Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 10:30 am  |  22 responses

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Quinn Cook Joins SLAM

The top prospect’s first post is all about the summer.

Quinn Cook, a rising senior at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, is one of the top recruits in the country. He has currently narrowed his college list down to Villanova, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, and Kansas. The 6-1, 180-pound guard from Maryland transferred this summer to national powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, whose list of alumni includes Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Jackson, Jerry Stackhouse and Josh Smith. Cook is ranked among the top five point guards in the nation, and will be giving SLAM a first-hand account of his senior year at Oak Hill, who has reloaded its rosters and will be looking to win another national title. Cook will have to make the biggest decision of his life so far over the next few months when he decides which college program to take his talents to. Stay tune throughout the season as Cook takes us inside the life of a nationally ranked recruit. — Franklyn Calle

Hello world! This is Quinn Cook! Starting point guard for Oak Hill Academy! This is my first entry for my SLAM blog. I just wanted to share with you guys my experiences this summer. The first event I went to was the Pangos All-American Camp! It was in Los Angeles, California. Some of the top players in the country were there like Quincy Miller, Brad Beal, LeBryan Nash, etc. A lot of great players in the NBA went to the same camp, so I was honored to be there.

The next event I attended was the Chris Paul Skills Camp in Winston Salem, North Carolina. This was my second year at this camp. Chris does a tremendous job working with us and giving us advice. A lot of the best college guards were there such as Nolan Smith, Corey Fisher, Kemba Walker, etc. I took away a lot from that weekend! The week after that I flew to San Antonio, Texas where we started our USA U17 practice. Being that I was on the team a year before, I wanted to establish my leadership role early. We got after it from day one. We had two-a-days everyday! Our team consisted of Brad Beal, James McAdoo, Johnny O’Bryant, Andre Drummond, Marquis Teague, Mike Gilchrist, Adonis Thomas, Chasson Randle, Tony Wroten, Tony Parker, and Justin Anderson. We also got a chance to scrimmage the U18 team which had players like Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers, Patrick Young, etc. We went to Lithuania first and had two exhibition games vs. Russia U18 and Lithuania U17.

After that, we flew to Germany for our World Championship tournament. We played Argentina, Lithuania, China, Egypt, Serbia, Australia and Canada before making the gold medal game. In the gold medal game we played a tough Poland team. All the hard work had payed off and we won a gold medal! Being a captain on the team, I was just proud of my teammates.

Being away from home for a month was definitely worth it at the end. After that, I just finished up my AAU career with my DC Assault team. We finished up well and I played well! I then went to Chicago for the Adidas Nations event. That was a great event. There was elite college players there and also the best players from Asia, Italy, Africa and Latin America. Also, the best guys from the 2011 and 2012 class. We ended up beating the 2012 guys in the championship. Shabazz Muhammed, Jordan Adams, Dajuan Coleman performed well for the 2012 guys. We had guys such as Wayne Blackshear, Quincy Miller, and Deuce Bello. I ended up winning MVP of the event.

The finale of my summer was at the Elite 24 game in Venice Beach, California. That was just an outstanding event. I had a blast! My team ended up losing but we had fun so that’s all that matters. I got to play with the likes of Austin Rivers, Mike Gbinije, Jabari Brown, etc. We also got to go head up against Brandon Jennings, John Wall, Tyreke Evans, DeMar DeRozen, Bobby Brown and Jay Williams. We held our own too! As you may or may not know, I got hurt in the actual Elite 24 game. I tore a piece of cartilage in my meniscus. I’ll be out for 4-5 weeks. So I’ll be ready for the season!

My college process is going okay too. Right now its Villanova, Duke, UNC, UCLA and Kansas. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a decision soon!

But until next time, peace!