Sometimes, all you need is an opportunity.

With that in mind, CBS Sports is sponsoring the third annual HBCU All-Star Game at Grand Canyon University on April 7, as the eyes of the basketball world are fixed on Phoenix for the men’s Final Four.

Historically Black colleges and universities “are some of the most proud, prestigious and tradition-rich colleges and universities across the country,” said Travis Williams, the game’s founder and driving force.

“We have some amazing students and student-athletes and some of our most brilliant coaches who don’t often get the national recognition or shine they deserve.”

It’s important for the state of Arizona, the West and the nation.

HBCUs are a vital training ground for the next generation of Black professionals, providing knowledge, skills and identity for young people who have much to contribute in a world that often tries to shut them out.

They have a legacy that goes back to slavery, segregation, reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynchings and Black Codes, back before the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance, “Double V for Victory,” the Freedom Rides, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

It’s a legacy that gave rise to Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King and Kamala Harris.

Yet there still are people who have no clue what it means to attend an HBCU — especially in Arizona, which has none.........

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