The Washington Huskies, thanks to Coach Lorenzo Romar are quickly building a reputation as one of the top producers of NBA talent, and with Markelle Fultz coming to Seattle this fall, the Lorenzo Romar era may reach its zenith. Fultz, a 6’4” guard from Dematha (MD) Catholic High School, had quite the high school career, going from unknown JV point guard to McDonald’s All-American. “Everything I’ve gone through has been an obstacle,” explained the star point guard. “Everyday I have to work harder to get better, or else someone out there will pass me. That’s how I look at my life.”

 

To fully understand the journey that Fultz has taken to get to where he is today, you have to go back to his childhood. Growing up in a single-parent household, Fultz picked up the game at the age of three, motivated to pay his mother back. “With my mom, being a single mom, I try to work my hardest so that she doesn’t have to work one day.” said the 18-year-old.

Fultz would continue to play basketball and by the ninth grade, he decided to attend Dematha Catholic High School, which has one of the top basketball teams in the country. However, at Dematha, Fultz got off to a rough start, being placed on their junior varsity team for his sophomore season. “Playing junior varsity because a lot of people didn’t think that I could make it after that.” Fultz said.

Through hard work and dedication, Fultz overcame his JV placement and finally made it to the varsity team for his junior season. It was then that college scouts began to get an idea of Fultz’s dynamic ability at the point guard position. Within a matter of time, nearly 20 schools from the likes of UNC, Maryland, Georgetown, Arizona, Kentucky, Kansas, and of course, Washington.

 

Although Fultz’s success was sudden and unexpected for many, he did a great job of staying level-headed and evaluating all of his options equally. “The advice that I would give to other recruits is this: ‘Take your time, don’t play around with the process, and if you see somewhere that you want to go, go ahead and commit. Don’t play around and don’t try to take advantage of everything.” Fultz said.

Now that the recruiting process is out of the way, Fultz is ready to develop his game even further. Already a solid playmaker, the Husky commit isn’t done improving yet. “I want to improve at everything.” he continued. “I don’t think that there’s one thing that I lack. I want to improve every part of my game, getting faster, defense, speed, and ball handling.”

 

If Markelle Fultz can further improve his game, then you can expect to see him all over mock drafts next year as a potential lottery pick. Already one of the most NBA-ready prospects in the nation, Fultz could use an extra year of polishing his game to separate himself from the rest of the NCAA. Despite his dreams of making the NBA, for Markelle Fultz, there’s only one thing that motivates him: “God gave me a blessed talent that I don’t want to waste. So, I just treat every day like it’s my last.”