Monk is at peace while Razorback fans fall to pieces

Bentonville’s Malik Monk (left) takes the ball to the basket Jan. 27 against Rogers Heritage in Rogers.
Bentonville’s Malik Monk (left) takes the ball to the basket Jan. 27 against Rogers Heritage in Rogers.

Last Wednesday should have been a day of celebration after it was announced former Arkansas pitcher Dallas Keuchel had won the American League Cy Young award.

That's quite an honor for Keuchel and a fresh recruiting tool for Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn and pitching coach Dave Jorn. But the baseball story was quickly surpassed by two basketball items, the least of which was Arkansas' loss to some Zips from the hotbed of Akron, Ohio.

No, all the focus was on a 17-year-old and his decision on where to play for a year before he heads to the NBA. The reaction was swift and mostly negative statewide at the news.

I've long equated reading message boards with digging for diamonds at Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. You can find a gem on occasion, but you've got to sift through a lot of muck to reach it.

There was a lot of muck being slung at Malik Monk last week after he confirmed he was signing with Kentucky instead of Arkansas. The negativity wasn't restricted to grownups who can hide behind fictitious names when they type hateful comments on message boards. It spread to the light of day, especially on sports talk radio where hosts blamed the NCAA, John Calipari and Malik's older brother, Marcus Monk, a former Razorback who played football and basketball for the Hogs.

People are disappointed, myself included. Loosing a 5-star recruit is like being turned down for the prom by the prettiest girl in school after you've made goo-goo eyes at each other all year.

Arkansas produces so few premiere athletes, we certainly want to keep them. That's why homegrown stars like Corliss Williamson, Matt Jones, Darren McFadden, and Bobby Portis are revered in this state. They could've gone anywhere, yet they chose to become Razorbacks.

Increasingly, players shun their home state for the lure of the programs and coaches who are hot at the moment. But I don't remember anyone throwing a hissy fit when Keuchel left Tulsa to play for Arkansas. I don't remember anyone calling for an NCAA investigation when Houston Nutt convinced Ahmad Carroll, a 5-star recruit, and Lawrence Richardson, the No. 2-rated cornerback in the nation, to leave their home states of Georgia and Texas to play football for the Razorbacks.

The credit at the time went to Nutt and his gift of gab in connecting with talented young players. John Calipari has that same street cred, times 100, and he can assure recruits their rush to the NBA will benefit with a pit stop at Kentucky.

Maybe Arkansas would've stood a better chance with Monk had its program not fallen off so much since winning the national championship in 1994. But Monk has long been zeroed in on the NBA and not the college where he'll likely attend for two semesters.

Still, it would've made this basketball season at Arkansas more tolerable with his letter-of-intent. The only surprise was the timing and not the fact Monk chose another team besides the Razorbacks.

Monk was booed last week during a benefit game at Conway, where he scored 36 points in an 86-71 win over the Wampus Cats. The booing is going to happen all year, especially in 7A-West Conference games in the heart of Razorback country. But Monk said he feels at peace now and disappointed Arkansas fans should accept his decision and move on.

Good luck, Malik. I hope you fulfill your dream and play many years in the NBA.

In the meantime, I'm going to focus on Keuchel and how his time at Arkansas helped prepare him for the pros.

He won the Cy Young award, did you hear?

Sports on 11/22/2015

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