One area where we’ve seen the Black Lives Matter movement spill over into sports is in the decisions of high profile high school athletes. Class of 2020 5-star center Makur Maker committed to Howard University, an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). Maker could have gone to a more traditional powerhouse school like Kentucky. In the college hoops recruiting world, we’ve seen other recruits flirt with making such a move (2020 5-star shooting guard Josh Christopher visited Howard), but Maker is the first to fully commit. It will be interesting to see if other high profile basketball recruits will follow suit and commit to HBCUs in the future or if Maker will remain an anomaly.

My feeling is we’ll see some other guys make the jump to HBCUs, but it won’t be a large percentage. Most guys will still rather go to a more traditional powerhouse program and play against the best competition in the country. Maybe I’m wrong and Maker is starting a movement, but it’s still early yet. 

Basketball Recruiting - Makur Maker pioneers the HBCU movement, picks HowardFive-star center Makur Maker commits to Howard.basketballrecruiting.rivals.com

Wow, noble decision, big risk with his career. Watching these guys debate what it could mean was fascinating:

That was really interesting! A lot of it does come down to whether or not Maker stays in school or if he leaves for the NBA Draft. If he leaves for the draft, it won’t mean nearly as much choosing Howard, though it’s still a nice gesture. I also wonder what Maker’s academic situation is like. I heard his grades weren’t great and he changed schools a lot. That could be a factor as well and certainly could explain why he didn’t choose UCLA. That all said, it’s still cool for HBCUs and I think it would be awesome if they became more of a player in the college hoops world.

As for the G-League, I think that’s only a threat to peel away 5-6 guys per recruiting class. For most guys (the vast majority), going to school is the better route. Hell, many of the all-time greats (Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, and Larry Bird) played 3+ years of college basketball. Magic Johnson was ahead of his time playing just two years at Michigan State. I do think those guys all benefited from playing in the college ranks first.

Not to mention that college educations are great because knowledge! Science classes! History! International relations!