By TORI ADDISON
Staff Writer
For those of you who don’t know who Andrew Wiggins is, I suggest you familiarize yourself quickly. If you thought SportsCenter was tough to watch when Tim Tebow was around, you have another thing coming this college basketball season between this Wiggins kid and Kentucky’s all-star roster. Although, Wiggins is already getting more hype than the whole Wildcats’ roster combined. The Canadian-born phenom came under the spotlight when he transferred to Huntington Prep in West Virginia to finish out his high school career. Not only was he dubbed the top recruit of 2013, but he also had everyone down to the wire while he was deciding on which college he would call home for the upcoming season. By the time he chopped his list down to four, he was between UNC, Kansas, FSU, and Kentucky. When he finally decided, and when I say finally I mean he waited until the last possible day to commit, he chose Kansas.
The thing most people don’t understand about Andrew Wiggins is that one; he doesn’t want to be hailed as a collegiate superstar and two; college is basically going to be a waste of his time. Not to sound pessimistic, but he is completely NBA ready and is only going to college because, quite frankly, the NBA says he has to. Let’s face it, he only chose Kansas to be close to his brother who is a senior basketball player at Wichita State University. You know the team that “shocked” the world last year when they made it to Final Four of the tournament? I am not belittling Wiggin’s decision; I just do not think he is looking to be a breakout college star as Tyler Hansbrough or Cody Zeller was. If he wanted to win a championship he would not have picked Kansas. With the loss of Jeff Withey and Ben McLemore to the draft, Kansas’ roster suffered quite the blow. If he was looking for a championship-thirsty team, he could have jumped on the Kentucky bandwagon with all the other top ranked recruits or joined the experience heavy Tar Heels over in Chapel Hill, (I honestly do not think FSU was even an option). College is literally just a stepping stone for Wiggins; he will not feel the need to fully excel until he reaches the pros. All he needs to do this upcoming season is the bare minimum to make it through, which he will have no problem with. In my opinion, he will be exactly what Shabazz Muhammad was to UCLA last season, the one-and-done who doesn’t show full one-hundred percent potential until drafted.
Let me make one thing clear, I do not think Wiggins is going to be a huge let down that never amounted to what he should have. He will be an extraordinary player, but his full talent will not appear until he is suited up in a NBA uniform. Wiggins does not have to try to look flashy in college, the world already knows who he is. It is pretty much official that he will be the number one pick in next years’ draft and the lucky team who gets him will not be disappointed. Sports analysts are already claiming that he is going to be the next LeBron James, possibly even better. To add to the hype, there have been multiple reports that Adidas is set to throw a ten-year shoe endorsement worth $180 million at him as soon as he is drafted. That’s a bigger contract than King James’ with Nike. Not to mention, Sports Illustrated placed him on the cover of their November issue basically claiming he is already a Kansas legend, comparing him to Jayhawk greats Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning. Let’s not forget that Wiggins has not even played a college game yet, all we have seen are his skills from the high school level. Some people think the hype is getting old already, but what they don’t realize is that it has just begun. Whether Wiggins decides to give college his all or not, he will still be the most talked about player of the season. He may not end up as the most notorious one-and-done Kansas has ever seen, but he will most definitely be worthy of that first overall pick. I would like to congratulate the NBA team who drafts him in advance as they will be receiving the next big thing to hit the world of professional basketball.
