Shabazz Muhammad has been surprised that coaches attempting to recruit him have mispronounced his name.

“I absolutely can’t stand when people in general pronounce my name wrong,” said Muhammad. “But when coaches do it, it’s really surprising honestly. Throughout my recruitment it’s happened a lot, but a school that just keeps on doing it, they’re pretty much off the list.” 

Muhammad, who is the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2012, is considering UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, TexasA&M, Arizona and UNLV.

“I’m used to it because people mispronounce my name all the time,” said Muhammad, a senior swingman at Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas). “I understand because of the spelling of it so I’ll let it slide if it’s once or twice, but I’ll politely correct them if it goes past that. But coaches recruiting me, I’d think they would get it right. Seems like you’d want to get that right.” 

Kentucky and Kansas have mispronounced his first name, with Shabazz being pronounced Shuh-BOZZ.

“Coach (Bill) Self said it wrong when I went there at Kansas, and I think he realized it pretty quick and changed it to the right pronunciation,” Muhammad said. “Then one of the assistants at Kentucky said it wrong on a visit and Coach (John) Calipari said it the right way real quick. Then the assistant caught on after that.”