In the only college sport where many of the elite players are freshmen, Kansas just scored the nation’s best.
Andrew Wiggins, the top-ranked high school basketball player in the 2013 recruiting class, announced Tuesday that he will play for the Jayhawks this fall in what will likely be his lone collegiate season. The 18-year-old son of a former NBA player and a former Olympic track star chose to play for Bill Self in Lawrence over North Carolina, Kentucky and Florida State.
“We looked at all the offenses and the players coming in,” Wiggins’ father, Mitchell, told the Courier-Journal. “You can’t go wrong with any of those four schools,. He’s been under the microscope for three years. LeBron [James] took him under his wing the last two years. Kevin Durant has given him a lot of advice, Ray Allen has given him a lot of advice, Michael Jordan, a couple of weeks ago, spoke with him. He’s a very humble kid, he works hard and he has a lot of talent. It’s a relief for him because it was overwhelming for him.”
Wiggins, a native of Toronto, attended Huntington Prep in West Virginia, where he averaged 23.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in his senior season en route to being named the Naismith High School player of the year.
He’ll join fellow top recruits Wayne Selden (a Boston native) and Joel Embiid on a Kansas squad that fell to eventual national runner-up Michigan in overtime in the Sweet 16 this year.
If you haven’t seen Wiggins’ eye-popping highlight reel, take a look at the video below.
Photo via Facebook/Andrew Wiggins
