Oh Canada: Wiggins Could Become 3rd Straight North-of-Border All-American

Canada's recent basketball bounty has gone from Syracuse's Kris Joseph (Quebec) to Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk (British Columbia) to Kansas freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins (Ontario). It's not a cinch like so many so-called experts projected, but will Wiggins become the third straight Canadian to earn All-American status and show that the nation is more than a hockey hotbed? The presumptive #1 NBA draft pick according to oft-mistake recruiting analysts will need to elevate his performance after collecting 16 points, one assist, one steal and five turnovers in his last two games in a Thanksgiving holiday tournament in the Bahamas. Long-term, he might not even be the best frosh on his own team or the premier Canadian competing for a U.S. university this season.

Wiggins' brother, Nick, and a Wichita State teammate from Canada (Chadrack Lufile) are helping propel the Shockers to national acclaim. Additional impact Canadians this season include Manny Arop (Indiana State), Jordan Bachysnki (Arizona State), Sim Bhullar (New Mexico State), Khem Birch (UNLV), Kenny Chery (Baylor), Melvin Ejim (Iowa State), Dylan Ennis (Villanova), Tyler Ennis (Syracuse), Olivier Hanlon (Boston College), Brady Heslip (Baylor), Naz Long (Iowa State), Jahenns Manigat (Creighton), Daniel Mullings (New Mexico State), Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga), Dyshawn Pierre (Dayton), Chad Posthumus (Morehead State), Dwight Powell (Stanford), Laurent Rivard (Harvard), Nik Stauskas (Michigan) and Matthew Wright (St. Bonaventure). Team Canada, a make-believe roster comprised solely of the premier Canadians, likely would be the top-ranked squad in national polls this season.

Foreigners have been much more than bit players in a modern-day version of "Coming to America." By mid-season, Stauskas passed Wiggins as the most likely Canadian to become an All-American. Olynyk joined the following alphabetical list of hoop princes of sorts as the first 18 All-Americans, a third of them in the Big East Conference, who spent most or all of their formative years in a country outside mainland U.S.:

*Named National Player of the Year.