Simien (6-9, 255-pounds), voted the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year as a senior, played four seasons at Kansas. He averaged 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting .558 percent from the field over the course of four seasons. He finished his career at Kansas as the schools 12th all-time leading scorer with 1,593 points and seventh all-time leading rebounder with 884 boards. He also posted 59 career-double-doubles.
As a senior, Simien led the Big 12 in scoring and rebounding and was the only player in the league to average a double-double. He was also a consensus First Team All-American. As a junior, he led his squad in scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounding (9.3 rpg) and free-throw percentage (.811), and was named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press. As a sophomore, Simien averaged 14.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in 24.4 minutes.
Simien was born in Leavenworth, Kansas and attended Leavenworth High School. While at Kansas, he majored in sociology. He will wear number 25 for the HEAT.