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The last few days have not been kind to the ASU basketball program. First, the Sun Devils blew a 15-point second-half lead to the last place USC Trojans in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament. Then, the Sun Devils watched the Arizona Wildcats win the tournament for the first time since 2002.
Well, ASU received some more bad news Monday morning when it was reported that Markus Howard, their prized 2017 point guard recruit, decommitted from his verbal pledge to the Sun Devils.
Azcentral high school sports reporter Richard Obert first reported this news.
Perry sophomore G Markus Howard has decommitted from Arizona State. I will have story later
— Richard Obert (@azc_obert) March 16, 2015
Howard committed to Arizona State in August after a sensational freshman season at Gilbert Perry. At the time of his commitment, Howard had offers from ASU and NAU but had reported interest from Utah, Oregon, Kansas and Florida according to Obert.
In his sophomore season for the Pumas, Howard averaged 32.4 points per game, which was reportedly the highest among high school sophomores. He also had a strong showing this past fall at the Team USA Mini-camp. This write-up comes from BrandonClayScouting.com.
Markus Howard of Chandler, Ariz., had a stellar showing in the camp’s evening session. The recent Arizona State commit made his teammates better while displaying that he can make the open jump shot or attack the rim. Herb Sendek landed an ELITE 25 caliber prospect in Howard.
Sendek and staff have been off to a hot start in ASU's future recruiting classes. According to Rivals, ASU has two players committed inside the national top 100 for the class of 2016, Brendan Bailey (78th) and Lucas Siewart (99th). Howard checked in at No. 40 nationally in Rivals 2017 rankings.
Howard released a statement to Obert about the reasons for his decommittment. Howard states that the coaching staff has nothing to do with his decision, stating he did not take the appropriate time to go through the process.
There is still a chance that Howard ends up in Tempe. He still has two seasons of high school basketball left, so there is plenty of time for him to make his college decision.