Andrew Wiggins Class of 2013 to KU

[ShockerPrez]

"@KJenkins_ESPN -- Source tells me Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 recruit in the 2013 ESPN 100, will commit to Florida State. Nothing official as of yet."

Nuts

[Kung Wu]

He can't go straight to the NBA. A player has to be out of high school for a year to be drafted.

Is there any precedent for a player going to another pro league for the year instead of going one and done in the NCAA?

Edit: Point being, if he's NBA ready right now, and can earn money playing in another pro league buying time for the one year, why would he go NCAA?

And more than that I am mainly asking from those in the know if he's NBA ready _right now_ (regardless whether he can go straight in)?

[The Mad Hatter]

Is there any precedent for a player going to another pro league for the year instead of going one and done in the NCAA?

Edit: Point being, if he's NBA ready right now, and can earn money playing in another pro league buying time for the one year, why would he go NCAA?

And more than that I am mainly asking from those in the know if he's NBA ready _right now_ (regardless whether he can go straight in)?

Yes. Brandon Jennings did just that several years ago.

[AndShock]

Yes. Brandon Jennings did just that several years ago.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/does-brandon-jennings-regret-going-to-europe-21987

[shockerofandover0943]

andrew wiggins @22wiggins 7m

Lol if you ain't in my family you know nothing about my recruitment , lol stop with the rumors

[DPruett2333]

There's still hope!!!1

[ShockerPrez]

I think he should stick it to all those 'Experts' and sign with the Shocks just to spite them.

That'll show those guys who's boss!!

[WSUwatcher]

Trop,

Do you ever remember a recruit signing with a team that wasn't on his "list"?

I'm not trop, obviously, but I've commented more than once on how frequently we see one of the guys he's been following sign with a school that supposedly wasn't a favorite (much less THE favorite). It isn't uncommon at all. That's not to say you should try to convince yourself that Andrew Wiggins is going to be a Shocker -- but seemingly less likely things have happened, so if it helps you sleep at night, go for it.

[Shox21]

I gotta a feeling. The stars are aligning. Gonna be an even better week to be a shocker next week. I have much more confidence in this happening than Perry coming here. Doesn't mean crap. But this long shot talk is bull. I'm telling you. We are in the mix big time!

Optimism -- ain't it wonderful. Reality is not nearly as much fun.

[CBB_Fan]

I'm not sure what the appeal of FSU is, but I'll be happy if he goes there instead of Kentucky. FSU will be no better than 4th in ACC with or without him from what I've seen.

[RoyalShock]

I'm not sure what the appeal of FSU is, but I'll be happy if he goes there instead of Kentucky. FSU will be no better than 4th in ACC with or without him from what I've seen.

FSU is where both his parents were student-athletes.

[CBB_Fan]

FSU is where both his parents were student-athletes.

And it isn't a great place to play basketball or prepare for the NBA. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he probably would like to go to his parent's alma mater, but I just don't see much appeal from a basketball standpoint. First of all, basketball is the clear second sport at FSU, meaning the #1 overall recruit will be a side-note to football until we are out of bowl season.

I think that going to FSU would also be a bad decision even if it were solely about basketball. He'd have high expectations at FSU (win the ACC, do some damage in the postseason), and I'm not sure it would be possible to fulfill them. They'd force him to be "the star" without giving the tools necessary to make it work. I'm not sure he wants to play Parker two or three times when Parker would have have much better teammatesat Duke; he'd lose a lot of credit if he lost those games.

That said, I'm not the one making the decision.

[Kung Wu]

Ut oh -- queue up @Rlh04d: in 3 .. 2 ...

[Rlh04d]

Andrew Wiggins has not committed to Florida State.

In fact, the ESPN writer who is claiming that his "sources" have told him this, is the same ESPN writer that said his "sources" told him Noel was signing with Georgetown last year.

There are no sources with Andrew Wiggins. He's not talking except to his family, and his family is not leaking anything. Any "sources" are just hangers-on trying to leach off of his name-value with no real information.

[Rlh04d]

Ut oh -- queue up @Rlh04d in 3 .. 2 ...

;)

Not really going to disagree with any of that. Florida State is not a basketball school. We just don't care about basketball. We have to be playing a top 5 Duke or UNC team to match the basketball atmosphere the Roundhouse has for just about every single game. I love FSU football, but our basketball program just gets no support.

However, Coach Hamilton is an extremely good coach who has done very well in the ACC with what he has to work with (which is, I believe, the smallest basketball budget of any ACC school, by a pretty big margin). I think it's pretty impressive what he's done at FSU completely under the radar. No one would have expected us to win the ACC last year. Bet there aren't many people on here who realize FSU has the third highest number of NBA draft picks in the ACC since Hamilton got there, despite having no one-and-done players. At least one pick in eight of the last nine NBA drafts, including three first round picks in the last six years. Four straight NCAA tournament appearances before this year. Five current NBA players, all of whom played under Hamilton.

Whether Wiggins comes to FSU or not -- and I'm not buying that he is yet at all -- FSU is going to be a good basketball team next year. We had a pretty bad mix of inexperienced freshmen unable to learn Hamilton's system quick enough and injuries to the upper classmen this last season, but that's the one blip on a very impressive run at a school like FSU. Michael Snaer, who is on his way to the NBA this year to be #9 under Ham and had some crazy stat line like 6-6 on last second game winning shots, was pretty much the only healthy player. I think we're 4th in the conference next year and a Sweet 16 team, personally. Put AW on that team and I think we win the ACC and are a Final Four team. I think we have at least two or three NBA players on next year's lineup without him. And I'm generally VERY pessimistic about FSU's basketball team.

There's definitely no way to argue FSU is better than the other schools in basketball. They are not better than WSU, either. I think AW should absolutely play here. But don't underestimate how good of a coach Hamilton is there with what he's had to work with. He has a history of turning players into NBA talent, coaching at both levels, and he runs an incredibly clean program with no fear of benching or suspending star players. I think the story from Nick Wiggins about his parents wanting AW to go to FSU isn't because they went there ... it's because they want him to play for Coach Ham. And his best friend, Xavier Rathan Mayes (a top 50 recruit himself), being on the team next year is a pretty important factor as well. FSU and WSU are the only two places he has the familiarity of someone he's very close with playing with him.

Not saying he's going to FSU, but if he does, there are more reasons than just "his mom and dad went there." I don't think he would have even talked to FSU without that connection, but there's no way we'd still be in it if that's all it was. There aren't many coaches in basketball I respect more than Coach Hamilton.

And, quite frankly, don't underestimate the women of FSU and Florida A&M (a major 'historically black college' pretty much right across the street): http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-...83--ncaab.html I know I didn't go there for the education. FSU is 56% women and FA&M is 60% ... between those two schools there are more college women in Tallahassee than there are total students at Kentucky, UNC, or Kansas ;)