TheCatsDomain.Com Message Boards: Good article on Wiltjer

This is topic Good article on Wiltjer in forum UK / NCAA Basketball at TheCatsDomain.Com Message Boards.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://www.thecatsdomain.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=28;t=030854

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 07-07-2014, 10:05 AM:

I know he left but you still wish the best for him as long as he isn't playing Kentucky. I think in the system he will be in at Gonzaga he will perform well, very well.

Kyle Wiltjer strolls into a juice shop, ducking his lanky, almost-6-foot-11 frame through the door and, like any athlete dedicated to putting on weight, promptly orders a protein shake.

Compared to other summers in the life of an NBA hopeful, Wiltjer's has been plenty laid back. He works out, plays one-on-one against his little brother, hangs out with his family and girlfriend ... and waits. It has been 461 days since Wiltjer has played in a college basketball game. Once a prized recruit out of the Portland area, he played two years at Kentucky before transferring to Gonzaga and sitting out the 2013-14 campaign. Now, with more than four months to go before the start of the season, Wiltjer tries to be patient as his turn in a Gonzaga uniform approaches. But it’s clear that, to some degree, boredom has set in.

“I’m so anxious to play in a real game,” Wiltjer says. “Sitting on the bench was weird, especially because I was healthy. I knew if I went on the floor, I could have helped.”

Wiltjer had a dominant career at Jesuit High School in Beaverton and was ranked the 18th-best college prospect by ESPN and No. 22 by both Scout and Rivals. He strongly considered the Bulldogs but chose Kentucky over Cal, Wake Forest, Kansas, Georgia Tech and Texas. “I don’t regret anything. I wanted to be part of what those guys were going to do,” Wiltjer says, referring to the Wildcats’ freshman class that year that featured him, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague. Wiltjer averaged just five points per game his freshman season, but that year ended in ideal fashion, with the Wildcats raising the NCAA championship banner. But after the 2012-13 season, when Wiltjer averaged 10.2 points per game and was named the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year, the wiry sophomore started to think there might be a bigger role for him somewhere else.

Link

[ 07-07-2014, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: catmandoo ]

Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 07-07-2014, 11:22 AM:

I too wish him well, think he was a classy young man and hopefully he will realize his dream of playing in the NBA one day. I thought he could have possibly made the difference in our winning it all last season had he stayed. I could understand his leaving and felt he handled it in a classy manner.