that. It’s just been a place that people usually aren’t proud to be from. And I want to change that, to flip it the other way.”

VanVleet has started to think about becoming a coach, too. He watches Marshall and his staff, he said, to try and pick up on the nuances of teaching basketball.

So maybe that’s something he’ll do.

“I have opinions about world events and situations like what is going on in Ferguson and things like that,” VanVleet said. “But I’m also a pretty self-conscious guy, so while I have these opinions and thoughts I’m smart enough to know that no one person has the right answer and nobody’s opinion is going to change or fix anything.

“Once I do get into a position where I can start influencing things, I’ll be more willing to speak out and do certain things.”

That day will come. For now, though, VanVleet is content doing what he does on the basketball floor. He’s not flashy, but he’s lost one game as a starting point guard.

He’s a monster.

This story was originally published November 29, 2014 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Leadership defines Shocker point guard Fred VanVleet."