After committing to Kansas last May, Andrew Wiggins did not respond to a text from head coach Bill Self for three days.
That was one nugget that emerged from Luke Winn’s cover story on Wiggins in the latest edition of SI.
The news is consistent with Wiggins’s low-key personality. He is generally shy with the media and allowed just one reporter at his announcement press conference — Grant Traylor of the local paper.
Apparently, Wiggins was shy with his new college coach, too.
“His phone was crazy,” Huntington (W.V.) Prep coach Rob Fulford told SNY.tv of Wiggins’s delayed response to Self. “Twitter notifications were coming in by the truckload.
“I know I had to tell him to call [Self]. I’m sure Self just wanted to talk to him.”
The 6-foot-8 Wiggins, of course, was the No. 1 high school prospect in America and is projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, although Self has tried to temper expectations, telling reporters he’s not the next LeBron James.
“Getting Andrew is something that made people, maybe even nationally, look at us in a different light,” Self said on Kansas’s media day. “We’ve recruited a lot of good players but we haven’t really had a ton of success recruiting the top three or four players in their respective classes in the country. He obviously has that distinction.
“I think from a standpoint of other recruits it brings instant attention to our program. But after he gets here none of that matters anymore. He’s very talented and has a ton of potential, but he’s just a freshman. He’s going to find his way like everyone else. The expectation that have been put on him by outside factors or media members comparing him to this person or that person are really not fair at all. He has a chance to become a great player. I would not say he’s a great player yet but is a great prospect. And hopefully he will develop in a way where he can become a great player quickly.”
Self has already landed Wiggins’s replacement.
Findlay Prep wing Kelly Oubre committed to Kansas Tuesday and is already working on bringing in some big-time friends.
“Just filling in forAndrew [Wiggins],” Oubre told SNY.tv. “Of course he’s going to the league this year so they just need another big wing to come in and just fill that spot. [Self] pretty much told me everything’s there for me.”
**For previous articles on Andrew Wiggins, click here.
