MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – JANUARY 4: Bronny James # 0 of Sierra Canyon Trailblazers watches during the second half of the game against Minnehaha Academy Red Hawks at Target Center on January 4, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien / Getty Images)Duke has long been regarded as the go-to for LeBron James Jr., son of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and living NBA legend. In the wake of today’s monumental Makur Maker news, punters believe Bronny James may continue the trend of superstar recruits heading to HBCU schools.
Maker, the top 2020 uncommitted recruit who entered the day, rejected Kentucky, Memphis and UCLA. Instead, he became engaged to Howard University, a prominent HBCU located in Washington, DC
In his announcement, Maker, a cousin of NBA forward Thon Maker, called on other star recruits to follow in his footsteps. He named 2023 superstar recruit Mikey Williams, the number 3 ESPN recruit in the class, in particular. A few months ago, Williams raised the idea of going to an HBCU, and seems to be seriously considering it.
Williams and Bronny James are close, and it is speculated that they could play together at the next level. Bronny has also caught the attention of some HBCU programs, which have begun to be more aggressive in recruiting the best athletes. One of the most respected and successful HBCU coaches, LeVelle Moton of North Central Carolina, made headlines in January when he featured James. Now, the school has been installed as the favorite to land by Bovada’s punters.
Where will Bronny James play his first NCAA game? 👑
North Carolina Central +120
Duke +125
Howard +600
North Carolina A&T +900
Kentucky +950
Kansas +1400
North Carolina +1600
UCLA +2000💰➡️ https://t.co/rtchepBhiH pic.twitter.com/be8sqaxl6i
– Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) July 3, 2020
Moton shared some serious ideas about the changing recruiting strategy, after offering it to James. Obviously, he couldn’t mention any recruits by name, but he said his show and other HBCUs should be aggressive and make the best players say “no.”
In the process, he took a big shot at the recruiting power of a particular university: Kentucky. Of the undefeated:
Moton said: “When you think of the atrocities that have happened in our society, in a society where an arena is named after someone who is a known racist, in a school where if these children were playing when he was training, he didn’t he had allowed his team and those schools would not even have allowed them to attend: those children flocked to that school to play in that arena today.
“But when a coach is from a black university and offers that child the same opportunity, that coach is criticized. That doesn’t even make sense. ”
Moton, of course, was referring to the Kentucky Rupp Arena, and coincidentally that show is part of his proof that aiming high has always been his philosophy and that this is nothing new to him. In the spring of 2009, just a month after Moton was promoted to head coach, consensual All-American high school, and future NBA No. 1 overall pick, John Wall, as Moton, a Raleigh native. , North Carolina, famous in North Carolina. Central one of your campus visits before choosing, yes, Kentucky.
“John Wall lived four doors away from me,” Moton said, before presenting the short, pointed version of his mindset: “I offered John Wall. He had to say no.”
Translation: If the best players in the country don’t jump HBCU and play for Moton, it won’t be because they were never asked to.
Howard’s new coach Kenny Blakeney did exactly that by recruiting a player like Makur Maker, and he’s now set to have a historic blue chip center at his school. If he succeeds there, he will almost certainly not be the last – whether it be Bronny James, Mikey Williams, or another elite player before 2023, follow in his footsteps.
[Bovada]