In case you’ve been living under a rock, the whole basketball universe is abuzz when it comes to Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins, the 6’8 Canadian born man-child of a forward that has nearly a dozen of NBA teams already in “tank mode” for the services of the freakishly athletic game-changer.
His unlimited future potential has dominated both the collegiate and professional ranks as he has been projected as not only the top pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, but a Preseason NCAA All American, and NCAA Preseason Player of the Year, all before playing an official minute on the collegiate hardwood.
He’s been proclaimed as the best HS player since Lebron James and is deemed the savior of the next generation of NBA stars that also includes fellow highly touted freshmen Julius Randle at Kentucky and Jabari Parker at Duke.
Although the Jayhawks lost a ton of talent from last year’s squad, they return former McDonald’s All American sophomore forward Perry Ellis, along with two other projected NBA 1st Round picks Wayne Selden and Joel Embiid that has helped make them once again the favorites in the Big 12 Conference and a Top 5 ranked team in the preseason rankings.
Kansas has already jumped the gun this season, unveiling Andrew Wiggins-mania to frenzied Jayhawks fans a bit earlier than a few other teams this preseason by holding their version of Midnight Madness known as “Late Night At the Phog” last week where Wiggins didn’t dissappoint, throwing down a number of rim-rattling dunks that kept the flashbulbs popping.
But in the new Sports Illustrated, Andrew Wiggins is again the focus as the star freshman makes his first of many SI covers alongside fellow Jayhawk legendary freshmen Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning, two of the most storied players in school history.
Now before anyone gets it twisted, Wiggins isn’t being touted as the next Wilt or Manning, but is rather the focus of the compelling story comparing the journey and impact of Wiggins, as well as Chamberlain and Manning as prized freshmen.
Yes, Kansas has seen this a time or two before. Wiggins is supposedly with his back turned on the cover as he focuses on looking back at the storied history and players at the University of Kansas…
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
