Lightfoot fulfills lifelong dream
With family and friends in attendance, Mitch Lightfoot, on Thursday afternoon, fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing at Kansas by signing a National Letter-of-Intent with the Jayhawks.
For as long as Mitch Lighftoot, the 6-foot-9, 210-pound power forward from Gilbert (AZ) Christian High School, can remember, the goal, in his mind, has always been clear. Once he de-committed from New Mexico in April, his mission to become a member of Bill Self's 2016 recruiting class, had officially started.
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Wanting to take his time with the recruiting process the second time around, Lightfoot, the top player in Arizona, took official visits to Stanford (5/28), Utah (9/3), Kansas (9/18), St. John's (10/2) and Arizona (10/10).
Not long after completing his fifth and final official visit, Lightfoot, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., verbally committed to Kansas on October 24.
Earlier today, Lightfoot, with family, friends and loved ones in attendance, signed a National Letter-of-Intent with Kansas.
"Yep, today went well," Mitch Lightfoot told Jayhawk Slant shortly after signing with Kansas on Thursday. "I went to school this morning and during my first four classes, I took two quizzes. That went well and it was a good way to start the day. I went to lunch after that, and we had a big ceremony at lunch.
"The whole school was down at the ceremony," he added. "Me and my teammate, Cameron, signed during the ceremony in the cafeteria, so it was a good day. I had my family, little brothers, grandparents (both sets) and the entire school. It was really kind of cool."
Having moved to Arizona when he was six, Lightfoot, not surprisingly, is quite familiar with the basketball program at Arizona. In fact, head coach Sean Miller made sure that Lightfoot, the No. 117 ranked player in the 2016 class, visited Tucson for his final official visit.
However, when the time came for Lightfoot, a three-star prospect, to make a final decision, Kansas, without question, stood out above the rest.
"Basically, everybody is super excited," said Lightfoot. "I mean, it's a dream come true and I'm just really excited to start the work. It all starts over for me now. My big thing is, all the hard work starts all over again.
"For me, we have a scrimmage in six days and then we start our season December 2," he added.
When looking forward to next season, Lightfoot has a number of goals he hopes to accomplish before he makes the move to Lawrence, Kan.
"For me, my big thing is, I want to show more of my stretch four abilities," said Lightfoot. "I use that a lot during club and that's what all of these coaches like. The thing is, I can dominate on the inside out here, because there are not that many bigger guys. I'm going to do what it takes for us to win.
"I will do whatever it takes to win, but while at the same time, I want to show more of that stretch four," he added.
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