While many High School Basketball players are resting up after a long travel season this Summer, Quinn Cook is one of the few who still find time to hit the gym. Before our interview yesterday at 5:30, I tried to get a hold of him to confirm we were good to go. I knew he was doing weights and conditioning with renowned trainer Alan Stein of Stronger Team at 2:00, but was not aware that he would be putting up shots afterwards with his two cousins. Not only that, but after our interview, he went back into the gym later on that evening to workout and followed that up with even more shots with incoming Maryland Freshman Peshon Howard. It’s that kind of dedication that’s led Quinn to be the 3rd ranked PG and 20th ranked overall player in the Class of 2011 according to Scout.com. Quinn’s schedule doesn’t get any slower this month as he leaves for the Elite 24 on August 25th, will fly back to Charlotte straight from LA, and then go straight from there to Oak Hill Academy to start his senior season.
If you don’t know by now, Quinn is leaving behind a very accomplished career at Dematha High School to join Coach Steve Smith’s Oak Hill Academy squad on a quest to win a National Championship. Quinn feels like he accomplished everything in the DC area he could, “Not just individually, but team-wise. I’ve won two championships, finished #1 in the Washington Post, won All-Met Player of the Year as a Junior (first person ever), was the WCAC Player of the Year.” It is clearly tough for Quinn to move on from such a support system, but even his Mom thinks it’s best that he gets away from people who are trying to wiggle their way into Quinn’s inner circle.
“It was either Dematha or Oak Hill, there was no other school,” Quinn said. “Having friends and family who have been through Oak Hill, I know the program. Coach Steve Smith is welcoming me with open arms and Coach Jones (Dematha) gave me his blessing to leave and is still behind me 100% so everything is going to work out.” Cook feels “the only thing left in my high school career I haven’t accomplished is to win a National Championship. Oak Hill gives me the best chance to do that.” He joins fellow DC Assault player Torian Graham to form one of the best backcourts in the country. Coming into this year with a #6 National Ranking (USA Today), the expectations will be high as Cook and Graham will be expected to replace incoming Kentucky Freshman Doron Lamb and the aforementioned Peshon Howard.
Many great guards have come through Oak Hill, and Quinn recognizes what it means to wear the Warriors jersey. “I grew up watching the Ty Lawsons and the Brandon Jennings and it’s an honor to put on the same jerseys as them, be the leader of the team like they were, and try to have the same level of success they did at Oak Hill. I want to be where they are in a couple of years and it just lets me know that I’m on the right path and if I keep working hard and putting in the extra work then I can get to their level.” Quinn calls himself a “student of the game” and says he likes to “take things from each point guard’s games.” He specifically spoke about Lawson. “I know I’m not as athletic or strong as Tywon but I try to look and see how he creates space on his jumper.” Other guards Quinn mentioned that he tries to emulate are Chris Paul and Johnny Flynn. Villanova’s Maalik Wayans’ game reminds Quinn a lot of himself as do other “shorter guards” like Corey Fisher and Kemba Walker.
Quinn says he’s 6’1″ in shoes, only an inch shorter than his godbrother, Duke guard Nolan Smith, who is helping him with the recruiting process. “He’s definitely helping me a lot. He’s not Duke-biased at all. He understands that I have to make my own decision. When he was deciding everyone was wanting him to go to Louisville to follow in his Dad’s footsteps but he went his own way and made the right decision in going to Duke. You’ve seen what he did there. He’s definitely been in my shoes so he can help me with this process.”
Speaking of Quinn’s recruitment, he recently cut his list of schools to 7, and one of those schools is the Duke Blue Devils. When speaking of the defending National Champions, Quinn says there are a few things that make Duke an attractive place to play. “The main thing is winning. When you think college basketball, you think Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Arizona, and UCLA. Duke just wins. Coach K being with USA Basketball and Duke you can see he knows how to win. Also, the way they get guys to the NBA and the fact that there are a lot of Duke guys in the NBA now.”
Quinn is scheduled to be at Countdown to Crazieness October 15th as Duke’s 4th National Championship Banner is revealed to the public for the first time. Cook said “Coach K told me that would be a perfect weekend to come up there. Marshall Plumlee told me he was going to be up there and so did “Little” Rodney Purvis and Quincy (Miller), so I just said why not? All my boys will be up there at one time, so…” One of those boys, 2011 standout Quincy Miller, is someone Quinn says he would like to play basketball with in college. “Quincy, Deuce (Bello), and Johnny O’Bryant. Those 3 I really want to play with in college. We never really talk about which school, but we just want to make it happen.” Quincy and Quinn are treating the weekend as their official visit weekend, “Quincy and I are gonna take our official visit to Duke together.”
As far as a timeline, Quinn has stated he wants to pick a school in the Fall. “That’s something I want to do because I want to just focus on my senior year, have fun, be a kid, and win a championship. But, I know this is an important decision so I definitely don’t want to rush into it. Whenever I feel like it’s right, that’s when I’ll make my decision.” With Arizona and UCLA all the way across the country and Oak Hill playing such a hectic schedule, it may be hard to fit in visits to those schools so far away. When he gets to Oak Hill, he’s “going to sit down with Coach Smith and Mrs. Smith and plan everything out because obviously he knows more than I do. Hopefully, everything works out for me to get to visit all the schools I want to.”
