College basketball world eyeing HBCU star freshman

NORFOLK, VA — HBCU phenom and Howard University freshman guard Blake Harper entered his first MEAC tournament post-game press conference playing and sounding like a college basketball veteran instead of.

Harper, the newly-minted MEAC Player of The Year, put up a valiant effort in his team’s 91-90 loss to Morgan State.

The 6’7 guard scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds while playing 37 minutes in the MEAC Tournament semifinal.  He keyed a run that saw Howard go from a 10-point deficit to a one-point lead on a 3-pointer from teammate Cameron Shokley-Okeke with 16 seconds remaining. Morgan State would answer with a Kameron Hobbs layup to re-take the lead with 10 seconds to go. Howard was unable to answer and saw its season end with its first loss in the MEAC Tournament since 2022. 

Howard University forward Blake Harper warms up before the 2025 MEAC Basketball Tournament. (Steven J. Gaither/HBCU Gameday)
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“Just trying to do anything to make my team win. You know, my team is is finding the right spots, and being able to execute,” Harper said of his performance and his team’s late run. “But we came up short.

The Boy Wonder showed why he was named the conference’s top player as well as its top rookie, a first in the 54-year history of the HBCU conference. He scored better than his average of 19.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in the loss. Despite his obvious talent, many people questioned whether or not he should have won the honor due to Howard having just 12 wins on the season. Those doubters may or may not have been convinced, but that doesn’t matter to Blake Harper. 

“I’m not really worried about the outside noise. But player of the year…like I work. I worked my tail off all season,” Harper said after the game. “That’s what came with it. But to me, I just wanted to come out and win. But we came up short.”

Harper has gone from a towel boy — literally — to possibly the second most talked about freshman in college basketball (behind Duke’s Cooper Flagg) .

“Nobody really believed in us when the preseason player of the year went down and I still feel like we broke the barriers for sure,” Blake reflected. “And personally, I feel like nobody believed in me — just coming in here —  other than our Howard University circle, especially this man on my right and really took me in when I was a chubby senior. And really having no experience playing on this big stage. And I trusted him and got me where I’m at now. And I’m just forever grateful for the coaching staff of the program.”

Harper’s coach, Kenneth Blakeney couldn’t say enough about his superstar freshman. His words mostly remarked who Harper is as a young man moreso than as a basketball star.

“I think for me, it’s the character of who he is, is huge. When you talk about how all the things that he’s accomplished on the court, the type of young man that he is allows him the opportunity to be able to do that. His nuclear household family, and the the way that his loving family raised him. The love and support that the community gives and the love and support that the DC gives him.”

Blake Harper’s size and production have made him the constant target of the financial apparatus that surrounds college basketball in 2025. With the NIL and year-to-year transfer portal, Harper will have every chance to transfer out of Howard and play at some bigger name basketball school for more money. That means everyone from opposing coaches to agents to plane ‘ole leeches see themselves with something to gain from a player that was on very few people’s radar a few years ago. 

“I watched him handle things that were very challenging in his life the right way. But he’s also handled success the right way. And going from a person that was undervalued and under looked the majority of his life in the basketball space to having everything that he’s worked his butt off and positioned himself for,” Blakeney said. “He’s never changed. So that’s a great testament to the people in his life, that have supported him, raised and loved him and guided him the right way. He’s, to his credit, accepted all of those things. And is a wonderful young man.” 

The chubby kid that no coach wanted and was as recently as last summer a towel boy is now one of the most sought-after players in college basketball. Harper hasn’t said definitively whether or not he’ll stay at the HBCU for another year or hit the transfer portal. He wasn’t asked about it in the post-game press conference at the Scope. But he and his teammates — seniors Marcus Dockery and Anwar Gill — were asked to give final remarks.

The Boy Wonder sounded just as contemplative and reflective as his older teammates as he spoke last.

“For me personally. It’s just a lot of personal growth. And I remember, like, one of the first practices, Coach took me to the side and said, you got to be able to receive your blessings. And I really just been keeping them in my mind throughout the whole season for real. Just to see our team fight, fight, fight and never really give up and never pay attention to what people say bad about us.

“I mean, I’m just so proud of my guys and I’d do it again. I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said with the undertone of a man at the crossroads. 

“I mean, this was a legendary, ride,” Harper said. “I’ll never forget it — for sure.”

And so, The Boy Wonder went back into the dark night with his college basketball fate only known to him. 

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