Shabazz Muhammad, Diary 4

March 28, 2012

by Shabazz Muhammad / @phenom15balla

So I’m in Chicago for the McDonald’s All-American Game. The game is tonight, and I’m excited to get to play in the United Center. It’s been great so far.

The other day we went to the Ronald McDonald House. That was a great experience. Seeing all those kids who are less fortunate, participating in activities with them, it really meant a lot. Monday night was good too—I won the dunk contest. That was really the first dunk contest I’ve ever done, and I thought I did a pretty good job. I think you’ve got to plan something good. I thought the off-the-glass windmill, a lot of people can’t do that, so I figured if I got it I’d get some pretty high scores. Marcus Paige is my roommate out here, and he set me up on a couple dunks, too. I just had fun with it.

There was a little drama last month with people saying I wasn’t going to be eligible to play in college next season, because of a family friend of ours. I’m not worried about that anymore. It was kind of stressful to deal with the first few days, but it’s gone away now. I know I didn’t do anything wrong. I know the NCAA has to look into stuff, but I feel good knowing me and my family have done things the right way and not broken any rules.

Right now I’ve got it down to five schools: UCLA, Kentucky, Duke, UNLV and Kansas. I’ll probably cut it down to three before I make my announcement — I’m planning to do it April 10 when we’re in Charlotte for the Jordan Classic. Yeah, I’m probably going to do the choose-a-hat thing. That’s always fun—except for the schools you don’t pick, I guess.

My choice? I know it’s just going to come down to the relationship I have with the coach. You know all the coaches are getting intense now, really starting to call all the time. I usually talk to them, but if they’re calling a certain amount of times, I might not pick up. You could say I’m definitely looking forward to having it over with.

Alright, watch the game tonight and I’ll tell you about it here next month.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Kline.