"ESPN’s current preseason power rankings, which were released on Friday, should serve as an effective way of hyping the upcoming Champions Classic, to be aired on the cable giant on Nov. 12."
In other news, Cliff Alexander has eliminated Michigan State from his list, and Marcus Smart beat Wiggins in the "best player in the country" category.
"I would say just being able to enjoy my last year of school" sounds kind of strange doesn't it?
I'm going to go on a mini OAD rant here. In my mind, for Wiggins to be considered an all time Jayhawk great means he's going to have to deliver a championship. Don't tie him in with Danny Manning please who gave his all for four years, at least two of which he didn't have to stick around for. Don't even say he's the same as Wilt. He only played two years, didn't win a NC, but was on campus for three years. And of course, he's Wilt, the greatest to ever play the game if statistics mean anything.
If we don't win then he's maybe better than Selby and Henry, but not much else. I don't know if Texas fans take great pride in Durant, or KState in Beasley who both delivered astounding seasons but in the end, bowed out of the tourney with nothing to show for it.
So win it for us Wiggins with your teammates. Then your name goes up in the annals of KU, kind of like Carmelo at Syracuse.
It's hard to wrap my mind around the kind of money these kids will see once they go pro. In BMac's case, I hold no ill will towards him. He absolutely had to go pro. But when kids leave college for the money and they don't have a financial hardship it doesn't make sense to me. I've often wondered if Dwight Gooden regrets leaving a team that may have been one of the all time great teams. His new team every year in the NBA routine has been less than glamorous in my opinion. It's still a great life, but think if he could look back at what would have been a guaranteed NC.
Well, I hope it all works out for KU this year. But imagine what the next 3 or 4 years would be like if these highly ballyhooed kids decided that college is fun and winning championships is even more fun.
wissoxfan -- Exactly. When Wiggins signed, I said that the only litmus test here will be a national championship. Some commented that he may attract other potential OADs or top prospects. That makes sense. But without a title, all of the hype seems to be a ridiculous over-focus on one player. Our view of Wiggins will never, ever compare to Manning, or Chamberlain, or Chalmers, or .. you name it, without a title. Without a title, he'll be way below the great players of the Williams' years, because he's an OAD. Not my cup of tea. A constant flow of articles and commentary from the media who can't seem to find something better to write about.
More directly to KU, my biggest concern on the signing back in May was how it might impact the top recruits on our roster .. right now, I'm most concerned about Brannen Greene. But toss Frankamp in there too. Don't want to beat a dead horse there. And it may just be a false alarm. Unless we do win a title this season, one year of Wiggins isn't worth sacrificing 3 years of Brannen Greene.
So if every top 10 kid these days is going to be a one and done, then why not focus more on the 11-50th ranked kids and get them for 3-4 years? I agree, it kind of sickens me to think of Connor, whom we've been reading about for 3 years having to sit out this year. He's a top ranked kid who needs to play, just like Brannen.
Advertising. Getting the top kid provides huge exposure to the university. I don't like it, and I agree we would likely get more from the 12th ranked kid for 3-4 years than the 1st ranked kid for one. But I don't think you can NOT go after the very top prospects.
HEM, even if we do get a national championship with Wiggins, I don't think he approaches the greatness of our superstars who stayed multiple years. We'll never have another Danny Manning because the great players just don't stay in school that long. Even the superstars for other teams, whom you love to hate, provided excitement and drama by sticking around for awhile. You want revenge for a defeat by a great player, or revel in the glory of a past victory. Rapid player turnover just doesn't do it the same way.
Or maybe I'm just old.
wissox -- thanks for posting this. I edited your post.. think its better to not take other articles verbatim, better to paraphrase or give a teaser and link...
Certainly Self feels the same as many of us that the proverbial "5 minutes of pleasure is not worth a lifetime of sorrow." OAD's are just simply a necessary evil in the equation but 3-4 yrs of a Reed, Releford, or Greene is any coaches preference regardless of the exposure or the hype. In fact, hype probably has zero meaning to the dedicated coach at all . They are professional teachers who get fulfillment from seeing a student learn & succeed, then ultimately graduate. What differs to them & the calculus teacher is their insatiable drive for being victorious with their students in a game on the largest of all stages. But I'll wager that senior night is pretty darn high on their wish list also. IMO that's why Self is doing a little two-step on the redshirt issue now, save losing a real great 3-4 year kid to the numbers game. Everyone involved has an ego to stroke, writers, players, boosters, fans, & even coaches-admittedly or not. I swear, coaches at the college level must be master psychologists, motivators, plus competitors. Certainly not a job for just a guy with X's & O's anymore. JMO but that's why great college coaches don't often succeed in the L-there it is an X & O profession, without all the babysitting responsibilities at the university level. The money is monstrous, as well as the personal satisfaction, but really how much is enough, and what truly motivates a coaches drive for fulfillment? Fortune, fame, or believing you're making an accountable difference in young peoples lives? IMO, but Bill seems to still have his feet steadily on the ground in these manners. Hope he keeps them in Lawrence for at least several more NC's.
If Wiggins goes on to be another Michael Jordan in the NBA, KU will covet him in regalia... you can count on that. And if he does that, he will impact the perception of KU for a few decades (with recruiting, enrollment and everything KU). That's what Wilt and Danny did. Problem is, the youth today don't have experiences with Wilt or Danny.
But to merit the comments above... I think we will always put an asterisk behind Wiggin's name... and behind it the letters OAD.
great point Wissox.
@wissoxfan83 you threw me for a loop there for a while with "Dwight Gooden". I'm like that just doesn't sound right. Gooden's first name something else....oh yeah, it was Drew! :)
Wasn't Dwight Gooden a baseball player?
And let's not forget that Wiggins won't touch most of the Kansas and NCAA record book. He'll be able to touch single-season and freshmen records.
(Someone tell me how to reply to a person so they know you replied to them like Farside did with my name in it.)
FarSide, good catch! Yes Dwight Gooden was a very good baseball player! No relation, but I think I remember hearing Dwight was the cousin of Gary Sheffield, or some other good player.
@Wissoxfan83 to reply to a person by their name put the @ sign in front of their user name.
@wissoxfan83 that would be right, except when someone has two names you have to use an underscore inbetween the names (so replace the space in Mr Miyagi with _ --> @Mr_Miyagi
@approxinfinity, like this?
@wissoxfan83 - indeed. you know it worked because I'm now blue in your comment and you can click on me.