The greatest event in the sporting calendar is upon us, the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. This week in March is the best week in sports. It does not matter if you have watched any basketball throughout the year, everyone tunes into the NCAA Tournament.
Brackets have been filled out and everyone has made themselves the expert in picking who they think will win. Is it Duke and Zion Williamson? Can Virginia put their loss to 16-seed UMBC behind them? Who are the Cinderellas that can bust everyone’s bracket?
There is one matchup that people highlighted on their bracket who have watched college basketball all year, 5-seeded Marquette facing the 12-seeded Murray State Racers in Hartford, Connecticut.
Marquette boasts the sixth highest scorer in the NCAA in point guard Markus Howard and Murray State possesses a potential top-five lottery pick in point guard Ja Morant.
Everyone wants stars and enjoys watching those stars when it comes to NCAA Tournament time. Markus Howard and Ja Morant are two of those stars,
What brought Markus Howard to this high-profile matchup and can he carry his Golden Eagles like Kemba Walker did for UCONN years ago?
Markus Howard, a junior point guard for the Marquette Golden Eagles is from Chandler, Arizona. Howard was already getting recruited by college programs beginning with his freshman season when he committed early to in-state university, Arizona State.
Markus was a consensus top-100 recruit when he became a senior and de-committed from Arizona State in his sophomore year.
Knowing that basketball would be Markus’s calling, Howard transferred to Findlay Prep where he would get looked at by more scouts. Findlay Prep has had a long line of NBA players that had played at Findlay which included Grizzlies guard Avery Bradley, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson and Phoenix Suns small forward Kelly Oubre, Jr.
Markus also played at Findlay Prep with star Kentucky power forward PJ Washington.
Along with playing at Findlay Prep, Howard also played with two teams on the AAU circuit for teams in Las Vegas and Arizona. After his junior season where he led Findlay Prep in scoring, Markus re-classified and moved up a recruiting class where he committed to Marquette and head coach, Steve Wojciechowski, or known as Wojo (much easier to pronounce).
Howard was thrust into the starting lineup as a freshman and immediately contributed to the Golden Eagles team. He averaged 13.2 points which led the team and also led the entire country in three-point field goal percentage at 54.7%.
Markus Howard was already making his name known to teams in the Big East Conference and throughout the entire country. On top of that, Marquette made the NCAA Tournament as a 10-seed and got throttled by 7-seed South Carolina 93-73. South Carolina then went on to defeat 2-seeded Duke Blue Devils.
Markus got even better in his sophomore campaign whole averaging 20.4 points per game and was second in the entire country in free-throw percentage at 93.8%. Marquette did not make the NCAA Tournament so we will fast-forward to this 2018-2019 season.
This junior season has by far been Markus Howard’s best in his career. Howard received high praise in the pre-season, and he emerged on watch lists for many major awards. Being placed on the Wooden Award (goes to the country’s best player) and the Bob Cousy Award (country’s best point guard) comes with a great amount of pressure on one player.
Markus has thrived under pressure throughout this entire college season.
No other player has put up these single game scoring numbers in this 2018-2019 college basketball season. Howard put up seven 30-point games, two games with 45 points, and one game with 53 points. During that 53 point game which was an overtime win over Creighton, finished 15-of-26 from the floor, and 10-of-14 from the three point line. Those 53 points broke a Big East single-game record.
Markus finished with a line of averaging 25 points, four assists, and four rebounds. This great stat line included the 2019 Big East Player of the Year Award. If Duke’s Zion Williamson did not exists, Howard would be in prime position for the National Player of the Year (that has not been announced yet, but come on).
Can Markus Howard be the Kemba Walker for this year's tournament? Cardiac Kemba, as he was known, took the 3-seeded Huskies all the way to winning the national title against Butler in 2011. That was on top of winning five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament where the Cardiac Kemba moniker was born.
Markus Howard has been a great player on the court for the Golden Eagles but his growth off of the court needs to be highlighted even more.
In a blog post, Howard wrote for Athletes for God, Howard talks about an offseason trip he took to Costa Rica. Howard started a Bible study for the people who were on the trip in Costa Rica. He was enthused about the success of that trip, he and another friend started a Fellowship for Christian Athletes group on campus.
Howard talks about it does not matter how many people show up to the Bible study, as long as it impacts one individual, then the rest does not matter.
In that post, my favorite line is in the closing paragraph. “So with my basketball future really up in the air, and out of my hands, all I’m going to do is work hard and lean on my faith” (Howard, 2018). He then mentions Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for you to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Markus Howard, a star on the basketball court, and a faith focused person off the court, hopes to guide Marquette to make a deep NCAA Tournament run. How far will his team go? We will find out Thursday at 3:30 central time on TBS.
Sources:
ESPN.com
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