The movement has begun
Makur Maker, a five-star center from Phoenix, AZ, has committed to play at Howard University.
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The 7-0 foot phenom, ranked 17th in the class of 2020, announced his decision to commit to the HBCU early Friday morning.
“I was the 1st to announce my visit to Howard & other started to dream “what if”. I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow. I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams to join me on this journey. I am committing to Howard U & coach Kenny Blakeney.”
Blakeney is a former Duke basketball player and former Ivy League assistant coach that took over Howard’s program last season. The team won just four games, but clearly, grabbing Maker is a big win in itself.
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Game Changer
Maker made headlines last summer when he had Howard in his top 10. He made them again when he visited the school at Homecoming. Thursday he announced that HU was in his top four and hours later he made it official. The 19-year-old Maker declared for the NBA Draft earlier this year, but said he would keep his options open.
This is a major grab, not only for Howard University but for historically black colleges as a whole. Players like Maker, a potential lottery pick and almost certain one-and-done, have proved elusive to HBCUs for decades.
Howard defied all the odds to get Maker. It hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament in nearly 30 years, and last season it won just four games. It plays in Burr Gymnasium, a 57-year-old, 2,700 seat gym that has undergone renovations in the past decade. But it is an academically rigorous university in a major city with a coach that has a winning pedigree and can relate to players.
Now that Howard has landed Makur, there is a chance other top recruits like Mikey Williams could follow suit and change the game forever.
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