Nearly two years ago, a rising high school senior Quinn Cook came down awkwardly on his right knee in the Elite 24 All-Star game. Just a few days into September 2010, he had surgery to repair a partially torn ACL and was expected to be out of action for three to four months. However, being the competitor that he is Cook hurried back to the court less than two months later in the annual Oak Hill-Hargrave scrimmage. Although he was clearly fighting through pain the entire year at Oak Hill, Cook managed to average 21 points and 11 assists to lead his Warriors to a #7 national ranking.
After his senior season, Duke decided to rest the incoming freshman point guard through September, forcing him to miss Duke’s trip to Dubai and China and numerous practices that the Blue Devils were afforded due to their overseas trip. On a team that was searching for an answer at point guard nearly the entire 2012 season, the missed practice time and delicate nature of the ACL recovery caused Cook to average only 11.7 minutes a game.
Seemingly fully healthy for the first time in a while, Cook has been putting on a show this summer. Off a recent trip to Estonia with the East Coast Basketball All-Stars, Wayne Bumpass brings you up to date on Cook’s performance.
Quinn Cook started the summer working out with his close friend 2010 National Champion and former Duke guard Nolan Smith; since early July he has been hooping in the NC Pro-Am with his Blue Devil teammates and for the past three days he has been in Estonia trying to win a title with the East Coast All-Stars in the Four Nations Cup.
Cook played great at the NC Pro-Am showcasing his floor leadership, his great court vision, his shooting touch, his “And 1″ streetball crossover moves and his amazing ability to get into the paint and get to the basket. Sunday in the first game of the Four Nations Cup against the Czech Republic, Quinn picked up where he left off at the NC Pro-Am and finished with 17 points, 1 assist and 2 steals in 27 minutes of play. Marshall Plumlee joined his Blue Devil teammate on the East Coast All-Stars, he also had a very impressive night offensively and defensively in the one game of the NC Pro-Am that he played in. Monday, the East Coast All-Stars faced off against the tough Republic of Georgia and stunned them in a double overtime thriller 129-124. Quinn Cook had 29 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals in 40 minutes of play, shot 50% from the floor and he also hit the buzzer-beating floater to send the game into overtime. Marshall was on his way to a triple double finishing with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 blocks in 39 minutes of play and he controlled the paint.
The East Coast All-Stars had a very big game Tuesday against the host team Estonia, they had to beat Estonia and have the Czech Republic lose to the Republic of Georgia in order to win the Four Nations Cup Title but before the East Coast All-Stars even tipped off against the host team, the Czech Republic beat the Republic of Georgia deminishing their title hopes. Despite knowing they weren’t going to be playing for the title, the players were still focused, fought hard in the first half but were ultimately defeated 109-74. Cook finished the game with 20 points (12 at the half) 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 23 minute of play while Marshall had 6 points, 9 rebounds (7 in the first half), 1 steal and 3 blocks in 24 minutes of play. Cook averaged 22 points per game and was selected to the All Cup Team while Marshall averaged 7.7 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. Both Cook and Plumlee have been impressive this summer and once they return back to Durham safely, you can be sure that they will have their sights set on helping the Blue Devils win a National championship this season.
