The Scoot Henderson Blog: Dominant Start to Season, Kentucky, Kansas and Virginia Calling and More
Scoot Henderson is an SI All-American nominee who dominated as a sophomore and this past summer. Now a junior, Henderson has become even more dominant with everyone from Kentucky to Kansas to Virginia, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, among others, all applying the full-court recruitment press. Now, Henderson has agreed to give SI All-American exclusive access into his world by chronicling everything from intimate details about his recruitment to his everyday life in a blog.
What’s up world, it’s Scoot Henderson back with another blog!
Our season has finally kicked off and we’re 4-1 right now.
We had the two big wins at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event and then we had our first region game against Allatoona.
We started off slow and sluggish and we didn’t have a lot of energy, but we got it together and ended up winning by 15.
That was a learning lesson for us because I felt like everyone was really hyped to play against the ranked players at Hoopsgiving but now we know that we have to bring the energy no matter who’s playing on the other team.
For me, I don’t really care who’s on the other side, I’m gonna bring it 100 percent every time. It’s just about accepting the challenge.
Before games I don’t look at my phone because I don’t want to get caught up in thinking about things like that. It’s about competing at the highest level, and I do that no matter what.
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Right now, I’m averaging 31 points, six assists and eight rebounds a game so I’m feeling good about how I’m playing, but I have so much more I want to improve on.
The goal this year for me individually is to shoot for the top spot. I know that will be tough, but I have the confidence and the work ethic to get there. I want the Mr. Basketball Award for the state of Georgia too, so the biggest thing is to win.
I am going to do whatever it takes to win, and I feel like everything else will take care of itself after that.
I want to address why I wasn’t able to play in the last two games that my school played. I know a lot of people were wondering why I didn’t play. Coming into this season I knew I would have a big target on my back, and I think that people get my passion confused sometimes.
I play with a lot of emotion and I know that can come off as aggressive sometimes with different people, but I never mean anything negative by it.
I tweeted recently that I don’t start anything I just finish it, and I really meant that. I had two techs in the Allatoona game so that’s why I had to sit out — GHSA rules.
My first tech was for showing emotion after a dunk. Then, I was going back and forth with one of the players from Allatoona all game and on one play I stole the ball from him and he pushed me with two hands and came into my face. I ended up getting the second tech after because I went by him and he flopped like I pushed him.
I understand that I’ll have a lot of teams that will try and get into my head and get me out of the game, but I will just try and remember what I was told, “The game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.”
When I think about that, it’s easier to let things go and not let them get to me.
It’s important for me to talk about this because I want to show the younger players the right way to handle things. You get rewarded for hard work, and as long as you stay focused on God and working on your craft it will pay off
I’m big on being a role model, it’s important to me.
The good news is that I’ll be back on Friday, December 11.
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My recruitment is picking up more now too; Kentucky, Virginia and Kansas are the schools that have been contacting me more consistently lately.
I’m just getting to know the coaches, but I don’t get caught up in it too heavy during the season. I have my own season to focus on and the coaches understand that.
School is going good for me; I’m still virtual so that’s been easier. My parents and my siblings make sure I’m on top of everything because schoolwork is really big in my family.
I’ve been listening to a lot of different music lately, but the song I listen to before every game this season is Lil Baby’s song with NAV “Don’t Need Friends."
That just gets me so hype!
OK guys I’ve gotta get going, but I want everyone to stay safe and healthy out there.
Happy holidays everyone!
Don't forget to follow Scoot Henderson:
Twitter: @thereal013
Instagram: thereal0_