Gonzaga hopeful Mookie Cook commits to Oregon
Five-star small forward and the No. 4 player in the high school class of 2023 Marquis “Mookie” Cook has committed to Oregon and head coach Dana Altman’s program. He made his announcement of commitment on Thursday during Geico High School Nationals.
Cook, a junior at Arizona Compass Prep, had Gonzaga as one of his final three choices along with Oregon and the Kentucky Wildcats. However, Cook grew up in Portland, Oregon and the University of Oregon was his 100% crystal ball prediction according to 247 Sports and Rivals.
At 6-foot-7, 200 lbs, Cook averaged 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest in the five games of his that are recorded on Max Preps for the 2021-22 season. His length and size has the potential to make Cook a scoring threat driving to the hoop at the college level, and draft analyst for Basketball News Matt Babcook has him as a potential one-and-done prospect.
The Ducks have now secured one of their two highest ranked high school recruits in program history right after current Orlando Magic big man Bol Bol.
After reaching the Sweet 16 in the 2019 and 2021 NCAA tournament, Oregon lost in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament this year at the hands of Texas A&M. Cook will look to help the Ducks reclaim the PAC-12 championship that they won in 2021 and 2020 but failed to crack the conference top-five most recently.
Cook visited Gonzaga during this year’s men’s basketball senior night game, eight days after he paid his official visit to Eugene, Oregon. The Kennel broke out into chants of “We want Mookie” multiple times during the Zags game.
He is the second lauded recruit that the Zags missed out on committing this week. A five-star recruit in the 2022 class, Anthony Black, had Gonzaga within his top three choices but inevitably elected to join a stacked University of Arkansas recruiting class for next season.
Black is also a small forward and would’ve been a plus addition to GU’s front court, but the Zags are still eyeing other recruits in both the 2022 and 2023 high school classes with strong interest. At the moment, GU has only received a commitment from 6-foot-9 power forward Braden Huff out of the 2022 class.
Cook is assumed to be arriving in Eugene to get started at Oregon after graduating from high school in the spring of 2023.
