At 17 years old, most normal teenagers end up spending a good deal of their time begging dad for the keys to the Pathfinder or are busy trying to line up potential prom dates. Such stressful times.
Markus Howard, on the other hand, is no normal teenager. Not even close, as this 17-year old has been handed the keys to run coach Steve Wojciechowski’s Marquette Golden Eagles this season - and all he has done so far is thrive.
“I think he’s freakin’ phenomenal,” said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard, who had the opportunity to see Howard up close and personal twice in a 10-day period. “I’ll tell you what, for a freshman in this league, logging the minutes he’s logging, controlling tempo, learning offense, making very good decisions, I think the young man, if he continues with from everything I’ve heard (about) his work ethic and his focus (and) he continues on that path, I think you’re looking at a superstar in this league.”
Howard laughed a bit at Willard’s gushing praise but at the same time there is nothing he is doing on the court this season that is coming as a surprise to Howard. And why shouldn’t Howard feel that way? All he has done is succeed at everything in his young life so far.
As a sophomore at Perry High School in Chandler, Arizona, all he did was lead the entire state in scoring with a 32.4 points-per-game average. Needing a little more of a challenge, he left Perry after that season and enrolled in fabled Findley Prep in Nevada and then proceeded to lead them in scoring as well at 20 points a game. Oh, and did we I mention he completed his high school career in just three years?
So you see the kind of talent we’re talking about here.
“Honestly I’m not surprised,” Howard said when asked about his success so far. “I prepared all my life for something like this. I know what I’m capable of and just the preparation I put in and all the time I put in on my own has helped. At first there is always that discussion of ‘Can I do this and can I do that?’ But I felt when the lights came on I’d be able to play at my best and I’ve been able to do that so far and I’m blessed beyond belief about it.”
There’s not a hint of boastfulness in anything Howard says. When he talks about the other schools who were in his own personal Final Four – Baylor, Arizona State, Central Arkansas and Marquette – he said he was just thankful to all the schools for recruiting him but that Marquette fit him like a glove due to a close relationship with Marquette assistant coach Stan Johnson as well as the Marquette life itself.
“All four schools are great schools and they all had something different to offer but it just came down to my relationship with the coaching staff and just where I saw myself best fit,” said Howard, who is first in the BIG EAST in both free throw percentage (96.7%) and three-point percentage (55.9%) while placing sixth in three-pointers made with 33 entering Saturday’s home game vs. DePaul. “But it was definitely a tough decision, especially having the opportunity to play with my brother (Jordan) again or going back to Arizona State. But I feel I made the best decision in choosing Marquette. It’s a great school, a great community, great coaching staff and great team so I’m very happy with the decision I’ve made and it’s been working out for the best.”
Howard’s brother, Jordan, is a guard at Central Arkansas, hence why that school was on Howard’s short list. But while Jordan couldn’t sway Markus to join him there, he had a big hand in how Howard told the world which school he would ultimately attend. He produced a “reveal” video for YouTube.
“We both had been talking about it. It was something we had thought about for a while, about how I was going to announce,” Howard said. “My mom (Noemi) didn’t want me to do the whole “hat thing” because so many people had done that before. But Jordan is actually majoring in TV production and film broadcasting at Central Arkansas and he said he had some great ideas on a video we could do so he was all for it. I felt really good about it just because of how excited he was about it. So I give all the credit to my older brother.”
Howard had alerted Marquette that he was heading to Milwaukee prior to the video, so there was no sweating out the end of the YouTube production. The Golden Eagles had already received the good news.
“First I had to call coach Johnson because of the close relationship I had with him and when I called him he was so excited,” Howard said. “I had never really seen him that excited before. It was great just to see his reaction. Then I called coach Wojo after that and it was really nice to see their reactions and how excited they were to have me as part of the program.”
Howard currently ranks third on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game on a squad that boasts five players averaging in double figures. But it’s not just all about scoring and on-court play that excites Wojciechowsi. He also admires the way Howard goes about his business.
“The adjustment from high school to college is a difficult one even for really talented kids so you never completely know how a kid is going to make that adjustment,” Wojciechowski said. “And he’s made it beautifully. To be a 17-year old and to handle what’s been thrown at him in the pre-conference and now in BIG EAST play, he’s really been terrific and he’s got a lot of room for growth. He wants to get better and he’s a terrific worker on a day-to-day basis and that may be the thing I’m most impressed with because a lot of times freshmen, they don’t value the day-to-day. They’re not necessarily everyday guys. Markus, for his age to be an everyday guy, has been refreshing and impressive.”
Running the show for a major college program in what is considered perhaps the best conference in the land is a lot to put on the shoulders of a 17-year old. But Howard said there had been no blowback from the upperclassmen on Marquette. In fact, he says, they have been some of his biggest supporters.
“It’s been great. (Seniors) Luke (Fischer) and JJ (Jajuan Johnson) have been great and all the upperclassmen have been great, to me and (freshman) Sam (Hauser) as well,” Howard said. “They embraced us and treat us like little brothers. We’re all very close on and off the court so I’ve had a great experience with my teammates. It’s been a lot fun.”
Wojciechowski said the relationship on the team is beneficial to both Howard and the veterans.
“They love him because he’s really helped us win some really big ball games, but they also know they have to help him continue to grow as he experiences different game situations and learning by baptism by fire,” Wojciechowski said. “I think our older guys have really accepted him and that’s probably one of the reasons that he’s been able to play so well.”
There are a plethora of things Howard hopes to accomplish this year in the BIG EAST, a conference he feels is “the best conference in the country. It really just brings out the best in you as a player.” But the main thing he wants to do is get this Marquette team to the NCAA Tournament so that Fischer and Johnson can get that long-awaited first taste of the Big Dance.
“Most definitely, that’s what I’m working every day for,” Howard said. “I want to make sure of that, not just for myself but for the older guys as well, that they get that chance. They deserve it, we all deserve it. We all want to make that tournament run so we’re all working hard every day to make that possible. It’s not going to be easy but we’ve got to embrace the hard times that we face. But I’m just doing whatever I can to help my team get to that point and that’s what I’m going to do each and every day.”