Age of enlightenment about HBCUs
Once you are exposed to the HBCU experience you can be enlightened pretty quickly. I did an interview with former NBA player Andre Miller who was recently blown away after attending the CIAA Tournament and an NCCU-NCAT matchup. At the behest of his godbrother, he spent eight days in North Carolina this spring and had an eye-opening experience.
“Coming from the West Coast we don’t get that a lot. I had a great experience, I’ll put it in my top five-ten experiences as far as environment, a lot of people don’t know about that. I enjoyed myself. It was live, it was exciting,” Miller said about his trip to North Carolina Central University.
Miller was so impressed with his experience that he says he know wants to coach at an HBCU. If he follows through with his dream he would follow in the footsteps of other modern day NBA players. Darrell Walker and George Lynch both started their college coaching careers at Clark Atlanta University. Lindsey Hunter took over recently at Mississippi Valley State University while Juan Dixon has been navigating the ropes at Coppin State University.
Back to bias
Some people get the HBCU Culture while others don’t. One of Wade’s close friends, Chris Paul doesn’t need an introduction. He grew up with Winston-Salem State University as a backdrop to his life and has contributed financially and physically to both WSSU and North Carolina A&T.
Paul also utilizes his social media platform to display HBCU merchandise as he enters arenas (and now the bubble) to play his games. Despite playing collegiality at Wake Forest he speaks life to HBCUs in his daily walk.
Let’s fast forward to one day when Paul’s playing career is over and maybe he is a part of an NBA front office or ownership group. For argument’s sake let’s also pretend the same for Wade. Can you see a difference between the implicit bias of those two that might exist when deciding on a player who attended a PWI versus an HBCU? It’s basic human nature that we all bring to the table. Now multiply that by every single team in the NBA. It comes into play when decisions are made.
How it really goes down
If you are a guaranteed star, it doesn’t matter where you went to school. When you get down to roster spots 8-12 it’s a little different game. One current HBCU basketball coach told me that NBA scouts and general managers often take the easy route when it comes to signing players. It’s an easier sell to invest money into a player who averaged nine points at an ACC school than it is to invest in a kid who averaged 16 in the SWAC. Because if the ACC kid flakes out it must have been something inherently wrong with the kid. However, if the SWAC or the MEAC kid flakes out, it was a lapse in judgment for taking a shot on “that” kid from “that” conference in the first place.
In simpler terms, the kids from the blue blood programs have to prove they really can’t play to drop off the NBA radar, while an HBCU product has to prove that he can really, really, play to get put on. Does this sound like a familiar piece of American history?
Ready for takeoff
There is a seat of power within HBCUs that can support the arrival of NBA level talent on its campus. LeVelle Moton at NCCU isn’t going to let anyone hijack the culture of his program. Robert Jones will make it work at Norfolk State University. Johnny Jones has been to the rodeo before. Mo Williams is not going to be in awe of any recruit at Alabama State University. Robert McCullum has quickly and quietly built a winner at FAMU. Give him a few recruits and let’s have a real FAMU versus Florida State game.
It’s 2020, and just when you thought you’ve seen it all, hell freezes over with one more icicle. Surely the thought of young open-minded athletes flipping the landscape of college basketball can’t be that far fetched. At least for open-minded people.
D.Wade was correct about a few things and we in the HBCU community want to see a few things happen our objective in sports especially basketball and football .Our objective in basketball is to put together a team at one of university that can make the final four , in football we want a team from one of university that can play and beat teams in the P5 conferences such as alabama,Ohio State,LSU or a Notre Dame. we in the HBCU community don’t want to be phase out at the table we want a seat at the table and some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that’s being generated by players of color for these P5 school and for this to happen for us we have to get some of these top HS recruits.D.Wade was correct Howard univ. was 4-29 last year and there basketball gym has a capacity of 2,700 and the future of HBCUs high profile recruiting hangs on the success or failure that this kid has at this university because parents and other high and low profile recruits are paying full attention to this move.This isn’t like the 60s and the 70s your only choice was an HBCU today you have the choice of any university in the U.S. which is much better for the university that’s competing and the athlete so if we in the HBCU community don’t get this right the first time there want be a second or third time.I don’t know how many wins one kid can add to a 4-29 record maybe 8 more so now we 12-21 and still out of the NCAA tournament so we in the HBCU community are back in the same position as before nothing changed.If we in HBCU community want these top recruits and want them to be successful and achieve the changes that they are trying to make we have to send them to our best school that can make this happen for them not somewhere to make a record better ,if we happen to get five 5star basketball recruits that want to play at an HBCU we can’t send them to different school they all need to be at the same university if they all go to different school then our chance at failure is very high but if they all go to the same school our chance of success and victory is very strong and at this moment in time that university for basketball is TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY.If we in the HBCU community don’t want to be left out in the cold again on draft day we have to come together as one. The only conference that’s a danger to P5 conferences for recruits at this moment are the HBCUs because the only thing that can Trump money is Love.