Take a deep, long breath. The game is about to finally end.
Calipari's courtship of Andrew Wiggins started several years ago, sometime well before he took the first of two unofficial visits to Lexington way back in September of 2011. More than a year later in late September of 2012, Wiggins' coach, Rob Fulford, told ZagsBlog, "These other coaches [Williams and Self] aren't even trying." It's easy to forget how little time both North Carolina and Kansas have even been in the picture for the nation's top high school prospect. Both coaches really didn't begin recruiting him in earnest until after he'd already made his first official visit to Tallahassee to witness Florida State's 25-point evisceration to the Florida Gators in December, 2012.
Wiggins tripped down to Lexington for the third time on February 27th to officially visit Kentucky just two days after being selected Naismith Player of the Year before making quick stops in Lawrence (March 3rd) and Chapel Hill (March 9th). Three weeks later, Calipari was in Huntington to visit with Wiggins as he celebrated his Gatorade National Player of the Year award on March 28th. A planned trio of visits from Wiggin's other coaching suitors was cancelled following the Nike Hoop Summit.
As the recruitment has unfolded over the last several months, the wild speculation, crazy theories, and downright guesswork has drowned out what has always been a simple response to questions about his school choice directly from the only person who really matters, Andrew Wiggins.
All the way back in September of 2012, in a Kentucky Kernel interview, Wiggins said, "that school that offered the best chance and the best opportunity- and the top players are on that team- I wouldn't mind playing with them."
It's an answer from a script that hasn't really changed at all over the long months and years. Several weeks ago, he told USA Today's Jason Jordan, "I mean come on now; me, Julius, the Twins, James, Marcus, Dakari; who's stopping that?"
Later in the same interview, he continued, "Coach Calipari said we'd win games by a lot... I love that because I love to dominate. Who doesn't like to win by a lot? But I have to be prepared for the league. I'm really focused on that. Just have to figure out where that preparation will happen... At the end of the day, I just want to play ball, man. I just want to win at all costs. I want to win a lot next year."
In a CN2 interview at the McDonald's All-American game, an obviously excited, grinning Wiggins had this to say about becoming a Wildcat, "Oh that would be crazy. It would be the best collge team ever. We got five of the top five or six players going to the same school. So it'd be crazy. The impact on college basketball would be crazy. I think if I went to that team we'd win it all for sure 'cause nothing anyone could do. [Quicky rattles off] Me, Julius, the Harrison Twins, Marcus Lee, Dakari, and James Young... [shrugs, grinning]... that's something special."
Kentucky fans should rest easy here at game's end. They don't need Jason Jordan winks, Rex Chapman tweets, or anonymous internet message board assurances (this one included), to tell them what should already be painfully obvious: Andrew Wiggins is about to join the greatest basketball recruiting class of all time, completing something so special that it will shake the very foundation of the sport, not just next year but for years to come.
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