PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas— When Andrew Wiggins arrived at Kansas City Airport to enroll at Kansas for summer school sessions, last June, he discovered he had a welcome committee there greet him. Some 15 Kansas fans showed up to after they discovered Wiggins’ flight itinerary from Toronto greet was posted on a message board.
Wiggins’ No. 22 jersey were available for sale at multiple stores before he hit campus.
Four days later, when Wiggins made his first field goal in Allen Field House during an informal pick up game in front of grade school kids at Bill Self’s camp, the video of his break away slam dunk was posted on YouTube within hours. There was even a wild unsubstantiated rumor out there that addidas was willing to offer him $180 million contract to wear their shoe once he turned pro.
Such is the life of America’s latest teenage prodigy.
Wiggins, who was born in Thornhill, Ont. near Toronto, was the consensus national high school player of the year when he played for Huntington, W. Va. Prep last season. He was considered the logical choice for the No. 1 pick overall in the 2014 NBA draft before the season started.
But I’m still looking for the same magic I saw when he was a rising senior in high school, playing for Canada in the Nike Global Games in Washington, D.C., before I anoint him as the second coming.
After six games, I’m starting to wonder if the laid back Wiggins wants to be a great player or a celebrity. He has been given a chance to learn and play for a future Hall of Fame coach, who relates to his players. But with the exception of a few dramatic moments during a 16 point second half of a 93-85 victory over Duke in the Champions Legend in Chicago, he has seemed disinterested and his motor doesn’t always run.
Wiggins has to decide whether he wants to reach for greatness or bide time reading the latest mock drafts until the season ends in March.
Wiggins has freakish athletic gifts, but his line during the second-ranked Jayhawks’ 63-59 loss to Villanova in the semi-finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis did not turn any heads among NBA scouts in attendance. Wiggins finished with just 10 points, 3 rebounds and no assists He also committed four turnovers, including three in traffic in the final three minutes when he lost his handle and the game was on the line.
He shot just 3 for 8, was 0 for 2 from three, just 4 of 7 from the line and deferred on the final shot, swinging the ball back to freshman guard Frank Mason for a three point jump shot that missed.
Interestingly, when Kansas was making its run to get back into the game, their go-to player was Wiggins’ 7-0 freshman teammate Joel Embiid from Cameron, who seemed more invested in the outcome and created constant mismatches especially when 6-11 sophomore Daniel Ochefu picked up a fourth personal midway though the second half and the Cats were forced to go small.
To be fair, according to Self, Wiggins has been suffering from a nasty flu bug that has hampered his energy most of the week and has affected his play. But he played 30 minutes against Villanova.
Wiggins, who has most of this trip in his hotel room at the Atlantis resort, managed to finish with 17 points and four rebounds, including 12 during the second half of an 87-78 victory over Wake Forest in Thursday’s opening round. He is now averaging 15.6 points per game in his first six games. By comparison, former Kansas guard Ben McLemore, a lottery pick who set Kansas’ all time freshman scoring record last year, averaged 14 points in his first five games. He finished the season averaging 15.9 points.
“He’s got to learn to play through it,” Self said of Wiggins.
Wiggins has been characterized as the great Canadian hope ever since he was 15 years old. He is that country’s reason to believe its men’s senior basketball team will contend for an Olympic medal by the 2020 games in Tokyo. He comes from the rare stock. His father Mitchell is a six-year NBA veteran and his mother Marita Payne-Wiggins was a three time Olympic sprinter for Canada. Ever since he and the Canadian cadet team put Canada back on the international basketball map in 2010 with a bronze medal in the U17 World championships in Hamburg, Germany, expectations have been through the roof.
But this has been a learning experience for Wiggins. Kansas has three freshmen– Wiggins, Embiid and guard Wayne Selden Jr.– who are all potential lottery picks and a sophomore, 6-forward Perry Ellis, who should be another first round pick. But this is not summer travel team basketball where talent is more valued than chemistry.
Despite the obvious talent differential, Villanova had enough IQ and experience to weather the storm against a young team, duplicating .the feat a veteran Michigan State accomplished against top-ranked Kentucky earlier in the season.
With the exception of self made guard Darrun Hilliard, Villanova does not anyone on its roster who can make an NBA roster, but they were the smarter more aggressive team against Kansas and won the game when sophomore guard Ryan Archcidiacono made a deep three from the corner over the outstretched hand of the 6-8 Ellis with nine seconds to play.
Kansas only figures to get better as the season progresses and could easily advance to the Final Four in Arlington. “I’m glad we played them in November and not March,” Villanova coach Jay Wright admitted.
Wiggins will get a chance to evolve into his role as the season progresses. He was a great player in high school but he needs to realize he is not the second coming of LeBron. He needs to listen to Self and play with a sense of purpose if he wants to achieve the lofty goals he set when he went public, telling the world he would only be in school for one year.
