Anyway cook comes back?

[jctnhoya4ever]

I was wandering if cook said anything about coming back ? Has he said anything? Thanks

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

I could see this happening if we get deep into the cycle and neither party has found a good fit. There have been a couple of these portal & back scenarios in recent years. We could do worse if he is a back-up (preferably a deep end of bench back-up).

[jwp91]

I have heard he is welcome back, but I think he is looking for promises the staff was unwilling to give at the time. I was hoping we would be successful recruiting over him but at some point you have to ask yourself if you are a better team with or without him. He was very poor defensively, but we might wish we had him.

[Ranch Dressing]

After what happened with Qudus Wahab, a Cook return from the portal should not surprise anyone.

I think Cook, Sorber, and Fielder may be the best big rotation we can reasonably find at the moment. Maybe that Kentucky center Onyenso?

It's getting to be slim pickings, unless Cooley has something working overseas.

[jwp91]

Someone on Discord reports talking to someone on staff this weekend and learning that Cook returning was not in the plan. Unclear if that was Cook's plan or staff's plan.

[jctnhoya4ever]

That would be a bad decision if it was coach not wanting him back. You got a freshman big man and no depth. They are several good players still in the portal. The guy from Utah state, and the big guy from Illinois. And we need more players. Especially big men. Even if they are average we got to have some depth if sober is going to be the starter at center.and need another point guard to. Epps will probably backup Mack and start at the 2.

[jwp91]

I suspect it was a Cook decision but can’t say so confidently.

[practice]

I suspect on Cook and nearly every other topic on here ... we have no real idea of what is happening!

[hoyasaxa2003]

May 8, 2024 6:18:09 GMT -5 practice said:

I suspect on Cook and nearly every other topic on here ... we have no real idea of what is happening!

Correct! From Cook's perspective, though I kind of see it. The guy was our starting center last year and he played a lot of minutes. Under any scenario imaginable, Cook's role will likely be diminished (a) to allow Fielder and Sorber playing time and (b) because Cook's defense was so bad that it's hard to have him on the Court for long periods and not suffer.

It is really unfortunate that Cook's defense is so problematic. If you could have only the offensive side, it would be a no brainer to keep him. But he was a big enough liability on defense, that I do think it's possible we are a better team overall without him.

If we end up going with a frontcourt of just Sorber/Fielder, I would nonetheless welcome Cook back if he wanted to come back for a depth/backup role. But I would not blame him at all for not wanting that role. Because of his problematic defense, Cook is in a similar position to Brumbaugh. If he wants big minutes, he probably needs to go down out of a high major conference. The one advantage he has is that bigs are in shorter supply, so he might be able to find a weaker high major willing to take a chance.

But, it is hard to see him getting a promise of as much playing time as he got last year at any decent high major program.

[jctnhoya4ever]

I think cook played pretty good what he average like 11 points and 8 rebounds I believe. That’s not great, but it’s not bad either. I hope cook comes back we need experience down low. Sober might not be ready to start this season at center. Hopefully he will get plenty of time and experience this year. But I really don’t know a lot about him except he was top 50-60 recruit. Hope he comes in a has big impact.

[hoyaatheart55]

May 16, 2024 18:26:03 GMT -5 jctnhoya4ever said:

I think cook played pretty good what he average like 11 points and 8 rebounds I believe. That’s not great, but it’s not bad either. I hope cook comes back we need experience down low. Sober might not be ready to start this season at center. Hopefully he will get plenty of time and experience this year. But I really don’t know a lot about him except he was top 50-60 recruit. Hope he comes in a has big impact.

11 and 8 sounds ok until you factor in that he was a traffic cone on defense

[hoyasaxa2003]

May 16, 2024 18:54:36 GMT -5 hoyaatheart55 said:

May 16, 2024 18:26:03 GMT -5 jctnhoya4ever said:

I think cook played pretty good what he average like 11 points and 8 rebounds I believe. That’s not great, but it’s not bad either. I hope cook comes back we need experience down low. Sober might not be ready to start this season at center. Hopefully he will get plenty of time and experience this year. But I really don’t know a lot about him except he was top 50-60 recruit. Hope he comes in a has big impact.

11 and 8 sounds ok until you factor in that he was a traffic cone on defense

Exactly. While almost everyone on the team was a net negative last year, when Cook played the team scored 1.074 points per possession and gave up 1.212 points per possession. When Cook did NOT play, the team scored 1.054 points per possession and gave up 1.10 points per possession.

Obviously, the other teammates matter, but this basically means that every possesion with Cook we were a net negative of 0.138 points per possession. With Cook off the court, the net difference was a much smaller (but still net negative) 0.046.

For those who don't like stats, the plain English version is that our lineups with Cook were significantly worse than our lineups without him. This is why running it back with Cook returning and getting more minutes isn't a likely plan for success. His defense is so awful that it outweighs the fact that his offense contributes some positives.

[CTHoya08]

This is going to sound harsher than I intend it to, but I would be happy to have Cook back as the fourth man in a three-man (Sorber, Fielder, experienced defense-first transfer) frontcourt rotation. Spot minutes for foul trouble, injuries, weird matchups maybe. He’s less alluring as the third big in a three-man rotation. But unless he comes back or Cooley pulls a rabbit out of some other hat, we’re looking at a two-man rotation. So yes, I want him to come back.

[SSHoya]

IMHO better perimeter defense may ameliorate some of the defensive deficiencies of the center/interior defense.