On the first day of the early signing period, Duke will officially add the first, and currently only, member of its 2012 recruiting class—Rasheed Sulaimon. Sulaimon will sign his letter of intent today at his high school, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, in Houston, Texas.
“I look forward to getting my degree and doing whatever it takes to help Duke win a championship,” Sulaimon said.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound shooting guard will be the first Texan on Duke’s roster since Daniel Ewing in 2005. Despite his upbringing in the Lone Star State, Sulaimon has always had a close connection to the Blue Devils.
Sulaimon grew up a Duke basketball fan in a family that always strongly valued academics. As a seventh grader, Sulaimon was a scholar in Duke’s Talent Identification Program, which allowed him to take the SAT at a young age. At just 13 years old, Sulaimon scored higher than most high school students do on the test.
His decision to attend Strake Jesuit was largely an academic one as well, though the school’s basketball team is also among the best in the state. By his sophomore year of high school, Sulaimon began to draw interest from a number of top-tier collegiate programs.
In the fall of 2010, Sulaimon experienced Duke firsthand by visiting for Countdown to Craziness. The visit helped Sulaimon confirm that Duke was a great fit for him.
After later receiving a scholarship offer from the Blue Devils’ coaching staff, Sulaimon visited again for the Duke-North Carolina game last February. Unlike most years, he was reportedly the only recruit invited to attend the game, illustrating the priority the coaching staff had placed on his recruitment.
Just days later, Sulaimon verbally committed to Duke over North Carolina, Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Stanford and Harvard, among others.
“After visiting the school again and meeting with the coaching staff, it reconfirmed that it was the right place for me,” Sulaimon said. “I have a great relationship with the coaching staff and I really trust them.”
Since his commitment, Sulaimon has elevated his game to another level. After a strong summer on the AAU circuit with his team, Houston Hoops, he is now the third-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2012 according to ESPN.com. Sulaimon’s intensity, advanced skill set and well-rounded game have allowed him to separate himself from his peers.
“I play hard on both ends of the floor,” Sulaimon said. “I like to play hard-nosed defense. Offensively, I can shoot the ball really well and I can create for myself as well as others.”
In his final season of high school basketball, Sulaimon hopes to lead his team to a Texas 5-A state championship and a second straight district title, while continuing to improve his body and game in preparation for his career at Duke.
“[The coaching staff] wants me to get stronger, continue to work on my ball handling and point guard skills and continue to develop at the rate I am going,” Sulaimon said. “From my conversations with them, they believe I have the versatility to play both [point guard and shooting guard] at Duke.”
Sulaimon also has a personal goal that he is eager to achieve before arriving in Durham this summer in preparation for his first season with the Blue Devils.
“Since I was young, it has always been a goal of mine to be the top guard in my class,” Sulaimon said. “I still have a lot of work to do, but I have the determination to prove that I am the top guard in the [nation].”
In the past two years, Duke has signed the consensus No. 1 guard in each class: Kyrie Irving in 2010 and Austin Rivers in 2011. By the time his senior year is finished, Sulaimon could very well make it three in a row.
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