Beyond the X: 'God of Dunk' Malik Monk leaves poverty, strikes gold, beats buzzers in land of Walmart

The videos of those buzzer-beaters vaulted Malik into the national limelight.

The next morning they were featured on SportsCenter and have provided fodder for Malik’s teammates to mess with him. They rib him, he said, about not being on ESPN since then and that he isn’t ranked in the national Top 5 for his class. The joking extends to recruiting, too.

Occasionally, teammate Ryan Bachman will unleash a “Wooo Pig Sooie,” the signature yell of the Razorbacks, to joke with him in the locker room.

“I laugh at it,” said Malik, who grew up as a Hogs fan in a Razorback household.

He often made the trek from Lepanto to Fayetteville as a child to watch Marcus, a dual-sport athlete better known for his All-SEC career as a University of Arkansas wide receiver.

This school year, Malik has made the five-hour drive back to Lepanto once — for a football game in the fall. But home is still very much on his mind. He texts his half-brothers — Byron and Aaron Scales — daily about their most recent football or basketball games. They tell him he needs to visit more, and indeed Malik plans to spend a few days in Lepanto for Spring Break.

Malik’s Twitter profile picture isn’t of himself. Instead, it features his cousin Troy Tucker, who died three years ago of complications arising from sickle cell anemia. Malik, 15 years younger, looked up to his cousin because he was a good person. He often downs pregame red skittles and orange juice in remembrance of Tucker, who loved those two foods.

Malik is still a kid in many ways. But as a high-profile prep star living only a smartphone photo away from potential embarrassment or worse, he’s learning how to navigate the sometimes stressful world of recruiting. He said he has put his Razorback fandom aside to objectively assess which program provides the best opportunity to meet his goals.

Specifically, he’s looking for chemistry with teammates, “good coaching” and “how they develop players not only for the college level but the league.” He wants to spend one year in college before going pro like his favorite player Kevin Durant.

Whether Malik eventually chooses Arkansas or not, he will have benefited from proximity to the program. He’s gotten training from two former Razorback stars and NBA players - Ron Brewer and Ronnie Brewer, Jr. He occasionally attends Razorback practices at Bud Walton Arena and last summer scrimmaged with the team.

“It went well. They were pushing me,” said Malik, adding that he will have to bulk up his 173-pound frame before he can compete better at the higher level.

He communicates daily with two Razorbacks - his cousin Rashad Madden, a starting Arkansas guard, and Marcus, who last fall joined the staff as a manager (an auxiliary position similar to football’s graduate assistant). Malik is encouraged by both of his relatives to keep working hard and gets pointers on improving his game. He added neither relatives’ Razorback status will influence his college choice.

“I’m trying to go with what’s best for me," he said.

Marcus said he feels “no conflict of interest at all” being part of the basketball team and the brother of a highly sought recruit. When he first discussed the position with Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, he said, he told Anderson he was going to let Malik decide on a college on his own.

So far, Marcus added, he and Malik haven’t discussed recruiting.

“He knows I’m here if he needs any advice.”

The Arkansas coaches haven’t asked Marcus to relay any messages to Malik, he added.

“They’ll ask about him, how he’s doing at school and all that.”