Fred VanVleet

Fredderick Edmund VanVleet Sr. (born February 25, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. He was signed by the Raptors after going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft. He was a member of the 2018–19 Toronto Raptors that won then 2019 NBA Championship. At Auburn High School in Rockford, Illinois, he was an All-State player who was mostly recruited by mid-major basketball programs. In college, he contributed to a resurgence of Wichita State Shockers basketball that included a Final Four run in the 2013 NCAA Men\'s Division I Basketball Tournament by the 2012–13 Shockers team as a freshman and an undefeated regular season by the 2013–14 team as a sophomore. By his sophomore year, he was on midseason watchlists for most major awards. He was named as a 2014 NCAA Men\'s Basketball All-American by a variety of media outlets. As a junior for the 2014–15 Shockers, he was an All-Missouri Valley Conference first team selection and received All-American honorable mention recognition from the Associated Press. He is the Wichita State career assists leader. He was named Missouri Valley Conference Men\'s Basketball Player of the Year as both a sophomore and a senior.\n', ' VanVleet played for Auburn High School in Rockford, Illinois, where he was an All-State first team selection by the Chicago Sun-Times (Class 4A), Associated Press (Class 4A), and Chicago Tribune as a senior in 2012. In 2012, VanVleet helped lead Auburn to a 22-game winning streak which resulted in the school\'s first Illinois High School Association (IHSA) final four since 1975. He led the Knights to a 3rd-place finish in the IHSA state tournament.\n', ' VanVleet remained loyal to his local Rockford Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club team rather than accept offers to more high-profile teams in Chicago. VanVleet did not feel it would make a difference in his recruiting: "As long as you\'re leading whoever you\'re playing with, the coaches are going to see that. If they see you competing and winning with guys maybe I shouldn\'t be winning with, that\'s maybe even an advantage for me." He received basketball scholarship offers from Colorado State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Drake, Detroit, and Kent State. His stepfather felt that he was being overlooked by many Chicago metropolitan area schools because of his decision not to join a Chicago AAU team. He cut his list down to Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Wichita State. When he accepted an offer to play for Wichita State, he became the only member of the national class of 2012 Rivals.com top 150 to attend a Missouri Valley Conference school. \n', '