Some of the best HBCU basketball players will be able to showcase their talent to the masses on April 7 in Phoenix, Arizona. Travis L. Williams created the HBCU All-Star Game, a time to honor and pay respect to the HBCU players who played some of their best basketball this season and were not recognized like others at Power 5 schools and so on.
The game will comprise the nation’s top 24 players who will make up both rosters named after HBCU NBA legends Ben Wallace and Rick Mahorn.
Team Ben Wallace will be coached by Texas Southern University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Johnny Jones and Lincoln University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jason Armstrong and made up of players who competed in the SWAC. Team Rick Mahorn will be coached by North Carolina Central University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Levelle Moton and Clark Atlanta University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Alfred Jordan, and will include players who competed in the MEAC.
Williams spoke with rolling out to give the viewers more details on the All-Star Game and what people should expect.
Why did you all decide to host the game in Phoenix?
We’re in partnership with one of the largest broadcasting companies in the world, CBS. That’s the beautiful thing about this partnership. We have a space, and HBCU culture has a space. Imagine this: the Final Four games are on Saturday, and our All-Star game is on Sunday, one day before the men’s national championship game. This is year three. April 2022, the first time ever during the 40-plus year history of the NCAA March Madness tournament in New Orleans, we hosted the first-ever HBCU All-Star game. April 2023 in Houston, the first time ever on an HBCU campus, we hosted at Texas Southern [University]. Now, we get an opportunity to take it to the Valley of the Sun, that part of the country where you and I know HBCUs that exist, so we can really take the entire HBCU All-Star game experience to Phoenix.
What should people expect?
People should expect the best in Black college basketball. What’s important about this game is we deserve this national platform, and I’m going to give you some hardcore stats about why this is important on this platform. When you look across the landscape of the NBA, G- League, and international spec, particularly NBA and G League, there are 450 NBA players and 30 NBA teams. There’s only one current active HBCU player on a roster, and that’s Robert Covington with the Philadelphia Sixers, who played for me at Tennessee State University. Also, with the G-League having 20 to 29 teams, there are currently two HBCU alums out of all of those teams, Javonte Cooke and Joirdon Nicholas.
It’s important for us to keep pushing national platforms like this because our HBCU All-Stars deserve the same type of exposure, platform, and notoriety that a lot of other Power 5s and other colleagues get. That’s why this is important. The movement and celebration is for Black college basketball on the highest level, but more importantly, it gives an opportunity for those individuals who are interested in attending HBCUs and to let them know our HBCUs are not a second option. They can be your first option. We just witnessed this last week. Howard University’s three-point loss to Wagner. … You saw what Grambling State [University] was able to do against Montana State [University]. We have some of the best and brightest coaches in the country, and it’s now our time to shine and show people that our HBCUs matter on the highest level and stage.
