Shabazz Muhammad Named Gatorade Nevada Boys Basketball Player of the Year

CHICAGO (March 22, 2012) — In its 27th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS, today announced Shabazz Muhammad of Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) as its 2011-12 Gatorade Nevada Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Muhammad is the sixth Gatorade Nevada Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Bishop Gorman High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Muhammad as Nevada's best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Muhammad joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Dwight Howard (2003-04, SW Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington HS, Colo.), Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame HS, Calif.), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood HS, Calif.) and Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln HS, Texas).

The 6-foot-6, 205-pound senior shooting guard led the Gaels to a 28-4 record and the Class 4A state championship this past season. Muhammad averaged 30.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting at 63.1 percent from the floor. A 2012 McDonald's All-American Game selection and a 2012 Jordan Brand Classic game invitee, he was named the 2012 Naismith High School Player of the Year and the 2012 Morgan Wooten Player of the Year. He is the No. 2 ranked recruit in the Class of 2012 as rated by ESPNU.

Muhammad has maintained a B average in the classroom. An athletics department office aide at Bishop Gorman, he has volunteered as a youth coach and mentor in association with his summer AAU team and is part of a new Gaels service initiative on behalf of the TRENDZ Youth Center in Las Vegas.

"Shabazz Muhammad has always been one of the hardest workers I have ever been around, ever since he was a little kid," said Jermone Riley, head coach at Palo Verde High. "He took a businesslike approach to the game at a very young age and it has paid off for him. He's a man against boys on the court."

Muhammad remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPNHS and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Muhammad joins recent Gatorade Nevada Boys Basketball Players of the Year Johnathan Loyd (2009-10, Bishop Gorman), Anthony Marshall (2008-09, Mojave High School), and Luke Babbitt (2006–07 & 2007-08, Galena High School) among the state's list of former award winners.

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