The widespread perception may be that Kentucky, UCLA, Duke or even UNLV may end up securing the services of 6-foot-6 senior wing Shabazz Muhammad, but his father says Kansas has a legitimate shot to land his son.
“Kansas has a real shot, definitely,” Ron Holmes told SNY.tv Monday following his son’s official visit there this past weekend. “They did a great job.”
Muhammad and his father visited for the Border War — an 87-86 OT win Saturday over Missouri — and also spent time with fellow 2012 uncommitted players Tony Parker and JaKarr Sampson.
“When you go on these official visits, you might have a perception about a school but you can really see yourself playing there if the official visit goes right and the official visit definitely went right,” Holmes said.
Muhammad is considering Kansas along with Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Arizona and UNLV.
“We go to Duke next week and do the North Carolina game,” Holmes said of the March 3 game at Cameron Indoor. “Just interested to see how it compares because I was very, very impressed with Kansas.”
As first reported by SNY.tv, Philly Friends Central forward Amile Jefferson will also visit Duke (unofficially) for the Carolina game.
After the Duke visit, Muhammad will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, Jordan Brand Classic and Hoop Summit before announcing sometime in early April.
Holmes said his son would likely announce his college choice at Bishop Gorman High School, which on Friday won the Nevada 4A state championship behind Muhammad’s 36 points.
“He’ll announce in the early part of April, I guess,” Holmes said.
As for Kansas, Holmes said he was very impressed with the strength and conditioning program run by Andrea Hudy and the academic and career counseling program run by Scott Ward.
“Andrea Hudy was very thorough on how they would help Shabazz become a better athlete, make his movement better, all that kind of stuff, so I was really impressed with that,” Holmes said. “The academic situation is really, really good…Those things are helping your kid go the right away academically, physically with weight training.
“And it’s just a program, man. You look at winning eight Big 12 championships in [Bill Self’s] years. And even if you look at the team this year, it’s not as good as the team last year, so there’s never a dip there.
“The crowd support was very, very good after the game, wherever we went to go eat. Just everybody wearing their Kansas stuff. It’s just a program. I was just very, very impressed.
“I understand why when kids go there, they commit after an official visit because it was second to none in that area.”
Photo: ESPN
DocBean / February 27, 2012
I think SM will do well wherever he goes, but if Bill Self can land him at KU with the other guys he has coming in, then I think KU wins its 9th conference championship in a row easily, and has a real shot of being a Final 4 / championship contender.
Without him, they’ll probably still win the 9th in a row, but will need someone to fill Taylor’s shoes.
He was great at the Jayhawk invitational, so he’s already proven he can play well in Lawrence.
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Jalonzoc / February 27, 2012
It would be great if Shabazz picked Kansas, I know he had a great time at the Field house. Bill self is a great coach and KU is the place to be!
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RcKchalk12 / February 27, 2012
this recruiting class would be unreal if we landed him. and then if we got parker too……wow its a very long shot but thatd be incredible.
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mikemiller13 / February 27, 2012
fingers aren’t crossed. he is a 1 and done type which is great to have, but the wing scorer spot for next year will have a lot of competion between releford, mclemore, and white. maybe more of a 2. either way make room for sure if he decides to join the party in phog allen
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RcKchalk12 / February 27, 2012
as of RIGHT NOW i think it would elijah, travis, and ben but i could definitely see white becoming a starter. hes a lights out shooter
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