ALL-AMERICA, 2010

Were he a four year player, there is little doubt the name Greg Monroe would stand alongside Georgetown legends as Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, or Alonzo Mourning. The world of college basketball no longer rewards longevity, and Monroe's name is almost an afterthought in the panoply of big men at Georgetown.

The 6-11 Monroe was the highest ranked recruit of the John Thompson III era and to this date the last top-five selection to join the program. Recruiting expert Dave Telep called Monroe "the best [high school] player in the country" and a "pied piper" for other top recruits to follow. "[Telep said] the talent already in place at Georgetown gives the team a legitimate chance to win a national championship in the coming years," wrote the HOYA in 2007.

Monroe was a Parade and McDonald's All-American at Helen Cox HS in New Orleans, a averaging 21 points and 14 rebounds a game. A consensus #1 pick in the summer of 2007, he slipped to sixth in the consolidated national rankings by the spring and as low as #20 in Sports Illustrated's rankings following Cox's second round upset in the state tournament. regardless, Monroe was the star attraction among a collection of Big East recruits that season which included Kemba Walker, Samuardo Samuels, Kris Joseph, and Yancy Gates.

The heir apparent to Roy Hibbert at center, Monroe averaged 12.7 points his freshman season, scoring in double figures in 27 of 31 games and displaying a deft touch with assists, as was the case with a 13 point, 11 rebound, eight assist effort versus Providence in 2009. The 2008-09 Hoyas started the season 12-3 before the wheels fell off , dropping 12 of its final 16 and settling for a frost round NIT game at Baylor, where the Hoyas lost a 10 point lead at the half and fell by two, 74-72. Leading scorer DaJuan Summers left the team thereafter, leaving the rising sophomore to take the reins of the program in 2009-10.

Monroe had a strong, though not dominant season in 2009-10, finishing second in scoring to Austin Freeman and leading the team ins coring in 13 of 34 games. Defensively, Monroe was without peer, leading the team in 31 of 34 games in rebounding and earning first team All-Big East honors and the third team All-America team by the Associated Press. he had a career high 29 points and 16 rebounds at Villanova, and led the team in assists in 15 games, a number unheard of for a center.

" If you weren't sure that Georgetown's Greg Monroe would be declaring for the NBA draft after this season, he just all but confirmed it with his performance in the first Big East Tournament semifinal game," write Bleacher Report in 2010. "In an 80-57 thrashing of Marquette -who knocked No. 10 Villanova out of the tournament one day earlier-Monroe posted the most unbelievable stat line of any Georgetown player under John Thompson III: 23 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks-and one dagger of a three-pointer that broke what little will to win Marquette had left in the second half."

"Bottom line: The kid is nothing short of phenomenal, and the Hoyas have been lucky to have him wear a Georgetown uniform as long as he has," wrote columnist Bryan Toporek. "While Thompson won't add him to the list of great Georgetown centers... he's unquestionably cemented his legacy in the Georgetown big-man lineage."

A month after the first of four painful early exists for the Hoyas in NCAA play, Monroe announced he would enter the NBA draft. A first round pick of the Detroit Pistons in 2010, Monroe was a solid contributor for five years with the Pistons, but on a team that got comparatively little attention and with it, diminished Monroe's potential star power. Traded to Milwaukee in 2016 with a $17 million contract, Monroe played for four different teams over the next four years, a journeyman on teams that had little playoff impact. In eight seasons, he averaged 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds a game, not far removed from his collegiate average.

Years earlier, at his signing with Georgetown in 2007, Telep said that Monroe was "like a Batman with no Robin." Both in college and the pros, Monroe lacked the depth around him which could have elevated him among the greats, but always gave the effort to demonstrate why he was such a talented and valuable addition to any team.