Shabazz Muhammad was the breakout high school star of the summer. The 6-6 wing from Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV) was already rising through the rankings before he averaged 32 points per game on the AAU circuit and really blew up.

Now every school from North Carolina to Kentucky to Duke is in pursuit of Muhammad, a junior who is ranked 8th overall in the High School Hoop national Top 50. Muhammad has agreed to give HSH and Dime exclusive access by chronicling his thoughts in a regular diary where he’ll keep everyone updated on everything from his personal life to his high school season to his recruiting process. Here’s an excerpt from his latest entry:

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… I got a chance to have a lot of coaches come and see me workout. North Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, UConn, UNLV, UCLA, Kansas, USC, Memphis and a few other schools came out to see me and that was real cool.

One of the funniest things that happened with all the coaches coming in was my friends at school just going crazy over seeing them. One time a group of my friends were on their way to class and they met Coach Roy (Williams) and they were all happy and stuff. It’s funny because they’re always asking me to get them autographs and get pictures for them. I think they were scared to go ask for themselves. I had to tell them that I can’t talk to the coaches, either. It’s the rules. All I can do is pretty much wave or say “Hi,” nothing more than that.

It’s really weird, to be honest. It’s hard to get used to. You definitely want to reach out and tell them thanks for coming and see how everything’s going and stuff like that, but you can’t. I usually call them after they leave because we are allowed to do that. …

… I’ve also been talking to my man Rodney Purvis (Raleigh, NC) about recruiting. We hung out a lot last year at the All-American camp and at adidas Nations. He’s a real cool guy and we definitely would like to play together in college. We talk about playing the one and two and being a tough 1-2 punch. I think that would be great! I also talk to Alex Murphy (Southborough, MA) and Winston Sheppard (Henderson, NV). Those are probably my three closest friends on the circuit. I absolutely want to play with one of those guys for sure. We’re all going to do what’s best for us individually, but we are all serious about wanting to play together.

Click here to read the rest of Shabazz’s diary, where he talks about taking sides in the Duke/UNC rivalry, taking a visit to Carolina, and his open challenge to John Wall.

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