You may have to go back to 2006—when Kevin Durant and Greg Oden matriculated to Texas and Ohio State, respectively—to find two freshman this hyped AND on teams positioned to make deep tourney runs. Last night, Wiggins' unwillingness to foul ensured they'd only be matched up with each other for a few second-half minutes, but they still dominated things: Wiggins dropped 22 and grabbed 10 boards; Jabari scored 19 in the first half (the big guy also hit four threes!) and finished with 27 and 9.
He was also responsible for this coast-to-coast layup, which is being called NBA-ready both for its athleticism and, arguably, its travel:
And a dunk at the start of the second half which brought Grant Hill comparisons:
As you can see from this pic making its way around the Internet, Jabari didn't get quite as high as Hill did for his 1991 NCAA Championship alley-oop, but Jabari has more size and was coming from a different angle. So it's still pretty amazing. (Two more weird similarities: Hill was sitting front row in the crowd last night, and his alley-oop also came against the Jayhawks.)
This should be a fun year.
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