Fred VanVleet is the best.



Seriously, ask anyone in Wichita, Kan. Everyone is learning his story now that he’s gone from undrafted to helping the Toronto Raptors win a world title and earning one vote for NBA Finals MVP. (Shout-out Hubie Brown. Legend.) But for those who spent four years with VanVleet at Wichita State, this is just what he does.



He’s always been a badass, and there was no shortage of examples of his badassery during his time as a Shocker.



Dana Ford, assistant coach: When we started recruiting him, the only other schools involved were Kent State and Northern Illinois. Everyone said it was a down year in the state of Illinois. He was ranked the second-best player. That helped us because the high-majors didn’t pay much attention to the state.



Kent State and Northern Illinois both had first-year head coaches, and I told him, “From what I know, I think they’ll be pretty good coaches, but Gregg Marshall...