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TORONTO — Suddenly, it’s Andrew Wiggins fever in Canada.
The Canadian basketball phenom has already made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Now Canadian sports cable channel TSN plans to feature every University of Kansas Jayhawks game this season as Toronto-born Wiggins makes his U.S. college hoops debut.
“As the top prospect in basketball and now a Sports Illustrated cover star, the excitement surrounding Andrew Wiggins is soaring,” said Shawn Redmond, vp programming at TSN of Wiggins, whose parents are former NBAer Mitchell Wiggins and ex-Canadian track star Marita Payne-Wiggins.
And rival Sportsnet has launched “Wiggins Watch” during Connected, the cable sport channel’s nightly news program, and online at sportsnet.ca, ahead of the Canadian basketball star’s pre-season debut tonight.
Canadian hoops fans have followed Wiggins’ ascent from Vaughan High School in north Toronto to a likely NBA career, along with lucrative sneaker and other sponsorship deals on both sides of the border.
TSN will need to be quick with its Jayhawks coverage.
Wiggins’ play with the University of Kansas could be his debut/farewell season in U.S. college basketball, should he make himself eligible for the 2014 NBA drama as expected.
“There are many Canadian basketball fans who can’t wait to watch Andrew and follow the Jayhawks this season,” said Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self in his own statement about the TSN TV exposure north of the border.
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