Well playas…the “What if” has finally become a reality in the world of college basketball. Boyz have been saying for decades “What if the biggest and baddest dudes went to HBCU’s instead of the predominantly white institutions(PWI’s)? Instead of making those schools rich beyond measure we could funnel that same money back to our schools and communities. I seriously didn’t see it ever happening but it has at least with one player and who knows what this move will mean for others?
On Friday morning at 3:38am there was a cultured shift or should I say, a cultural earthquake when Five-star senior Makur Maker announced his commitment to Howard University over the historically great UCLA. The ground is still shaking.
“I was the 1st to announce my visit to Howard & other started to dream ‘what if,'” the No.16 ranked played in the country wrote on Twitter. “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.”
With Maker kicking the door in there may be others lining up to follow him. He’s already hinted that Mikey Williams is at least considering it.
After the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement picking up a world wind of support our young people both black and white are more “Woke” than ever at this point in our nations history.
There was a time in this country when black kids weren’t allowed to go to school with white kids. It was called legalized segregation. Prior to 1960 there were very few black players at PWI’s and for the most part the best and brightest students and student-athletes had no other choice but to attend the HBCU’s.
That was the reason why they were founded in the first place. They fulfilled a need to educate our people when the white schools wouldn’t allow us to attend them. So there was time when 98 percent of the talent was at the HBCU.
My mother, God rest or soul, was a school teacher and she always said that the worst thing to ever happen to black folks outside of slavery was the de-segregation of schools. She would say that when we were educating our own we cared about the end result. That’s not always the case when our kids aren’t being educated by some people that don’t always love them.
Both my mother and father were graduates of Texas Southern University in the late 1950’s. My mother was still going to homecomings until a year or two before her death at age 76. Why? Because she loved her school because it loved her back.
Both my wife and son are graduates of Jackson State University and they love their school. I love JSU and I didn’t even go there. Why? Because they loved my wife and my child. It’s an experience like no other and I never realized it until my wife took me there for homecoming years ago. The relationships she has with the people affiliated with the school and her classmates is mind blowing.
Most importantly JSU loved and pushed my child to graduate when I know for sure that my alma mater, Indiana University, didn’t care two dead flies smashed whether I graduated or not. As long as I paid my money on time they were cool. So therefore, it was a business transaction and nothing more.
Makur Maker will surely be a “One and Done” so why not get loved on for a year by people that will actually love him back. Playing basketball isn’t like football where a kid has to remain in school for at least three years.
Maker can help put Howard on the hoop map for a year and dip opening the door for television revenues and marketing dollars not to mention an opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament for the fist time in 30 years.
Why not help Howard make a fortune when they’ve got the best interest of the culture in mind? Then other players can carry the torch he’s lit.
I don’t see this type of shift happening in football because of the facilities that football players need to have to develop into NFL caliber specimens. The strength and conditioning programs are of massive importance because it’s a contact sport. An 18 or 19 year old Five-Star recruit isn’t ready to attempt to walk onto an NFL field because his body couldn’t take the punishment.
So for now I’m happy with hoopers taking the plunge into the HBCU waters to open the doors of opportunity for those schools to get rich off of it’s own talent. Then maybe, just maybe, the facilities will improve enough for football players to come back home too.
Grambling State has a record 121 players drafted into the NFL with four of them making the Hall of Fame. Cats like Willie Davis, Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan and Charlie Joiner are Hall of Famers that played for the Tigers. That’s just one school. Tennessee State was a powerhouse along with Jackson State. North Carolina A&T is a monster right now without the biggest and the best. Just think of what they could become with some real horses. I’m excited for the possibility.
With this power move that Makur Maker just made on the hard wood who knows what the HBCU athletic landscape could once again become. Most importantly, the schools that first loved us can now get the love back. Stop me when I start lyin’!
