Rasheed Sulaimon is officially a Maryland Terrapin and is expected to play immediately, the school announced Monday.
He is scheduled to graduate from Duke this summer with a degree in sociology in just three years.
“I’ve known Rasheed and his family since he was in the seventh grade, first meeting him when he attended our basketball camp at Texas A&M,” head coach Mark Turgeon said. “He was a very polite and poised young man and I recruited him while I was at Texas A&M because of his commitment to both academics and athletics. We competed against Rasheed on multiple occasions in the ACC and I was reminded of his dynamic playmaking ability. During our conversations with Rasheed and his parents, Kenny and Angela, Rasheed expressed the importance of proving that he is committed to being a great student-athlete and a selfless teammate. I have full confidence that Rasheed will embrace this opportunity at the University of Maryland.”
A native of Houston, Texas, Sulaimon appeared in 90 games over three seasons at Duke. The 6-foot-5 Sulaimon scored in double-figures in 50 games and connected on 115 3-pointers (39 percent) during his time in Durham.
“I am extremely grateful to the University of Maryland and Coach Turgeon for this opportunity to further my education and continue to play the game I love,” Sulaimon said. “I’m looking forward to starting this next chapter at Maryland.”
Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle, reported in March that Sulaimon was the subject of sexual assault allegations at Duke that led to his dismissal, but in a recent interview with ESPN.com Sulaimon denied those claims.
“Me being dismissed from the team had nothing to do with this allegation,” Sulaimon told Jeff Goodman in his first public comments since being dismissed from the team in January.
“I have never sexually assaulted, not only anyone on the Duke campus, but anyone period,” he said. “It’s not in my nature at all. I have great respect for the role of women in society. I would never demean or do anything to a woman in this manner. No, I’ve never done anything like this in my life.”
Sulaimon had interest from more than a dozen schools including Arizona State, Baylor, Colorado, George Washington, Houston, LSU, Memphis, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, SMU, Texas, Texas Southern and Texas A&M.
His arrival at Maryland would further bolster an already loaded team that will feature Melo Trimble, Jared Nickens, Jake Layman, Robert Carter and incoming freshman star Diamond Stone.
The 6-10 Stone is projected as the No. 8 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com, while Layman is No. 22 and Trimble No. 32.
