Andrew Wiggins tries to get one past Joel Embiid in a competitive moment between future Kansas teammates at the Jordan Brand Classic.
Photo by Danny Wild
Kansas is still looking up at Kentucky in
247Sports.com's latest Class of 2013 team recruiting rankings, but that won't temper the enthusiasm for Tuesday's big news coming out of Lawrence.
The addition of top prospect
Andrew Wiggins transforms the Jayhawk roster from one with more questions than answers to one that suddenly looks capable of big things.
"I think Wiggins single-handedly vaults Kansas from a fringe top-25 team to a legitimate Final Four threat," CBSSports.com college basketball blogger Jeff Borzello told MaxPreps. "He's going to be a preseason All-American and possibly National Player of the Year. He will be the go-to guy immediately and could approach 18-20 points per game."
Kansas head coach Bill Self has landed highly-touted recruits like Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, Xavier Henry and Josh Selby during his time in Lawrence, but acknowledged Tuesday that the signing of Wiggins is special.
"He brings athleticism, length, scoring ability and he's also an assassin, an alpha dog and we definitely need that when you have a whole bunch of young kids," Self said via the school's official athletic site. "I think he's going to be not just a good player, but have the chance to be a great one."
Self and the Jayhawks must replace all five starters from a team that went 31-6 and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. NBADraft.net projected No. 1 draft pick Ben McLemore was among the departures along with standout center Jeff Withey and perimeter players Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford.
Rebuilding isn't part of the gameplan at KU under Self, however. The Jayhawks have won or shared the Big 12 regular season title nine years in a row.
"With Wiggins in the fold, it's hard not to be really optimistic about the Jayhawks," Borzello said. "They now have their go-to guy and offensive focal point. It takes the pressure off Naadir Tharpe and Perry Ellis – those guys can now take the next step and take on bigger roles at a different pace."
Wiggins joins an already-strong contingent of signees that includes 6-foot-11 center
Joel Embiid, elite wings
Wayne Selden and
Brannen Greene and talented guards
Conner Frankamp and
Frank Mason.
"We had an unbelievable class when we signed Brandon (Rush), Mario (Chalmers), Julian (Wright) and Micah Downs (2005-06); that's a big-time class," Self said. "This one has more upside. Andrew (Wiggins) has a chance to be the first pick in the draft. Joel Embiid goes from being an unranked player to being the top center prospect in the class. He's raw but so gifted physically. Wayne Selden is a McDonald's All-American and top-15 guy.
"Everybody knows about those three, but they are sleeping on are the other three."
Duke, Arizona and LSU round out the top five of 247Sports.com's Class of 2013 team recruiting rankings.
Click through for a complete breakdown of the 2013 Kansas recruiting class
