LEXINGTON, Ky. — John Calipari spent more than two years trying to bring Andrew Wiggins to Lexington.

On Tuesday, Wiggins decided to go his own way.

The No. 1 high school basketball prospect in the country announced that he will play next season at Kansas, picking the Jayhawks over Kentucky, Florida State and North Carolina.

It was a somewhat surprising end to a recruitment that looked like a two-horse race for most of the past two years.

Florida State was the legacy school where Wiggins' parents had both excelled as athletes in the 1980s. Kentucky was the other program that had been on him the longest, with Wiggins immediately establishing a strong connection with Calipari and his staff.

Kansas, along with North Carolina, didn't get seriously involved with Wiggins' recruitment until last fall. But the Jayhawks got him in the end.

Scout, Rivals, ESPN, 24/7 Sports and every other recruiting service in the world list Wiggins as the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2013.

The 6-foot-8 small forward from Toronto is firmly in the discussion as the best high school prospect since LeBron James, and Scout.com analyst Evan Daniels says he has a legitimate claim to the title.

"I think Andrew is every bit as good as people have talked about," Daniels told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "He's an elite-level athlete, he's an elite-level defender, he has tremendous physical and athletic attributes. The scary thing is he's just scratching the surface. ... I think his upside is tremendous.

"He's one of the best high school players we've seen since LeBron. I don't think there's any doubt about it." Wiggins will join an impressive class that features McDonald's All-American Wayne Selden and highly touted big man Joel Embiid. The leading returning players include point guard Naadir Tharpe and power forward Perry Ellis, who was also a one-time UK recruit.

The Cats already boasted an eight-player recruiting class that is being discussed as possibly the greatest of all time, and they're widely considered to be the No. 1 team going into next season.

With Wiggins, Daniels said UK would have been "the odds-on favorite to win the national championship" in 2014. Without him, the Cats might still be the team to beat.

"They're still in the conversation," Daniels said. "Maybe not the guaranteed No. 1 going into the season, but they have so much talent. Their roster is full of guys that are going to play in the NBA.

"Kentucky is fine without Andrew Wiggins. They still have elite-level players at just about every position."