Malik Beasley is one of the players that I have covered the most over the last few years. The first time I saw him play was in the summer of 2012, playing with the 15U Southern Kings with his Saint Francis teammates Kobi Simmons, Kaiser Gates, and Keshawn Gibbs.

At the time, Beasley was a player to watch for and take notice of, but Simmons and Gates were the marquee names that everyone talked about. That never stopped Beasley from working his tail off.

Over the next two years, he improved more than any player that I have seen in a long while, becoming Class A Player of the Year, a Top 30 national recruit, Freshman All-American at Florida State, and an NBA Draft Prospect.

Over the course of his junior and senior seasons at Saint Francis, I was in attendance for a number of games where he went for 25-plus or 30-plus points. He is a player that has gotten to where he is with hard work and dedication, and has been a lot of fun to cover over the last few years.