Remember how some people (myself included) were a little down or concerned about the fact that Marcus Monk didn't play on a practice squad last year? Well, it seems that some of that may have been his choice. After being cut by the Bears (who had drafted him in the 7th round) at the September 1st cut and a one-week stint on the Giants practice squad, Monk chose to go back to school at Arkansas, starting work on a second degree while also using his fifth year of NCAA eligibility in basketball, much as Greg Paulus is doing at Syracuse. He had dabbled in basketball in his freshman year, averaging 1 PPG and 2 RPG in about 8 MPG over 10 games. Last year, though, he made a more significant impact, playing 16 MPG over 8 games, averaging 5-3 with a steal a game tossed in to boot. That impact included being one of the stars of a 96-88 midseason upset of #4 Oklahoma. In that game, he scored 8 second-half points and did his part in "holding" NBA #1 draft pick Blake Griffin to 21 points. So, for all the talk about athletes like Julius Peppers and his exploits on the basketball court, it looks like we might just have another member for a good pickup b-ball team.