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With the May 15th deadline approaching, college
basketball still does not know where the nation’s top recruit, Andrew Wiggins, will
play next year. Wiggins has been named the number one player in his class, as
well as being titled as the best high school hoops star since Lebron James tore
apart Ohio basketball with St. Vincent-St. Mary at the turn of the century.
Wiggins is from Canada, but attends the prodigious
Huntington Prep of West Virginia. At 6’7’’, Wiggins is known for his
versatility and athleticism, not to mention his unmatched dunking ability.
Wearing #22, Wiggins has become popular on YouTube for his jaw dropping highlights and
slams. One of Wiggins’s most well known slams came in the McDonald’s
All-American Dunk Contest when he did a between the legs reverse 360 dunk.
As of now, Wiggins has narrowed his list down to four
schools, Kansas, UNC, Florida State, and Kentucky. Wiggins is the type of
player who could enter any program and take them through the season and into
the Final Four.
RantSports.com names Kentucky as the long shot in landing
Wiggins, but enrolling in Lexington would give him the best chance at winning a
national title. With their stellar recruiting class already with six McDonald’s
All Americans, Kentucky has already formed one of the best recruiting classes
of all time. The addition of Wiggins would end all discussion, as the Wildcats
could complete the first undefeated season since Indiana in 1975-1976.
Both of Wiggins’s parents were star athletes at Florida
State and this connection may be the only reason the Seminoles are still a
possibility. Wiggins could revitalize the whole program, bringing a new power
to the ACC. The best part of Wiggins going to Florida State would be that if he
was to win, he would have done it on his own, increasing his draft stock if
that is even possible.
The negative of this would
be that if FSU experiences another mediocre season, teams looking to draft him
in the top 5 of the NBA Draft might question is leadership and overall
effectiveness. If Wiggins was to stay in college for all four years, Florida
State would be the best destination, because he could help build a program.
UNC and Kansas may be the favorites for Wiggins, mostly
because they provide the best of both worlds. Like Kentucky, both programs have
a strong class coming in to back up Wiggins. It would not be all up to Wiggins
to win games. However, Wiggins would be the star and in the spotlight as the
leader like at Florida State. To win a championship, it takes a team, not just
a standout player that comes once every few years. But also to win a
championship, there needs to be court chemistry and established roles, as
Kentucky might flop like other super teams.
Personally, I would love to see Wiggins play in Chapel Hill.
By joining the Tar Heels, the Duke/UNC rivalry would reach a new level from the
Wiggins/Jabari Parker matchup. Wiggins had passed Parker as ESPN’s top 2013
players this past summer when he announced his reclassification, skipping his
junior year of high school. Parker is right up there with Wiggins and in the
NBA, these two players will develop a rivalry similar to Larry Bird and Magic
Johnson. Just an example of how good Parker is, he became the only freshman in
his high school’s history to play varsity and Derrick Rose attended that school.
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