And you thought spelling Krzyzewski was tough?
Meet Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, the newest Kansas Jayhawk.
Feel free to think up a nickname that might make dealing with all of that less complicated, and while you’re doing it have a look at his highlights from the European U16 championships.
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Mykhailiuk will join the Jayhawks for the 2014-15 season, the school announced Wednesday. He is listed at 6-6, 191 pounds. He will turn 17 in early June and leave his club in the Ukraine first division. He will enroll at KU in the fall, after playing with the national team this summer.
“Obviously, this is great news for us,” coach Bill Self said in the school’s release. “His skill level, knowledge and aptitude for the game are way beyond his years. I think that he will be an immediate impact guy. He is a guy that can play all three positions on the perimeter.
“He allows us to be more versatile next year and certainly, there would be few people that would shoot it better than him.”
He appeared in the Nike Hoop Summit and was among the youngest players ever to compete in that event. He reportedly performed well in practices but did not make a significant impact in the game itself, scoring two points in 13 minutes and missing all three of his long-range shots. But DraftExpress, which scouted him at the Hoop Summit and the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany last month, considered him a talented shooter with good mechanics and calls him a “terrific prospect.”
“We got a lot better today,” Self said. “He’s a young man who will be so exciting to watch his growth because of his age, his intellect and his ‘want to.’ This guy really wants to be a player and really wants to do it here in the States.”
Mykhailiuk will not be eligible for the NBA Draft until 2016, which means he could spend at least two years at Kansas.
“I liked everything,” Mykhailiuk said in the release. “From the history, the strength program and especially the coaches – everything. It’s Kansas. KU has players every year. Coach Self has had so many players go to the NBA. That’s an important thing.”