Canadian Wiggins leaves Jayhawks for NBA
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins made official Monday what he’s been telling folks all along: He’s headed to the NBA after his only season with the Jayhawks.
The 6-foot-8 forward, who was voted secondteam All-America earlier in the day, is expected to go in the top three picks in the June draft. Many believe he could go first overall.
“It wasn’t an easy decision because the fans showed me so much love here,” said Wiggins, choking up briefly during a news conference at Allen Fieldhouse. “I just wish I had more time. College goes by so fast. I can see why people stay all four years.”
The Canadian was the top-rated recruit when he arrived at Kansas, and his brief career was a bit of a roller coaster. He struggled early in the season, caught fire midway through, and then flamed out when it mattered most in an NCAA tournament loss to Stanford.
Wiggins, from Vaughan, Ont., only scored four points on 1-for-6 shooting in the third-round defeat. Afterward, he said despondently that he let his team down with his poor performance.
That ultimately didn’t have any bearing on his decision, though. He announced he was going pro while joined by Kansas coach Bill Self, his parents — former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins and Olympic silver medallist Marita Payne Wiggins — his older brother Mitchell Jr., and several of his teammates, including fellow freshmen Wayne Selden and Joel Embiid.
Selden has already announced he’s returning for his sophomore season. Embiid has not made a decision, even though he’s also expected to be a topfive pick in the draft.
Wiggins certainly had a historic season at Kansas. He averaged a freshman-record 17.1 points and nearly six rebounds per game, and was voted the AP’s Big 12 freshman of the year and first-team allconference.
“Obviously this announcement needed to happen,” said Self, who believes one of the biggest challenges Wiggins will face is realizing that basketball will suddenly become his job.
“It’s not like this year. He came in with so much hype, and whether he knew it or not, everybody was salivating for a chance to go against a guy with that much hype,” Self said. “And he’s going to the next level with a lot of hype, but men are going to be saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, rook. I’ve been doing this a long time and you’re going to have to earn your way.’ ”