Few players in the history of college basketball will boast the four-year resume of Marquette’s Markus Howard but don’t believe for a second the former Perry High School star will ever forget his southeast Valley roots.
“It’s been a long journey,” Howard said in a recent Skype interview with Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat. “To see where I’ve come from to now has been awesome and I wouldn’t be here without a lot of people helping me along the way.”
Last week the senior guard, who was recruited to the Milwaukee school by former Arizona State assistant Stan Johnson, etched his name in Big East basketball immortality.
Howard’s basketball journey from Gilbert to the Midwest included a pit stop at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada. The Pilots, who produced 17 NBA players, folded last year.
Looking back on it, if Howard could have done it again, he might have made a different decision. After leaving Perry following his sophomore year, he played one year at Findlay before deciding to reclassify from 2017 to 2016 and sign with Marquette.
“I thought it was going to be a good thing for me transitioning from a public school to a prep school to learn and play with players that I was going to be playing with at a high level at the collegiate ranks,” Howard explained. “But looking back on it now, it was a great experience to be out on my own and prepare for the college lifestyle, living on my own. But some of the best memories of playing the game I have was playing in the state of Arizona. Being around friends and family and truly getting better at my game molding my craft.”
Howard continued to reminisce.
“I really miss those times,” he said. “I wish I had more of those times because being at Perry, being around such great people and playing the game I love, is something I could never take for granted.”
There’s just no place like home.
