Kansas University freshman Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk smiles as he talks with media members on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014, at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas University freshman guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk of Ukraine, who arrived in Lawrence at 5:30 p.m., Monday, met the media on Wednesday morning in Allen Fieldhouse.

The 17-year-old Mykhailiuk, who is listed as 6-foot-8, 195, is coming off a summer in which he was MVP for Ukraine’s Under 18 European championship team and also played with much older players for Ukraine in the FIBA World Cup.

“My goal is to be a good player, to be a good personality and to help my team to win … also to be good at school,” he said, with a smile, asked his goals for his freshman year.

He answered questions on a variety of subjects.

As far as his height, which has been listed 6-foot-6 and 6-8, he said: “It’s like 6-7, 6-8. I was 6-6 like maybe five months ago. Right now I’m like 6-7. In shoes I’m 6-8.”

He said, “I think so,” when asked if he was still growing and added, “I’m good right now,” when asked how tall he’d like to get.

Asked why he chose KU over Virginia, he said: “They have a lot to develop my skills more than Virginia. That’s why I chose Kansas. Here is good people. They are great team. Here everything is perfect.”

Asked why he decided to play college basketball instead of play pro ball in Europe leading up to the NBA Draft, he said: “I thought it would be easier for me to go to the NBA from college than from Europe. It was my dream from when I was a child. I was looking for (the) NCAA. It was my dream to play in NCAA.”

He was asked when he thought he’d be ready for the NBA. “I still don’t know. We’ll see.”

Asked about his knowledge of KU players, Mykhailiuk said: “I know a lot of basketball players, like this year Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. Before it was like Mario Chalmers, Paul Pierce, Morris twins. Here there are a lot of good players.”

And asked who he was looking forward to playing with the most here, he said: “With everybody. Some of the best players (go to KU). Great recruiting class, great sophomores like Wayne (Selden), like Perry (Ellis), like Jamari (Traylor). We’ll have a good team.”

Mykhailiuk stressed that even though he had a hectic summer, he had more than enough energy to begin lifting weights, working out with the team and getting ready for the season which starts on Oct. 3.

For more on Mykhailiuk see Thursday’s Journal-World and kusports.com.