‘He has come along well;’ Dana Altman discusses Mookie Cook’s early development with Ducks
When you talk about true freshman players on the Oregon Ducks this year, much of the attention starts with Jackson Shelstad, a point guard prodigy who has taken Eugene by storm over the past several weeks. But next to him stand both Kwame Evans Jr. and Mookie Cook, a pair of highly-rated players who have shown their abilities so far on the court this season.
While we’ve gotten an extended look at what Evans can bring to the table — the freshman is averaging 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 24 minutes per game this year — it took several weeks before Cook was able to show off his skill set due to an injury that he suffered eight months ago.
The blue-chip freshman made his debut earlier this month against Washington, and though it was in limited action, Cook showed promise, giving a spark to the offense with a pair of dunks in the second half of a gritty win.
From an outside perspective, though, it feels like Cook is being forced to deal with some unfair and unrealistic expectations in Eugene. While his peers Shelstad and Evans have enjoyed early success, Cook has had a slower burn to the start of his career thus far, playing just an average of 8 minutes in his three games so far.
“He’s had the toughest adjustment, he’s been out for eight months,” head coach Dana Altman said on Wednesday. “He’s only been in live drills here for the last few weeks. And he’s a freshman, so he hasn’t played in our system, he doesn’t know our system as well as Nate and Dante, who have been around.”
For a high-profile recruit like Cook, who starred as a young version of LeBron James in the Peacock original movie “Shooting Stars,” this gradual rollout may be difficult to deal with. Altman has seen the promise from his freshman already, though, and knows that with continued effort, the highlights will come.
“I think he has come along well. He still has some rust that he’s got to shake off,” Altman said. “I don’t anticipate his minutes going up a lot here early, but hopefully he’ll work himself into shape, pick up our system a little bit better, and give us what he did against Washington, and Washington State — seven or eight minutes off the bench and give us a boost.”
As the rest of the roster continues to get healthier and start gelling with the Ducks heading into the meat of their conference schedule, competition for minutes is going to be fierce, and Cook is going to have his work cut out for him trying to earn his spot in the rotation. Based on the talent we’ve see from him, and the glimpses of high upside that he’s shown already this season, there should be a lot of excitement about what he can bring to this team in the spring.
