Marcus Monk On The Rise

Marcus Monk, has officially become an impact player in the class of 2004. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound wing forward from East Poinsett County High School in Lepanto, Arkansas is being recruited by some of the most prestigious schools in America

The end of the month long contact period is nearing and college coaches from around the globe are flocking to the East Poinsett gym to spend a little time with Monk.

“UAB has been here, Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma is still coming in for a visit and coaches from Memphis are still coming,” East Poinsett County High School head coach Kevin Kyzer said. “He’s got offers from Stanford, Boston College, UAB, Arkansas, Northwestern and Vanderbilt. Florida was scheduled to come in for a visit, but they could not get enough coaches off the road in time.

“Marcus is thinking about taking official visits to Stanford and Boston College in the month of May, but nothing has been decided as of yet,” he added.

Monk is not your typical high school basketball player. There is no doubt that he excels on the basketball court, but he takes great pride in his academics as well.

He carries a 3.95 GPA, scored an 1130 on his SAT and is scheduled to become the fist African American Valedictorian in school history.

It is safe to assume that Monk will continue that level of academic excellence at the collegiate level, but he has a real passion for basketball.

The new staff at Kansas has also been in contact with Monk. Coach Bill Self sent him and e-mail one day after being named the head coach at Kansas and assistant Tim Jankovich has made several calls to the basketball office.

Monk and Jankovick are very familiar with each other, as Jankovick had recruited Monk while he was a coach at Illinois.

Nothing is set in stone at this point, but it sounds like Kansas will be one of the schools that Monk visits.

“Marcus is pretty open right now and I really think he’ll take all five official visits,” Kyzer said. “He likes the big time basketball programs and Kansas is definitely a big time school. Marcus will take an official visit to Kansas.

“He is the best player that I’ve ever coached and one of the best players that I’ve ever seen,” he added.

Monk has been invited to participate in the NBA players’ association camp, which will take place in Richmond, Virginia on June 17-21.