Andre Iguodala - College Career

College Career

Iguodala initially signed a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of Arkansas. He had narrowed down his list of desired schools to two: Kansas or Arkansas. Iguodala was enticed by Arkansas due to the fact that they played in the 1–3 system, which would allow Iguodala to run the point occasionally. Iguodala visited the Arkansas campus and was impressed by their large gymnasium and the amount of fans at a practice while he visited with his mother and father. However, after their coach, Nolan Richardson, was fired that year (2002), Iguodala decided to attend the University of Arizona instead to play for the Wildcats. At Arizona he joined future NBA players Channing Frye, Luke Walton, Mustafa Shakur, Salim Stoudamire and Hassan Adams. One of the determining factors for Iguodala was the commitment of Hassan Adams, whom Iguodala had played with in the Jordan Brand Classic in high school. Many colleges regarded Iguodala as a track star turned basketball player but teammate Luke Walton said, "He is going to be one of the best players to ever come out of Arizona by the time he is done here." He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshmen team for 2002–03. In his freshman year he quickly established himself as one of the best all-around players on the team, ranking in the top 5 for his team in just about every major category. In the 2003–2004 season, Iguodala was named team MVP after leading his team in rebounds, assists and steals. He also made the All-Pac-10 First Team team and was named Honorable Mention All-America by The Associated Press. He collected three triple-doubles that season, joining Jason Kidd as the only two players in Pac-10 history to post two or more triple-doubles in a season. During his career at Arizona, the Wildcats made it to the NCAA Tournament every year. In his freshman year the Wildcats were defeated in the Elite Eight by the University of Kansas. In his sophomore year Arizona was defeated in the first round by Seton Hall University. After posting career totals of 594 points (9.6 ppg), 409 rebounds (6.6 rpg) and 95 steals (1.53 spg) in 62 games (34 starts) he left to enter the NBA draft. At Arizona, Iguodala planned to major in education.