Standing 7-feet with the ability to run the court like a guard, Makur Maker is one of the most highly sought high school basketball players in the country.
The storied program at UCLA wanted him, desperately. So did coach John Calipari and his NBA-star producing machine at Kentucky. Same for former NBA great Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers.
Maker, instead, picked Howard University.
Yes, Howard, which hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1992.
Yes, Howard, which went 4-29 last season, including just 1-15 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
“I need to make the HBCU [historically black colleges and universities] movement real, so that others will follow,” Makur wrote on Twitter early Friday morning in announcing his decision.