Quinn Cook Goes Out On Top

Quinn Cook has been through a lot in his career at Duke. Coming into this season Cook was at risk of being one of the rare Duke players to not hang a banner in a four year career. Before this year, his career had been defined by what he, and the team, hadn’t done instead of what they had done. Because of this nobody was happier than Cook when the clock struck zero and the Duke Blue Devils had defeated the Wisconsin Badgers to take home the National Championship.

In Cook’s first three years the team had 27, 30, and 26 wins, which for most programs would be great seasons, but not for Duke. While those win totals are impressive, they did not include an ACC regular season Championship, a conference tournament title, or any Final Fours. Two of those three seasons included Duke being upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Lehigh, and Mercer respectively.

Cook was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school. He was a McDonald’s All-American and ranked the 38th best recruit in 2011. He joined Austin Rivers, Marshall Plumlee and others as 2011 Duke recruits, a that class was ranked second in the nation. While Cook wasn’t the best recruit to choose Duke he still came to Durham with plenty of expectations.

Cook’s numbers got better every year at Duke individually, but the problem was the lack of team success. After losing to Mercer in the first round in 2014 Cook made it a goal of his to not let that happen again.

Cook sacrificed big time in his senior season and reaped the rewards because of that sacrifice. Tyus Jones was the top rated point guard in the 2014 recruiting class, and when he signed to Duke, Cook happily moved over to shooting guard and helped form a tremendous backcourt.

Not only did Cook become a leader on and off the floor for this Championship team, but he played great. He was second on the team in scoring (16 PPG) and his shooting percentages were great (45/40/89.)

It was clear after the Blue Devils cut down the nets just how much respect Cook’s teammates had for him. The four Duke freshmen, who carried the team to the Championship, wanted to win a Championship for their senior leader and they did just that.

Cook said standing next to Coach Mike Krzyzewski while watching “One Shining Moment” was “probably the best feeling in my life,” and he earned it. Cook may not have had a great Championship game, but this team would not have been in that game if not for his sacrifice, his leadership, and his tremendous play all year long.

The road for Quinn Cook was certainly not a smooth one, but it could not have ended any better.  There is no doubt that Cook will be missed at Duke, but at least his teammates and coaching staff were able to send him out on top.