Not since the recruitment of Patrick Patterson have I personally wanted a player so badly to come to UK. I believe Shabazz Muhammad is that “guy” that UK has to get to stay elite and compete for championships. John Wall was a game changer but his recruitment for UK was only a couple of months after Coach Cal came to town. As intense as those 2 months were, Shabazz’s recruitment will be longer and more dramatic. So why is so important for Shabazz to come to UK?
Shabazz is a west coast guy who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were rumors that he in fact had committed to UCLA earlier this year. I found that a bit shocking since I always thought of Shabazz as a prime time player. West Coast teams usually play at midnight and the east coast (mainly ESPN media) usually doesn’t stay up to watch PAC-10 games, unless it’s a contest between 2 highly ranked teams. If Shabazz wants the hype machine to be at maximum capacity for that #1 draft spot, you almost have to pick a school that is on TV regularly. UK, for instance, had 20 games nationally televised on either ESPN or CBS and 4 more on The SEC network. UCLA on the other hand had only 8 nationally televised games and most of them occurred early in the season last year. Shabazz needs exposure.
Another note to add to the west coast theme, if Coach Calipari can steal Shabazz much like he snatched Terrence Jones from the mediocre grasp of Washington, it will be a message sent to all coaches in America “If I want him, I get him”. Most already think that, but getting Shabazz would be monumental. Add that to the fact that Shabazz is an Adidas guy and UK is a Nike school….If Cal pulls this off there will be no limits to who he can reel in.
The last reason I want UK to get Shabazz is highlights. John Wall put UK on the map when he danced his way onto every television in America. People across America would tune in, even if they hated UK, just to watch and see what John Wall would do. Shabzz brings that type of “sexy” back to the bluegrass. The way he attacks a rim, like it stole something from his mamma, is simply breathtaking. There are a couple of dunks in the highlight reel below that are so intense, the ball actually comes back out from hitting the net so hard. Aside from bringing sexy back, Shabazz is the key element for bringing the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] championship to Lexington. That’s right baby, back to back.
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