Notre Dame target Sir Mohammed buys Micah Shrewsberry’s vision, shows poise on and off the court
Sir Mohammed, the No. 67 player in the On3 class of 2024 industry ranking, took an official visit to Notre Dame this past weekend. Mohammed told Blue & Gold that so far, he’s buying what Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry is selling.
“He’s like me in a way that all he wants to do is win,” Mohammed said. “He’s a great coach. He really cares about his players. You can tell it’s not a fake recruiting pitch. He just really cares about all his players.”
Mohammed, a 6-foot-6 perimeter player from Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park, has heard some of those fake recruiting pitches before. With Shrewsberry, he said, it feels different.
“At times, you hear some things and you don’t feel it’s completely true, but Coach Shrews is 100 percent genuine,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed said his visit went very well, particularly liking the campus and his interactions with Shrewsberry. Shrewsberry’s main pitch to him was that he plans on building something special in South Bend, and that he wants Mohammed to be a part of it.
“They’re gonna have some good teams in the future,” Mohammed said Shrewsberry told him. “They’re gonna win a lot of basketball games.”
Does Mohammed believe that?
“Oh, yeah,” Mohammed said. “Coach Shrewsberry is an amazing coach.”
Poise, handed down
Mohammed is listed as a small forward, but he doesn’t feel like that’s totally accurate. For Myers Park, he plays more of a point guard role, because his passing, court vision and basketball IQ make him most effective at that spot.
“The way he sees the spacing, the way he reads the defense, the way he manipulates the defense by being able to come off ball screens and kind of drag help with him, and then his vision and his strength and size, and ability to make passes over the top of that, really makes him more of a point guard,” Myers Park coach Scott Taylor said.
Mohammed told On3’s Jamie Shaw in May that Shrewsberry sees him as “a lead guard who can do a lot on the floor” as well.
“People are starting to realize that I’m a lot better when I have the ball in my hands, making plays with people around me,” Mohammed said. “But I feel like that’s always how I’ve been since I was little. Just a really good passer, really good playmaker.”
At least part of that, Taylor believes, comes from Mohammed’s natural poise and demeanor, which translates to the way he goes about himself off the court as well.
“He’s quiet, but he wants you to get to know him and have a relationship,” Taylor said. “When he begins to open up, you begin to see how much time, energy and thought he puts into other people.”
Taylor said Mohammed has shown those traits since his freshman year, which was the full season played during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Myers Park only played seven games that season, but in about game five, Taylor recalls, Mohammed started to show that he was mature beyond his years.
“He’s just grown into (those traits),” Taylor said. “A lot of that is probably innate, or comes as part of the home he grows up in, and as much as he’s been around a professional approach. Most teenage kids are just not quite as consistent.”
The “professional approach” Taylor is referencing comes from Mohammed’s dad, Nazr. Nazr Mohammed won two national championships with Kentucky before playing 18 seasons in the NBA. He now serves as the general manager for the Oklahoma City Blue, the G-League affiliate of the Thunder.
Mohammed played three seasons in Oklahoma City, where Kevin Durant once called him the nicest teammate he ever had. Sir Mohammed, who was six years old at the time, went to every game during the Thunder’s run to the NBA finals in the 2011-2012 season.
“My dad’s been a big driving factor in why I fell in love with basketball, and a big reason why I play today,” Sir Mohammed said.
Even though recruiting looks much different now than it did when Nazr Mohammed went to college, he’s been very helpful for Sir Mohammed as he goes through the same process.
“He’s been amazing,” Sir Mohammed said. “Just being that guiding hand, while also, at the same time, allowing me and making sure that I have a chance to make my decision.”
Looking ahead
Mohammed said his goal is to commit before the school year starts in late August, but he doesn’t have a specific date in mind. He also said that if late August comes around and he isn’t ready to commit, he’ll push it back until he’s comfortable with a decision.
“I’m not gonna rush it and be like, ‘Oh, I’m committed,’” Mohammed said. “The plan is late August, but it’s also not set in stone, ‘I have to commit on this day.’”
Mohammed has two more visits scheduled, with Villanova and Virginia Tech. He visited Marquette earlier this month, and he had previously visited Stanford.
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