University of Illinois
He was recruited by Lon Kruger to play power forward for the Illinois Fighting Illini, making him the third consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball to sign with Illinois, following the lead of Sergio McClain (1997) and Frank Williams (1998).
Cook ultimately played 132 games in four years at the University of Illinois, most of them under coach Bill Self, and led the Illini in rebounding in each season. A 6'10" forward, Cook was a versitle scorer from both inside and outside the paint, utilizing his height to score in the post and hitting three-point shots when left open. This helped him to earn co Big Ten Freshman of the year honors during his first year at Illinois. As a senior in the 2002-03 season, Cook led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 20.0 points per game, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball as the Most Valuable Player of the Big Ten Conference. That same season, Cook was named Second-Team All-American by The Sporting News, and Third-Team All-American by the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and The Basketball Times, as well as Big Ten Player of the Year and First-Team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media.
Cook helped lead the Illini to a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, and the Illini cruised to the Elite 8, where they were upset in a hard fought and controversial game by Cook's future teammate Luke Walton and the Arizona Wildcats. Cook was projected to be a top 10 draft pick in the NBA Draft, but ultimately slipped to the L.A. Lakers 24th pick. Cook left Illinois as the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1748 total points, at an average of 13.2 points per game, behind Deon Thomas and Kiwane Garris.
Cook was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.
Read more about this topic: Brian Cook
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