11/16/12, 7:53 PM
Signed and Officially a Kansas Jayhawk !!
Wayne Selden Jr (@WayneSelden23)
Just want to thank God, thank my Family, Friends, Tilton, Babc and all those that support me ! I'm truly blessed #Roxbury #2730
Wayne Selden Jr @WayneSelden23
11/16/12, 8:15 PM
@WayneSelden23 congrats bro
Joel Hans Embiid (@jojo_embiid)
11/13/12, 4:26 PM
@jojo_embiid Bravo Jojo. J'ai passe 3 ans a Lawrence, KS, et c'est ce qu'il y a de mieux pour college basketball. Amuses toi bien!
https://twitter.com/francaisennba
Wayne Selden ended months of speculation in October with a verbal commitment to Kansas, and last night in front of friends and family at the Shelburne Community Center in Roxbury he made it official by signing his national letter of intent to play for Bill Self and the Jayhawks in the Big 12 next fall.
Selden has spent the last three years playing away from home for the Tilton (N.H.) School, and he was happy to finalize his college plans in a place where his young basketball career began.
“That’s where it all started and I wanted to come back and show my support to the people who have supported me at the Shelburne,” Selden told the Herald in an interview before he put pen to paper.
Selden, who reclassified for the class of 2013 over the summer, has been one of the most highly coveted guards in recent memory to have Boston ties.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder blends an attacking style with an improved outside game that he consistently showed off for AAU power BABC, and against NEPSAC competition. Rivals.com currently ranks him 26th overall —seventh among shooting guards — in the class of 2013.
“He has the eye of the tiger and he likes to get to the rim hard and punish people,” said BABC founder Leo Papile. “He’s a punishing guy. When he was coming up the ranks we kind of looked at him like a Paul Pierce [stats] or an NFL tight end playing the (2-guard). He’s a big, strong, physical kid that can hit the long ball and bang people around and get to the rim.”
Papile remembers watching Selden compete, and hold his own, against high school players as a middle schooler for O’Bryant, so his meteoric rise since then hasn’t surprised him at all.
“He was a manchild back then,” said Papile. “Wayne was no secret coming up the ranks.”
Boston Herald
Dozens of Selden’s friends and family members gathered at Shelburne on Friday night to celebrate his commitment and signing. Before his official signing, his closest family members gave brief comments on Selden’s success and thanks to those had supported his endeavors, on and off the basketball court.
His mother, Lavette Pitts, emphasized that “it takes a village to raise a child,” a sentiment that Wayne echoed following the signing of his letter of intent.
“It feels good to have everybody [in Roxbury] behind me and supporting me with every decision I make,” Selden said, “So I just feel like I need to put all the tools God gave me into the right things and just be the best player and person I can be.”
Selden, whose Tilton squad will kick off their season in a matchup at National Prep Showcase on Sunday against Kiski Prep (Pa.), said he was also appreciative of the respects that he received from many of his former high-profile teammates.
“I’ve heard from a lot of guys; Georges [Niang] texted me this morning. He’s at Iowa State, so I’m going to be playing against him next year, that’s going to be weird,” Selden said with a laugh. “I heard from a lot of guys, and that’s just us keeping it in the family.”
ESPN
Guards Wayne Selden and Frank Mason have signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play basketball at Kansas, KU head coach Bill Self announced Friday. The duo join three others in what many are considering one of the top recruiting classes in the early signing period. Guard Conner Frankamp, center Joel Embiid and forward Brannen Greene signed with Kansas earlier this week.
Selden signed his NLI Friday evening in a ceremony at the Shelburne Community Center in his hometown of Roxbury, Mass., a suburb of Boston.
“Wayne is one of the most powerful wings in high school basketball,” Self said. “He’s got a great frame. He’s explosive. He can play the two or three and maybe even play some emergency point. He’s big enough to post and defend the four if we decide to go small and he can make shots.”
Described as a dynamic, explosive and powerful athlete, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Selden attends The Tilton School in Tilton, N.H. He reclassified from 2014 to 2013 earlier this year. Last year Selden averaged 16 points, five assists and three rebounds and helped lead Tilton to a 25-6 record and the NEPSAC Class AA title game. Selden has also had success on the club circuit where he plays for Boston Amateur Basketball Club. His club team won the highly-competitive Elite Youth Basketball League title in 2011.
“Norm (Roberts) deserves the credit for recruiting Wayne,” Self said of KU assistant coach Norm Roberts. “Wayne has a great family and he’s at a terrific school. I really believe he’s the total package as a future Jayhawk.”
Selden has a four-star rating and ranks No. 14 nationally by ESPN100 and No. 23 by Rivals.com. He verbally committed to playing for the Jayhawks after his visit during Late Night in the Phog in October and chose Kansas over Syracuse, Florida, UCLA and Missouri.
Mason is a 5-foot-11, 180-pound point guard from Petersburg, Va., where he plays at Massanutten Military Academy, in Woodstock, Va. Prior to Massanutten, Mason played at Petersburg High School where led the state in scoring in 2011 at 27.4 points per game and in 2012 at 27.1 points per contest. During his Petersburg career he scored 1,901 points and the Wave were a combined 78-4. Mason guided the Wave to two state tournament appearances.
“He’s a jet,” Self said. “Frank is a really, really quick guard. He’s a true point. He can get guys easy baskets. He can break people down, very similar to the way the fans saw Sherron (Collins) break people down off the bounce.”
Mason is three-star player ranked No. 134 by Rivals.com and is the No. 29 point guard in the 2013 class. Mason chose Kansas over Alabama, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.
“Frank is one of the best kept secrets in high school basketball,” Self said. “I really believe even though his high school ranking is not much; he’s a guy that is as good as any guard out there.”
KUAD
If recruiting were judged in poker terms, Kansas coach Bill Self amassed something close to a full house this week.
…All signs point to more recruiting from Self and his staff in the comings months. In other words, they’re likely not done.
KC Star
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