Four Kentucky Wildcats basketball signees are among the Naismith Trophy High School All-Americans.
That includes point guard De'Aaron Fox as a first-team selection, which makes him one of five players eligible for the Naismith High School Player of the Year award. That announcement will come later this week.
Also making the Naismith all-Americans were forward Edrice "Bam" Adebayo and shooting guard Malik Monk as second-team picks, while forward Wenyen Gabriel was a third-team selection. Only Fox is up for the POY award, but those three certainly made strong cases for that honor.
Adebayo hails from High Point Christian Academy in High Point, N.C., where he has averaged 22.0 points, 15.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game during his senior season. He's ranked in the top 10 by Rivals (No. 6) and ESPN (No. 6). 247Sports (No. 14) and Scout (No. 15) tab him as a top-15 prospect in the 2016 class.
Monk is considered the top shooting guard in the class and is ranked No. 5 overall in the 2016 class by 247Sports and ESPN while Rivals.com has him at No. 6. Monk's He's averaged 30.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game during his senior season at Bentonville High in Arkansas and will play for a state championship.
Gabriel, who plays at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., is ranked as the 10th-best player overall in the 2016 class by scout.com. 247Sports and Rivals tab him at No. 17 while ESPN places him at No. 23.
As for Fox, who hails from Cypress Lakes High School in Katy, Texas, he is rated as high as No. 2 overall in the rankings by 247Sports. Scout ranks him at No. 4, Rivals has him at No. 5 and ESPN tabs him No. 7. During the regular season he scored 30 or more points in 17 games, 40 or more six times and even hit the 50-point mark in February.
Congratulations to these four future Cats on these honors.