Five-star recruit Makur Maker — a longtime Kentucky basketball target — commits to Howard
Five-star basketball recruit Makur Maker announced his commitment to Howard University in the early hours of Friday morning, becoming the first top high school prospect to pledge to a historically Black university.
Maker — a versatile 6-foot-11 post player, originally from Kenya — had announced a final four Thursday that consisted of Howard, Kentucky, Memphis and UCLA. UK coaches John Calipari and Kenny Payne visited Maker in California last year, and Maker’s guardian, Ed Smith, told the Herald-Leader that the Wildcats had been in regular contact in recent weeks.
Instead, Maker has committed to play for Howard, a school he visited last fall, before the recent wave of speculation that top high school basketball prospects might look to historically Black universities as a college destination.
Maker referenced that possible movement in his Twitter announcement Friday morning, specifically mentioning Mikey Williams, the national high school freshman of the year and one of the recruits who has talked about playing for an HBCU.
“I was the first to announce my visit to Howard and other(s) started to dream ‘what if.’ I need to make the HBCU movement real so that others will follow,” Maker tweeted. “I hope I inspire guys like Mikey Williams to join me on this journey. I am committing to Howard U and coach Kenny Blakeney.”
Blakeney, a former Duke player, went 4-29 in his first season at Howard in 2019-20 after spending more than 15 years as a college assistant. In addition to Maker’s trip, Howard hosted five-star recruit Josh Christopher for an official visit last fall. Christopher ultimately chose Arizona State.
The possibility of top recruits committing to play for HBCUs has drawn more attention in recent weeks. Blakeney told ESPN last week that he was being “very cautious” when pursuing such players and would point out up front that Howard wouldn’t have the level of facilities boasted by the nation’s top college basketball programs.
“’That said, do you still have interest?’” Blakeney said of his talks with recruits. “I wanted to be more negative than positive with that conversation, so I don’t waste my time pursuing these kids and only do it so they get their numbers up with social media and get in the conversation on a hot-button issue. I want someone that wants to be at Howard and understands what Howard is.”
Maker, the cousin of Detroit Pistons player Thon Maker, is eligible for this year’s NBA Draft, and he could still go the professional route and bypass college altogether. He is not currently projected as an NBA Draft pick — ESPN ranks him as the No. 75 prospect for the 60-player draft — but he’ll have until next month to withdraw from the draft and play this coming season at Howard. He is the No. 17 overall prospect in the 2020 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
UK already has the nation’s No. 1-ranked class, which features highly touted power forwards Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware in the frontcourt. The Cats also have a transfer commitment from former Wake Forest standout Olivier Sarr, who will be UK’s starting center if the NCAA grants him a transfer waiver to play right away in the 2020-21 season.
The process to approve Sarr’s waiver request is ongoing. Though there’s no precedent to ensure the 7-footer will be approved for the waiver, some in college basketball circles have said they think the NCAA will ultimately allow him to play for the Cats this season.
If Sarr is ruled eligible, Kentucky would be projected as a top-five team for next season and probably would have all it needs for the 2020-21 roster. If the NCAA rules against Sarr, who has said he would pursue professional options rather than sit out a year of college in such a scenario, the Cats would likely need some more help in the frontcourt next season.
If that happens, there aren’t many instant-impact options to consider.
Five-star center Moussa Cisse lists Kentucky as one of his finalists, but UK is not seen as a major contender for his commitment. Louisiana State and Memphis are the favorites. Five-star center Efton Reid had been seen as a reclassification candidate from 2021 to 2020, but it was revealed this week that he will stay in the class of 2021 and play for IMG Academy (Fla.) this coming season.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 7:55 AM.
