DDN
1/17
Tom Archdeacon: Cook's moves get crowd off their feet
By
Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | He'd already put on a show with his no-look passes, steals, that tomahawk dunk, the windmill dunk and an assortment of other shots including a tightly-defended, falling-out-of-bounds, right-at-the-buzzer three-pointer before the half.
Daequan Cook's stats in a 101-53 win over Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joseph.
- Points: 41
- Rebounds: 15
- Assists: 5
- Steals: 3
- Jammed thumbs from dunking so many times: 1
But nothing got the Value City Arena crowd buzzing like this play:
Daequan Cook — the hoop headliner from Dunbar High — got the ball near the top of the key with just over two minutes left in the third quarter Monday and found himself guarded by David Lighty, the highly rated Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joseph guard who will join him at Ohio State next season.
The two are friends, they talk regularly on the phone, but as Cook would put it later: "Outside the court we can be friends every day. But like I tell everybody, between the lines I don't have any friends."
And with moves like this, no wonder.
He juked one way, then the other and then came his patented cross-over dribble.
Lighty, who already had his right knee in a big brace, now found himself bundled in deceit. As he lunged one way, Cook went the other and drove unimpeded to the basket for a rousing left-handed dunk that made the crowd roar.
Up in the stands, some of current Buckeyes players — from J.J. Sullinger to Terence Dials to Jamar Butler — howled their approval. Sitting atop Section 107, Matt Terwilliger, the OSU center from Troy, called over to teammate Matt Sylvester, who simply shook his head in disbelief.
As St. Joseph's coach Dave Wojciechowski would sum up the play and the day — following Dunbar's 101-53 annihilation of his seventh-ranked Division III team in the Martin Luther King Day Challenge:
"We were pretty much overwhelmed. Daequan was just tremendous. He's going to be a heck of a college player. I was very, very impressed. He was unstoppable today and the thing is, he has the ability to do that all the time."
Cook scored a career-high 41 points, had 15 rebounds, five assists, three steals and promised this was just the tip of the iceberg.
"This meant a lot to me," he said. "I wanted to put on a show for everybody . . . just give them a taste of what it's going to be like next year at Ohio State . . . And this was just one-fifth of the Thad Five."
Cook and Lighty, along with Lawrenceville (Ind.) North's 7-foot Greg Oden and guard Mike Conley and Hillsboro Community College's 6-9 Othello Hunter have all agreed to play for Ohio State coach Thad Matta next season, giving the Bucks the most anticipated recruiting class since the Fab Five came to Michigan in 1991.
"We just want to play hard, put Ohio State back on the map and win a national championship," Cook said matter-of-factly.
While Matta privately bubbled to friends about Cook's performance, he shook off any public comment. With other recruits in the Arena, he's not supposed to assess prep talent. "I'm not allowed to say anything," he said. "The (NCAA) microscope is pretty intense around here these days."
Was it fair to say he was smiling, Monday?
He nodded: "You can say I had a big smile."
While Matta couldn't talk, nothing hindered Bill Hoskett, the former Buckeye great from Belmont High, who watched from court side: "(Daequan's) upside is fabulous. He's so smooth. His scoring, that's obvious, but his ability to see the floor and make his teammates better is what impressed me."
The last time Cook played on this court was in the Division II state semi-finals, a game where Dunbar was beaten by Upper Sandusky.
"He was disappointed with that because he didn't have a complete game," said Dunbar coach Peter Pullen. "He didn't shoot very well that day — I think he was just two-for-10 from three-point range — and he's usually a 40 percent shooter from out there. So he wanted to do better today and I think he wanted to put on a good show in the place he'll be playing next season."
Alfred Powell, the Dunbar assistant football coach, said he sensed Cook was going to have a big game Monday: "This week was different than before their games this year at Myrtle Beach or even over in Indianapolis. This week Daequan was a different monster."
Sunday — when 19th-ranked Ohio State fell in double overtime to Michigan State on this very same court — Cook, Lighty, Oden, Conley and several recruits all were sitting behind the Buckeyes' bench.
Monday, it was two of the prep kids' time to shine and the current Buckeyes came out to support them.
"This shows you the type of family Coach Matta has them in," said Lighty. "We don't even go to Ohio State yet and they were supporting us."
As for the younger players who were there, Lighty beamed: "I think there were about nine or 10 recruits there and they could probably start in the next two years at any college in America. Hopefully they'll all come here and we can do something good."
After struggling Monday and finishing with just 10 points — 11 below his average — Lightly admitted: "After that performance, you gotta at least be happy that (Daequan) is gonna be your teammate next year."
Although Lighty was totally eclipsed Monday, part of it has to do with that right knee brace that protects the surgically-repaired ACL he tore during the state tournament last March. He also doesn't play with nearly as talented a team as does Cook.
And then there's the fact this was just Cook's day.
"When he gets like that, he's hard to stop," Pullen said. "After seeing that today, you've got to say he's one of the best in the country. Everything went right for him today."
Well, almost everything.
After the game, Cook came out of the dressing room with an ice bag on his right hand.
"I jammed my thumb pretty bad out there," he said.
How?
"On the rim," he shrugged. "Then it got worse as the game went on. Got swollen and pretty painful."
Why, did someone bump it?
"No, as I kept dunking and dunking, it just kept getting worse."
