When was the last time KU made one three-pointer or less … and still won the game? Well, you actually don’t have to go back as far as you might think. The Jayhawks shot one for 14 from three-point range in their 60-57 victory over North Carolina State in last season's Sweet 16 matchup in St. Louis. KU’s Jeff Withey finished with 10 blocks, and KU held the Wolfpack to 28.4 percent shooting.
And that’s just the beginning, really, the start of what might be the weirdest statistical oddity in college basketball – if not sports. Dating back to the 2005-06 season, Kansas is 10-0 in games in which it hit one three-pointer or less. You read that right. A perfect 10-0 on nights the Jayhawks chucked mostly bricked from deep.
Even more remarkable: Eight of the victories have come away from Allen Fieldhouse. And the one time during the streak that Kansas went oh-fer from three? The Jayhawks simply hit triple digits in a 100-90 victory over Baylor on Feb. 9, 2008. (KU was helped by going 36 of 46 from the free-throw line.)
Of course, maybe it’s not surprising that Kansas has its worst shooting performances away from home. But to win 10 straight with shooting like that? Crazy stuff, right?
This is not to suggest the Jayhawks haven’t been bitten by three-point issues; they shot just two of 21 (9.5 percent) in their Elite Eight loss to VCU in 2011. But perhaps Wednesday night’s victory isn’t as singularly spectacular as it seemed upon first glance.
Then again, you might recall the last time Kansas lost after hitting just one three-pointer. It came in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2005. Bucknell held the Jayhawks to just one of 11 from deep.
KC Star
“They did what all teams are going to do to me throughout the season and throughout my career at the University of Kansas — just face-guarding, trying to deny me the ball, stuff like that,” McLemore said. “I’ve got to do a good job getting myself open and try to create shots for me.”
McLemore got some open looks, Self said, but went 0-for-8 in the first half. His 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining in regulation was KU’s only make in 11 attempts from behind the arc.
“You don’t make shots and kind of shy away from it a little bit,” Self said. “They do a good job of face-guarding him tight. They can put a guy as athletic as Ben on him, which a lot of teams can’t.”
TCJ
The nickname for Kansas University’s 1988 NCAA basketball championship team has stood the test of time.
Twenty-five years after the fact — heading into this weekend’s 115 Years of KU Basketball reunion — the mere mention of “Danny and the Miracles” brings to mind a 27-11 team that stuck together after a 12-8 start and embarked on a magical Danny Manning-led, six-game postseason run. It was capped with KU’s 83-79 victory over Oklahoma (35-4) in the title game in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
“Danny’s unbelievably humble. He’s the one who complains about the name, ‘Danny and the Miracles,’’’ said 1988 title team reserve guard Scooter Barry, a 46-year-old businessman from San Francisco who retired from professional basketball six years ago after a long playing career in Europe and Australia.
“Everybody else says it’s a perfect name. Danny always says, ‘It wasn’t me. It was all of us.’ Everybody knows he and coach (Larry) Brown carried the weight of the team. With their experience and ability to communicate and take over games ... it gave us the opportunity to be in position to win.”
… I thought about coaching in the States. I have a good list of people to ask: Larry, Roy, Turg (Mark Turgeon). Most of those guys told me, ‘If you want to see your kids, don’t coach.’ I made a decision based on their feedback. I’d be lying if I said basketball was not a part of me.”
Barry, like current SMU coach Brown and Tulsa coach Manning, won’t be able to make it back to Lawrence for this weekend’s festivities, which include about 200 former players, coaches and managers being introduced at halftime of Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against TCU. Milt Newton (Washington Wizards front office) and Kevin Pritchard (Indiana Pacers) also haven’t signed up because of their ongoing seasons.
“If I had something I would say to everybody (it’s that) I’m really disappointed I can’t be there,” said Barry, whose new job responsibilities prevent him from attending. “I was at the 20-year reunion and had a great time.
“We ended up winning it all that year, so they should fly us in all the time,” he joked. “Knowing a lot of the team won’t be able to make it there took a lot of pressure off me to where I feel I’m not letting anybody down. I want to try to reconnect with Kansas basketball. Being overseas as long as I was, I wasn’t privy to a lot of opportunities to be with the team. I’m glad Bill (Self) is keeping the tradition together and bringing back the former players. It’s a super opportunity for guys who played there to feel appreciated for what you did for your school. I’d love to thank Kansas as a school for giving me all these opportunities and memories.”
LJW
The Phoenix Suns again have a set of twins on their roster after making a trade to bring Marcus Morris from the Houston Rockets.
The move, officially announced by the Suns on Thursday, unites Marcus with identical twin brother Markieff in Phoenix.
Only once before in NBA history have twins played for the same team, when Dick and Tom Van Arsdale were together with the Suns in 1976-77.
The Suns sent a 2013 second-round draft pick to Houston to get Marcus Morris, who was the 14th pick in the 2011 draft. Markieff was the 13th pick overall by Phoenix. The twins played together at Kansas, and on the same team through all their other levels of basketball until reaching the pros.
To make room for Marcus Morris, Phoenix waived forward Luke Zeller.
Not surprisingly, the brothers were elated with the developments.
"Can't explain this feeling!!!'' Markieff said on twitter shortly after the trade was made official.
On Wednesday night, when news of the trade broke from unnamed sources, Markieff talked about the joy that the reunion will bring.
"I'm super excited,'' Markieff said after the Suns lost at Golden State. "It can't get no better for me. This is what I definitely wanted from the beginning, to be the same as college. I'm just excited to be able to play with him again. Honestly, all of this has been a dream to me. God is blessing it to be better and better for me and him.''
…"We have been intrigued for quite some time about the potential synergy from having both Morris twins on our team,'' said Lon Babby, Suns president for basketball operations, in a news release announcing the trade. "So we are excited to have the opportunity to welcome Marcus to the Suns.''
AP
Suns.com: Q&A with Coach Bill Self on the Morris Twins
The current Sacramento Kings owners have proven time and time again that they do not care about the squad’s fans, the community that surrounds the team, and the product on the court. The Sacramento Kings owners are sniveling, conniving front-runners that do not understand the game of basketball, much less the ideals that help buttress attempts at tact, poise and reason. Also, they just traded a rookie lottery pick in order to save a few hundred thousand bucks as their final miserable season as Kings owners nears its end.
Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report on Wednesday that the Kings have shipped rookie Thomas Robinson – the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft – to the Houston Rockets as part of a three-team deal. The Rockets will send center Cole Aldrich, impressive power forward Patrick Patterson, and Toney Douglas to Sacramento for Robinson, Francisco Garcia, and Tyler Honeycutt. The Rockets also sent Marcus Morris to Phoenix in the transaction for a second round pick.
Yahoo Sports
What is your favorite basketball memory from KU?
“The whole experience was amazing. I still get chills sometimes thinking about all of the experiences. I look back and think that I should have been a sports journalist; I should have had my own camera and notepad (with me at all times) because there are so many amazing memories I have from college. It’s weird because you don’t really remember all what happened until later on when you are with old teammates and you say, ‘You know that one time so and so did this,’ then things start to come back crystal clear. Some of the best memories are things that I can’t even talk about. It’s stuff that’s just too personal or too funny, but it’s the camaraderie that I miss the most. I miss being able to have 15 guys in a locker room when you are 18 to 20 years old. You can imagine the kind of conversations you have or the kind of activities you do, just being kids. I think, more than anything, I miss those kinds of fun experiences.”
Any final thoughts on your time at KU?
“It’s funny because I’m still living in Kansas City so I make it back to all the games I can. I still feel very much a part of it, and still get into it, but I also have kind of that perspective (of someone on the outside). People get so caught up in the day-to-day stuff and I know what it’s like to actually be in the locker room. People say that the names on the back (of the jerseys) change but the name on the front never changes. The names on the back do change and guys with different personalities and different lives (come in and out of the program). I am always really intrigued by that. Guys from all over the country, and sometimes all over the world, come to Kansas and you know this place shapes them. I think that is something that not enough people really value; a lot of the guys that I have been fortunate enough to be teammates with have had profoundly differently lives, and almost all for the better, because of being able to be a part of the community in Lawrence, Kansas. That’s the cool thing for me. I just got an email the other day from Aaron Miles, out of the blue; Aaron lives somewhere in Russia and that’s a special thing. People still care about a town in Kansas because of the fans and because of the treasure. I couldn’t say anything better other than I still love being a part of it.”
KUAD: Throwback Thursday - Matt Kleinmann
UDK: Jayhawk basketball a longtime family tradition
VOTE for Wooden Award nominees McLemore & Withey
VOTE FOR COACH SELF (West Region)
VOTE for KU Student Section (Last day I think)
VOTE for Kansas players, team, and moment in NCAA 75th Anniversary of March Madness (Vote for Wilt, Clyde, Danny, 51-52 Kansas, Mario's Miracle)
Kansas 2012-13 MBB Schedule
Kansas 2012-13 WBB Schedule
Big 12/College News
A handful of Kansas' eight straight Big 12 titles have come with relative ease. But if the Jayhawks claim the crown again this year, no one will be able to say they didn't earn it. Bill Self's squad nearly fell out of the picture by losing three games in a row earlier this month. But now KU is tied for the league lead again after Wednesday's double-overtime victory at Oklahoma State. The championship is hardly in the bag, but history suggests it'd be foolish to doubt the Jayhawks this late into the season. Here are the latest power rankings.
ESPN
"Ten is the right size for us," said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. "We have taken a look at all of the circumstances. We went through the entire process.
"There could be circumstances that change, but 10 is the right position for us. We will be prepared for anything. We won't just wait around and watch. But, we feel confident that 10 is the right number."
Bowlsby spoke to about 600 people at the Hyatt Regency in Tulsa on Thursday as part of the Tulsa Business Forums presented by the Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business.
"All of us are singing off the same sheet of music," said Bowlsby of the Big 12's new spirit of cooperation.
In a wide-ranging interview before his speech, Bowlsby seemed to hint that it would take some major movement for the Big 12 to change its position on size or makeup of the conference.
"I haven't been around (he's been on the job less than a year), but from what I've been told, there hasn't always been this high of trust level among the members as we have now," said Bowlsby, in what most would agree is a major understatement.
…Bowlsby said Big 12 members would like to have the option of adding a Big 12 championship game, without needing 12 members or two six-team divisions. The league plans to challenge the current rules, which would prohibit a 10-team league from having a championship game.
Yet, he said there are no plans to add a Big 12 championship game. The league simply wants the right to add one if they feel it necessary in the future.
"It simply isn't in our plans right now," said Bowlsby.
OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and OSU athletic director Mike Holder have said in recent weeks that cooperation in the Big 12 has never been higher.
The 10-team model has been wildly popular with all the members.
In addition, the outrage over the Longhorn Network has gone away as individual schools have made deals for third-tier products such as Olympic sports and other television products.
In other words, the Longhorn Network may have been much ado about nothing. That issue, which Texas A&M claims was a major factor in its decision to leave the league, has died out as a wedge issue among members.
Tulsa World
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has some advice for OSU star freshman Marcus Smart: staying in school has its advantages.
Bowlsby spoke Wednesday at the Executive Management Briefings, presented by OSU's Spears School of Business, at the Cox Convention Center.
Among Bowlsby's topics was the transient nature of college basketball, which he called “an embarrassment for higher education.”
Bowlsby said about 10 percent of all major-college basketball players transfer every season, which eventually means on average, 40 percent of a team's roster has transferred.
“It's an astonishing number to me and one we have to change,” Bowlsby said.
One-and-done — players declaring for the NBA Draft after their freshman seasons — has become common.
“I say that knowing Marcus Smart may declare for the draft,” Bowlsby said. “He may be completely ready to go the NBA. He may have family reasons for going to the NBA. But I would suggest another year of college wouldn't be bad for him.”
Bowlsby said the ideal rule for college basketball is the baseball model. Major League teams are allowed to sign players right out of high school, but if a player goes to a four-year college or university, he's ineligible for the draft until after his junior year or until he's 21 years old.
The Oklahoman
Add another check mark on Iowa State’s NCAA Tournament resume to-do list.
Significant road win?
Check.
That’s thanks to Wednesday’s 87-82 victory against a once-ranked Baylor outfit that was a five-point favorite to send the Cyclones back home reeling again.
It didn’t happen, and thanks to solid 3-point shooting, among other things, Iowa State not only ended a six-game losing streak at the less-than-intimidating Ferrell Center, but also remained in a fourth-place tie in the Big 12 Conference.
DMR
Three former Miami assistant coaches filed a motion on Thursday with the NCAA asking that their infractions cases be dismissed because of the mistakes that governing body for college athletics made in their long investigation of the Hurricanes.
Former football assistant Aubrey Hill and former basketball assistants Jake Morton and Jorge Fernandez had their motion delivered to the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side authorized the release of any information.
The motion, according to the person, says the three coaches believe the NCAA's alliance with the attorney for the former booster at the center of the Miami scandal has created a scenario where they cannot "get a fair and reasonable proceeding."
A conference call on the matter is scheduled for Friday with the NCAA.
AP
The Miami Herald has learned through a public records request of the specific Notice of Allegations that the NCAA delivered to former University of Miami basketball coach Frank Haith — now the coach at Missouri.
Haith’s Notice of Allegations reads as follows:
[NCAA Bylaw 11.1.2.1]
“It is alleged that after June 10, 2010, through the time that his employment ended at the institution in March 2011, Frank Haith, then head men’s basketball coach, failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance within the men’s basketball program.
“Specifically, Haith was aware that Nevin Shapiro, a representative of the institution’s athletics interests, threatened that unless Jake Morton, then assistant men’s basketball coach, or Haith provided money to Shapiro, Shapiro would make public a claim that Shapiro provided money to assist in the recruitment of a men’s basketball prospective student-athlete.
“After learning of the threat, Haith failed to alert anyone in the athletics department administration about Shapiro’s threat, ask reasonable questions of Morton to ensure that Shapiro’s claim lacked merit or disclose the fact that Morton engaged in financial dealings with Shapiro.
“Rather, Haith gave Morton funds that Morton then provided to Shapiro.”
Miami Herald
The old saying, "talk is cheap" took on a new meaning during a regular season Atlantic 10 basketball game.
Saint Louis play-by-play announcer Bob Ramsey didn't agree with a foul called against the Billikens' Dwayne Evans during Tuesday's game against VCU.
"They're going to call a cheap foul on Evans and I'll tell you what," Ramsey started to say on the live broadcast. The referee who made the call just so happened to overhear Ramsey's "cheap" labeling and didn't take too kindly to the announcer's criticism, confronting him live on the air.
The referee, Bo Borowski, probably wished he didn't start to jaw with the WXOS (ESPN) radio announcer, who didn't back down one bit.
"Stay away from me," Ramsey said, putting his hand near the official's face.
In reality, who was out of their element in this case? Sure, Ramsey was disrespectful, but isn't it part of his job to be somewhat critical while calling the game, even if it's a biased "cheap" jab? Officials have heard worse from coaches and not issued technical fouls before. Yet Borowski decided to respond to that?
"The official (is) trying to get into our broadcast," Ramsey said, making a good laugh for the audience. "Not going to have it. Not going to have it here. This is 101's broadcast."
USA Today
Toward the end of his Oklahoma tenure, Tubbs says, he could feel the culture changing, veering toward the conservatism he both embraces outside of the game and despises within it. (In 1991, a few years before Tubbs left Oklahoma for TCU, overall scoring peaked at 77 points per game, and it's been trailing downward ever since.) Tubbs brought up the shadow of "political correctness" with me several times, which seems like a bit of an oblique connection, but I think what he was trying to say is that the coaches who should be willing to gamble — coaches, like Tubbs, who are blessed with superior talent — simply don't think it's worth the risk anymore. And so they take command of everything that's happening on the floor. They slow the game down to call offensive sets, and they play it safe on defense rather than risk giving up easy layups in transition. And the very notion of running wild like Tubbs's teams did, or of throwing caution to the wind like Paul Westhead's Loyola-Marymount teams did, or of raising hell like Nolan Richardson's Arkansas teams did, becomes a concept too fraught with potential danger to even consider implementing. The favorites now play at the underdog's pace. And this, one coach told me, is how a team like Kansas loses to an obvious inferior like TCU.
"When you're watching games now, just watch how they catch the ball in scoring positions and don't even think about shooting it because they're trying to get it to another option," Tubbs says. "When I coached, you put five players on the floor who could score, and you never played them out of position. Wayman Tisdale never caught the ball more than 15 feet from the basket.
"The thing you've got to look at is if the stands are empty in the arena. I'm seeing a lot of empty seats. You can play really conservative if you fill the gym. At Wisconsin, they don't know any better, do they?"
Grantland: College basketball's scoring problem
Big 12 Composite Schedule & Results
RPI and SOS Team Comparison Calculator
Recruiting
OK, well I know everyone wants to hear about my visit to Kansas.
Well, when I got to the airport Coach (Norm) Roberts picked me and my mom up in a Mercedes van. That was real nice. It’s about an hour drive from the airport to campus so I was definitely comfortable riding in that.
He took us straight to College GameDay and when I walked in the fans went absolutely crazy. Those fans were really loud. I mean those fans were just crazy. They might’ve been the best fans I’ve seen. They chanted all throughout the game and they were loud. I heard it pretty loud at N.C. State, but these guys were just loud.
The game was fun too. They had a lot of alumni there and I already knew Thomas (Robinson) so it was cool catching up with him. Then the Morris twins were there and Mario Chalmers had his jersey retired that night. Every time they showed that clutch shot that he made against Memphis the crowd went crazy. And they showed it like 20 times. I loved that. It showed me how much the fans love their players even after they leave. I really liked that part.
That night I got to hang out with all of the players and we had a good time.
Sunday we met with the academic advisors and took the tours and things like that. They gave me a lot of good information. Then I finally got to meet their strength coach Andrea Hudy. She’s just a beast, man. She’s the best I’ve seen. I would love to work with her. Just seeing how she does stuff is crazy.
Then I got some shots up after that. I just love to workout so to be able to do it there was pretty cool.
Later that night, we all got together at Coach (Bill) Self’s house and had a crazy spread of food. It was good too. Everybody had a good time just hanging out and talking.
That was a great visit. Kansas really made a big impression on me. I know I’d have a legit chance to win a national championship there.
Now all of the visits are done and I’ve got to really start to think about what I want to do. It could be a really stressful situation because this thing is hard. I know the truth is that all of these schools would be perfect. But I’m not letting it stress me out; I’ve just got to go to the best system for me.
The place that fits me and the place that I’ll be happy. Wherever I felt the happiest is the place that I’m gonna go to.
It’s hard though! I can’t lie; it kinda kept me up last night. My mind was racing and I couldn’t go to sleep so I just stayed up and watched some TV. I think it’ll help that I’m so focused on winning the state title now. Then I’ve got spring break to take my mind off of things so that’ll be good.
I haven’t set any dates to decide or anything like that just because I don’t know where I want to go.
...Coach (Mark) Gottfried and Coach (Orlando) Early from N.C. State came in to see me the other day and we had a really good talk. They basically just wanted to answer any questions I might’ve had. It was cool.
I think, at this point, I’m gonna shut all of my visits with coaches down. I’ve got all the information now I’m gonna take time to process it all. So I won’t be meeting with any more coaches.
USA Today Julius Randle blog
Can't tell you how many recruits I talk to that RAVE about KU strength coach Andrea Hudy
https://twitter.com/JayJayUSATODAY
Earlier today, Tift County High School (GA) shooting guard, Brannen Greene was awarded the honor of Mr. Georgia Basketball. The 43rd ranked player in the ESPN 100 for the Class of 2013 and Kansas commit has put together an impressive basketball resume this season. He is averaging 27 points and nine rebounds per game and recently passed the 2,000-point mark for his career. He made a major contribution to help Tift County reach an impressive 22-4 regular season record.
Brannen Greene’s selection as Mr. Georgia Basketball makes it the first time in 13 years that a player outside of the metro Atlanta area has won. The last being Kwame Brown.
I saw the 6’7″ Greene play at the Spalding’s Hoop Hall Classic in Springfield, MA against St. Anthony High School (NJ) and he really impressed me. He contributed 14 points going 4-10 from the field (4-6 from three) and 2-2 from the free throw line, five rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks. His size and ability to score off the drive, mid-range pull-ups and from deep kept defensive eyes focused on him. This enabled his teammates to seize opportunities for high-percentage shots.
Greene is part of an already impressive recruiting class for Kansas that is currently ranked third in ESPN’s 2013 class rankings. The other commits include Wayne Selden (SF), Joel Embiid (C), Conner Frankamp (PG) and Frank Mason (PG).
Link
Pile another accomplishment on to Tift County basketball player Brannen Greene's superior resume. It's only fitting the state's best team should have the state's best player.
Announced on Thursday morning, the Atlanta Tip Off Club has named Greene as Mr. Georgia Basketball.
The Kansas Jayhawk commit is averaging 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Blue Devils this season. Greene will be recognized at the Naismith Awards Banquet in Atlanta on March 19.
Greene is the first South Georgia player to be named Mr. Basketball since Glynn Academy's Kwame Brown in 2001 while Tift County's Pablo Machado received the award in 1996.
Link
The Blue Devils started the second quarter on a 9-0 run and the show belonged to Greene. He first dazzled with his shooting, scoring 14 in the first half, then he dazzled with his passing, setting up multiple baskets under the basket for his teammates. The margin crept up to 10 during the period, but McEachern five of the last seven in the second to keep it 35-25 at halftime.
Neither squad was able to singularly grab momentum in the third. The Indians kept Tift out of the paint with multiple blocks but were unable to make much progress at their own offensive end. Greene scored eight more and Donell Tuff had three, including a sweeping reverse lay-up. With the score 48-36, the Devils headed into the final frame and it would be there where they caught fire again.
While Greene remained the scoring sensation, he received plenty of able assistance from Jackson, Tuff and Ali Vaughn who all had multiple baskets in the final eight minutes. McEachern was unable to keep up with the barrage as the Devils’ firepower and quick hands keep the ball on the hosts’ end and eliminated any chance at a comeback by the Indians. It would be Vaughn that put them up by 20 with two minutes to play and when Jackson became the final man off the floor after a pair of free throws, they were up 22. That would prove to be the final margin as the Blue Devils’ subs closed out the 70-48 victory.
…Wins by both Tift County teams enable them to host the second round of state in a doubleheader Saturday night. The Devils will next play the Westlake Lions at 7:30 p.m.
Tifton Gazette
The GHSA will crown 14 basketball champions in Macon in early March, the first time in years all of the championships will be decided at one venue and the first time ever 14 brackets will stretch across the state of Georgia. After reclassification and the decision to split the Class A schools into separate public and private brackets, high school basketball fans will have even more action to follow over the new few weeks as the 2012-13 season races to beat the buzzer.
Due to GHSA probation, the Milton boys basketball program will not be able to defend its championship run of one year ago. Milton, behind Shaq Johnson, Evan Nolte and several other stars, won the Class AAAAA title in Gwinnett last year, but a new favorite has stepped up and taken over the mantle of big, bad wolf in Milton’s absence. Tift County features the state’s top recruit in Brannen Greene for the Class of 2013 and a candidate for 2014 top recruit in Tadric Jackson. The Blue Devils rode those two to a Region 1-AAAAAA title as Greene tallied 36 points while Jackson netted 22 in a win over Brunswick.
Link
2/21/13, 6:53 PM
Wow they just talked about talked about @F_Mason15 on ESPN recruiting nation how he's a top five sleeper in the class of 2013:keep it up cuz
https://twitter.com/raedavis_42
Not to fear, though. The high school classes of 2013 and 2014 are filled with elite point guards at the top of the rankings -- guys who can come in and immediately be impact players.
Tyus Jones, 2014, Undecided: Jones emerged as a truly elite player a couple of summers ago, when it was clear he was arguably the best pure point guard out of anyone in the classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014. He has improved his scoring ability lately, and his basketball IQ and court vision are outstanding. He knows how to win games and get everyone involved.
Emmanuel Mudiay, 2014, Undecided: More similar to Andrew Harrison than the other players on this list, Mudiay uses his size and quickness to be a matchup nightmare on the offensive end. He can knock down shots in the mid-range but is at his best when getting to the rim and finishing. He can also see over the defense and find teammates for easy buckets.
CBS
Before his life gets really complicated, Wiggins will make one last trip home. He’ll be in Hamilton on Sunday with Huntington Prep, his high school team.
At this point, they are charting Andrew Wiggins’ travel plans like troop movements.
He’s already been to Florida State, alma mater of his parents.
He’ll visit Kentucky in a couple of weeks, Kansas the week after that and then round it out at the last stop in college basketball’s Valley of the Kings at North Carolina.
Then he’s going to have to make a choice. Where will he spend his one — and it will only be one — year in college before he becomes the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
“He just wants to be a kid,” someone from Canada Basketball said of the famously shy 17-year-old from Vaughan the other day. He should hop to it then; he’s not going to be a kid for much longer.
As is the way these days, you will know Wiggins from his YouTube resume and his superhuman superlatives. This is the kid who jumps so high he jumped over the standard device to measure such things. Eventually, they figured it out — 44 inches. Wiggins can jump onto the roof of a car from a flat-footed start.
He’s six-foot-eight, but has a nearly seven-foot wingspan. He can play anywhere from 2 to 4, though he will certainly settle at the 3.
He’s still growing, having added an inch in the last year. His second jump comes so quickly, he appears to be riding an invisible pogo.
Link
My 2012 KU Alumni games, 2011-12 Border War, Legends of the Phog, KC Prep Invitational, & Jayhawk Invitational Videos, Late Night in the Phog, and more now on YouTube