Hogs in Monk's final six

Bentonville's Malik Monk, (5) dribbles around North Little Rock's Kambrion Dickerson (12) during the Class 7A Boys State High School Basketball Championships in Hot Springs on Saturday, March 14, 2015.

Arkansas made the cut with Malik Monk.

The senior guard from Bentonville, who is one of the nation's most sought-after college basketball prospects, revealed the top six schools he is interested in and the four with which he has set up official visits.

Monk, 6-4, 190 pounds, said he has narrows his list of schools to Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Florida State.

He has scheduled official visits to Oregon (Sept. 18), Kansas (Oct. 9), Kentucky (Oct. 16) and Arkansas (Oct. 24). Monk said his other official visit will be to either North Carolina or Florida State, with the other finalist receiving an unofficial visit.

ESPN rates Monk the No. 1 shooting guard in the nation and the No. 5 prospect overall. He averaged 26.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game as a junior and was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas Preps boys basketball player of the year.

Some observers have speculated that Arkansas and Kentucky are his top schools, but Monk said Tuesday night that isn't necessarily true.

"Before I even cut my list down, every school had a chance," Monk said Tuesday evening during a radio appearance on KAKS-FM, 99.5, in Northwest Arkansas. "Everybody just asked me about Arkansas and Kentucky, so I guess that's why they thought it's a two-man race. But, yeah, I'm open to every school I just named."

Monk also said a school's 2016 recruiting class won't impact his decision.

"It really doesn't matter because there's going to be good players at every college you go to," he said. "I just want to be comfortable with the coaches."

Monk had said previously that he would make his college decision in the spring but indicated Tuesday that it could come sooner.

"It's just whenever I get comfortable with my coaches or whoever I feel after I get done with my official visits," he said. "Whenever I feel comfortable, then I'll make my decision."

Monk's brother Marcus, who was an Arkansas Razorbacks receiver from 2004 to 2007, said that he, his mother, Jackie, and Malik felt comfortable around the coaches of all the finalists.

"At all of those schools, I feel he can thrive on the court, but it was more of a lifestyle of him becoming a young adult," Marcus Monk said. "We were looking for a coach, someone we felt secure handing him off to and help him become a young adult in the classroom and responsibility and holding him accountable for his actions."

Sports on 09/02/2015