Editor's note: The 2016-2017 college basketball season will be the "Year of the Freshmen", featuring what could be the best class we've ever seen. Over the next two weeks we will get familiar with the best of the best, examining who they are and where each of the top 10 prospects in the 2016 ESPN 100 came from.
Read more: No. 10 Duke's Frank Jackson
| No. 9 Kentucky's Malik Monk
No. 8 Michigan State's Mile Bridges | No. 7 Washington's Markelle Fultz
No. 6 Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox | No. 5 Kentucky's Bam Adebayo
No. 4 UCLA's Lonzo Ball | No. 3 Duke's Jayson Tatum
No. 2 Kansas' Josh Jackson | No. 1 Duke's Harry Giles
Malik Monk was ranked among the top 10 prospects in his class for most of his high school career, with huge scoring outings and jaw-dropping highlights spreading his story. Monk's recruiting battle centered around home-state Arkansas and blue-blood Kentucky -- and after a long back-and-forth process, Monk ended up in Lexington, where he should start immediately on the wing for coach John Calipari.
Unmatched athleticism
Monk's athleticism was unparalleled at the high school level. He typically would produce at least one or two highlight-reel dunks every game, and people flocked to his games just to catch a glimpse of the show.
"He's explosive, incredibly explosive athletically," said one college coach. "I think that he can really finish in transition. In the open floor, he's gonna be someone people have a really hard time contending with."
His athleticism doesn't just help out in transition; NBA scouts have been impressed by his midrange game because of his elevation.
"His one, two dribble pull-up, it's some of the best elevation I've ever seen," one scout said. "It's hard to resist if you know you can just take one dribble and just elevate so high -- there's no way they can prevent you from shooting. He knows he can get a shot he's really comfortable with, so why do more than that? He's going to be a high-volume two-point jump shooter."
Go-to scorer
Word coming out of Lexington the past few weeks is that Monk has been the best offensive player on the team.
"He should be their leading scorer," one NBA scout said. "He's a guy that will take a lot of shots."
With De'Aaron Fox and Isaiah Briscoe -- two more natural point guards -- bringing the ball up, Monk is likely to play primarily off the ball, so he'll be tasked more with filling up the scoring column rather than being a distributor.
"He's not a big-time playmaker for his teammates," an NBA Eastern Conference scout said. "Some people want him to become a point guard. He'll get [an] opportunity to handle the ball at Kentucky -- they'll play those three guards a lot.
"Fox and Briscoe are pretty good passers and creators, they should be able to get him some pretty good opportunities. From a scoring perspective, he'll have a pretty good year. If fans are expecting a stat-stuffer across the board, I'm not seeing that."
Consistency and defensive focus
When Monk was on in high school, there might not have been a better player in the 2016 class. He was capable of rattling off 40-plus points, knocking in a string of 3-pointers, and carrying his team offensively. The big knock on him, however, was his lack of consistency. He would follow up a big outing with a 3-for-17 night and seemingly coast for much of the game, especially defensively.
"I do think he has a tendency to float a little bit," one college assistant said. "There's gonna be nights where it's another guy -- Isaiah Briscoe, De'Aaron Fox. He has to find a way to stay in the game and engaged."
Given his athleticism, he has the ability to guard multiple players. But will he?
"He has to play hard defensively," one NBA scout said. "A big part of his potential success and impact is as a defender. He can cover a lot of ground athletically. He's very fast and explosive and anticipates pretty well -- when he's locked in on defense."