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How did Bill Self learn about Andrew Wiggins’ commitment? Twitter

Andrew Wiggins

Last Tuesday, Andrew Wiggins ended one of the most intriguing recruitments that college hoops has ever seen.

Let’s get past the fact that Wiggins is the kind of talent that can change the course of a team’s season. We’re talking about a guy that’s talented enough to do what Kevin Durant did for Texas in ’07-'08 or what Carmelo Anthony did for Syracuse in ’02-'03. Anyone would want that kind of a player on their roster, and it’s always interesting to hear how each team pitched a player of that caliber.

But Wiggins isn’t a normal high school superstar. He doesn’t want attention. He doesn’t want the limelight. He didn’t want to be recruited. He wanted to be left alone -- by coaches, by media members, by fans -- so he could enjoy his life and make a decision on his own.

And he did just that, picking the Jayhawks over Florida State, Kentucky and North Carolina.

Over the weekend, Austin Meek of the Topeka Capital-Journal penned a story on how Kansas was able to swoop in and land Wiggins despite the fact that they really didn’t start recruiting him until after he reclassified into the Class of 2013 back in October.

Here’s the most fascinating part, at least to me: the Kansas coaching staff found out about Wiggins’ decision the exact same way that the rest of us did,
via twitter:

In Huntington, Fulford was coordinating final logistics and making sure no uninvited media had infiltrated the school. Wiggins sat down a few minutes early, looked at his coach and realized there was no point in waiting.

In Lawrence, video coordinator Jeff Forbes popped in the room with the tweet indicating the announcement was only minutes away. Townsend got a call from a Rivals.com reporter who’d received first word and put the call on speaker.

“All of a sudden our phones started to blow up,” Roberts said. “It’s the most I’ve ever seen after getting a recruit.”

Recruiting is a cold business, but it can be a funny one, too. Men who make millions huddle around Twitter feeds, waiting for a few words from the mouth of a teenager that could change the course of a program.


The most sought-after recruit in recent memory didn’t even tip off the school that he was committing to about his decision.

Now that’s playing it close to the vest.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.