Markelle Fultz is still upset Maryland’s Anthony Cowan won a high school award over him

The NBA Draft is on Thursday, and DeMatha Catholic grad Markelle Fultz will be the No. 1 pick. He’ll go to the Philadelphia 76ers, who swapped picks with the Boston Celtics over the weekend.

With the trade confirmed, The Washington Post’s Kent Babb released a feature on Fultz, who will be the first District of Columbia native to be drafted with the top pick in over four decades.

It appears Fultz is still upset that Maryland basketball’s Anthony Cowan beat him out for the paper’s All-Met Player of the Year award.

This is supposed to be a milestone night in Markelle’s young life, a time to take it all in, but instead this 19-year-old from Prince George’s County has a bone to pick. About a year ago, The Washington Post selected Anthony Cowan, not Fultz, as its All-Met Boys' Basketball Player of the Year. Nothing against Cowan, but 13 months later Markelle hasn’t let it go; instead of toasting in the booth overlooking West 48th Street, this is where his mind is.

“I hate to see myself cheated,” the former University of Washington star says. “At the end of the day, it’s politics.”

Cowan had a legitimate claim to the award, after leading St. John’s High School to their first Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Championship since 2000. Cowan’s Cadets beat Fultz and DeMatha for the title, holding to the soon-to-be millionaire to just 12 points.

Cowan averaged 20.6 points a game his senior season — Fultz averaged 17.6 — but Fultz definitely had the better individual season last year, team success aside.

In his lone year at Washington, Fultz showed a well-rounded skill set for the Huskies that has had him pegged as the consensus top pick for essentially the entire season. He averaged 23.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.9 assists a night on 47.6 percent shooting from the field and an efficient 41.3 percent from deep.

In his first year at Maryland, Cowan was a part of a trio of freshmen that played support to program star Melo Trimble, now departed for the draft as well. Cowan is viewed as the Terps’ point guard of the future, but Fultz is already on an entirely different level.

Still, Cowan will always be able to say he beat out a No. 1 pick for a Player of the Year award.

In other news

It was a pretty slow day for college sports. Keeping the summer rolling, we kicked off Wide Receivers Week.

Taivon Jacobs has dealt with injuries his entire Maryland career, but he has a shot to go out in style.

Mark Turgeon’s staff made their second offer of the 2019 recruiting cycle to four-star shooting guard Josh Nickelberry. Nickelberry is the fifth-ranked player from Virginia and the No. 10 shooting guard in his class.

One of my old roommates once told the rest of us about the day “Retweet Armageddon” would come and all those who trusted the Sam Hinkie and the Process would be vindicated. After the trade, they decided the wait was over.

Trust the Process and stay petty.