Men's College Basketball

Andrew Wiggins shakes off early comparisons to Kevin Durant, LeBron James

The Kansas freshman has yet to play a game in college, but he has already drawn comparisons to the world's best players.

By Russell Steinberg@Russ_Steinberg Oct 24, 2013, 9:30am EDT

Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins knew that as the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, he was headed to Lawrence with high expectations. But he doesn't think he's ready to be compared to the best players in the world quite yet.

He was asked about those who have compared him to LeBron James and Kevin Durant and was quick to shake off the hype on Tuesday at Big 12 media day.

"I've got a long way to go before I can be compared to LeBron and Durant," Wiggins said. "Those are the best players in the world right now and I'm still in college. So I think it's really unfair to compare me to someone of that caliber. Hopefully one day I can be compared to them, but I think I still have a long way to go before I can be."

Kansas coach Bill Self agreed, reminding reporters that Wiggins hasn't asked for the extra attention, and that he would rather deflect as much of it as possible.

For now, it seems Wiggins would rather talk about the Jayhawks and their chances at a 10th straight Big 12 championship. He says that while practice has not been easy, the team is improving.

"The first couple of weeks of practice were hard for all the freshmen," Wiggins said. "But now everything is coming easier, more fluent. The potential is there to be the best team."

Wiggins and the Jayhawks open the regular season on Nov. 8 against Louisiana-Monroe.