NCAA Basketball: 5 keys to a successful and continuing HBCU movement

The role that 5-star prospects play in the movement

Key #2: Multiple 5- star prospects have to stop talking about committing to HBCUs, and actually commit to them. (for the right reasons)

6’1 5-star 2023 prospect, Mikey Williams has made headlines recently, by expressing his interest in playing his college ball at an HBCU. On July 3rd, the same day that Maker became the 1st ESPN Top-100 recruit to commit to Howard. (According to a First Take graphic) Williams took to twitter and commended Maker for being the first player to start the new trend.

https://twitter.com/619PRESIDENTIAL/status/1278960420146085889

After Williams viewed Maker’s tweet, detailing his determination to make the HBCU movement authentic, he let Maker know that he feels the same exact way. Unsurprisingly, when Williams revealed the final 10 schools that are still in the hunt three weeks later on Twitter, five HBCUs made the cut. Those schools are North Carolina Central University, Hampton University, Texas Southern University, Tennessee State University, and Alabama State University.

Now, I understand that Williams also has five power 5 schools on his list, which could be a sign that he will wind up taking the safe route and going to a school that has a more impressive history. However, before I decide to jump to any hasty conclusions, I know that I must consider a few realistic possibilities that could occur.

First things first, Williams is just a 16-year old kid, who is still in the process of figuring out his future. What he believes is the right decision now, may change in a year or two when he is closer to graduating.

Contrarily, there is also no reason for me to believe that Williams won’t have the same mindset he currently has when he decides to announce his highly anticipated college decision. He comprehends what the HBCU movement represents, and what it would mean for him to share his talents with an HBCU. The point is until Williams discloses where he is going to continue his basketball career, all we can do is speculate, and take a few seconds to look at things from his perspective.

You also must keep in mind that the movement will only move forward if 5-star prospects like Williams not only ponder how their decision will benefit them but also the others around them. In other words, players should not commit to HBCUs, just because they know that they will get to run the show when they arrive on campus, they should commit because they care about seeing HBCUs evolve in the near future. If their intentions are pure, HBCUs will not only get more players to the NBA, they will also have a better chance of succeeding each season.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well… that’s where you’re wrong. Forget about the HBCU movement for a second, and just think about the many factors that go into a prospect’s college decision. It’s not always as easy as just picking the school that you dreamed about playing at since you were 3, or the school that recruited you the hardest. Sometimes, it’s about choosing the school that has a coach with an outstanding resume, who has proven that he can get players to the places they want to go.

Bring the HBCU movement back into the equation, and you will see why it is not guaranteed to succeed. Let’s say that a 5-star prospect decided to cut his final 10 list to 4, and of those four schools, two of them were HBCUs, and two of them were power 5 schools. Even if that player understood the importance of the HBCU movement, he would still take time to evaluate each of the schools in great detail, before taking the next step in his recruitment process.

A coach like Mike Krzyzewski (better known as Coach K) who has accumulated 1,157 total wins, won 15 ACC championships, secured the ACC regular-season title 12 times, reached the final four 12 times, and won 5 national championships, would be someone that many players wouldn’t hesitate to play for.

However LeVelle Moton, a coach who has notched 200 total wins at North Carolina Central University, won four MEAC tournament championships, and four MEAC regular-season titles, may not be able to sell himself or his program enough, to help steer top-level prospects away from power 5 institutions.

Clearly, Moton’s accomplishments are nothing to shrug your shoulders at, despite the fact that he has yet to win a game in the NCAA tournament. (0-4 record) Regardless of that, Moton and other HBCU coaches will struggle to land numerous 5-star talents, if the concept of playing for a program, and a coach that knows how to win repeatedly at the highest level, is too appealing for them to pass up.

They can remind their thousands of twitter followers, that they are going to surprise everyone with their next move all they want, but until they decide to make it official (or announce ahead of time that it is already a done deal), the HBCU movement will not advance.