Levi Cook has not only heard of Earl Jones, he’s met him.
A 6-foot-10, 305-pound freshman phenom at Liberty Raleigh, Cook shares a lot of similarities with the 6-11 Jones, a former legendary athlete at Mount Hope in the late 1970s who later played in the NBA.
Both are intriguing big men with special skills to come out of the hills of West Virginia with an eye toward the big time.
Cook flashed a little of his potential to folks in the Kanawha Valley Thursday night, helping Liberty to a 44-40 victory over Valley in the opening round of the WesBanco Holiday Tournament at Sissonville.
He wound up with 15 points and nine rebounds as the Raiders earned their way into tonight’s championship game against the unbeaten host Indians, who dispatched Wayne 84-46 in the nightcap.
Jacob Adkins, a 6-7 senior, led Liberty with 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Raiders won despite being held scoreless for the first 5:26 of the fourth quarter and going 1-of-14 from 3-point range with the Valley defense swarming their twin towers.
"Anytime you win, you’re happy,” said Liberty coach Aaron Pauley, "but I thought our guards were timid to shoot the ball and we were constantly looking at our big men. I told them you’re going to hear me yell constantly if you make mistakes because turnovers, I can’t deal with. But if you shoot an open shot and miss it, we can live with that.
"If they don’t shoot the ball, teams are going to know they’re not going to be a threat and they’re going to sag off and they’re going to double- and triple-team down in the post and take us completely out of our game. Even if they shoot the ball and miss, we’re going to get a higher-percentage shot on the offensive rebound [with Cook and Adkins] and we’re going to catch it in good spots.”
Cook is starting to attract some of the overwhelming attention that the enigmatic Jones felt when he played three seasons at Mount Hope – on the court and off.
He’s already being touted as a high Division I prospect because of his rare size and skill set at such a young age – he could dunk when he was but 11, and doesn’t turn 15 until May.
Cook said he’s drawn interest from West Virginia, Marshall, Pitt, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Central Florida.
"It’s getting to my head.” Cook said of the hoopla after Thursday’s game, "but I just bypass it. I’ve got my team here, and I’ve got to play with my team.”
One thing that makes Cook’s situation different than Jones’ is that technology has changed quite a bit in the last couple generations. At this stage, thousands more people have seen Cook play first-hand and otherwise than Jones, whose career took on legendary proportions because so few fans actually got to watch him and most stories passed by word of mouth.
For instance, video shot by an AAU teammate of Cook dunking and others of him blocking shots debuted on YouTube more than two years ago and have pulled more than 10,000 views.
Pauley acknowledges the spotlight is going to shine on his team because of Cook’s presence, but he thinks Cook will handle himself just fine.
"The thing about Levi is that he’s been getting this attention for the last two, three years,” Pauley said. "The kid is a great kid. If you talk to him, he’s real down to earth, a country kid. He likes the attention, but more so, he just loves playing basketball. I think he’s going to handle it just fine.
"He brings some attention to our team, and that’s good. Our kids are taking it good, too. We know we’re going to make some turnovers because [defenses] are going to double down on our guys, and I told Levi and Jake that one thing they’ve got to be impressed with is that they are trying to get you the ball.”
Even while Cook was coming up in the Liberty feeder system, rumors started to swirl that he would leave his school zone to attend a nearby Class AAA power, or even leave the state entirely. So far, they’ve just been rumors.
"I’m fitting right in at Liberty,” Cook said. "I’ll enjoy this year, and we’ll see what happens next year.”
Pauley has heard the whispers, too, and chooses to ignore them.
"I think he’s happy here,” Pauley said. "We’re not worried about that right now. We’re worried about him getting better, and about us getting better.”
Cook displayed quick hands in Thursday’s game, stealing the ball six times and blocking eight shots. But he also looked rather slow at other times running the floor and committed four turnovers.
"Right now,” Pauley said, "I don’t know if he’s out of shape or if he’s confused and doesn’t know what to do. He’s a young kid – not even 15 years old. I preach to him that if you feel confused, just move. Don’t stand still. Even if you move to a wrong spot, as long as you’re moving, it’s good.
"If you’re standing still, you’re easy to guard whether you’re 6-10 or not. Our guards are having a hard time getting you the ball, so if you move, you draw attention to you and might open up something on the weak side.”
Pauley realizes the road is probably going to get tougher for his Cook and his 3-1 record team.
"If we play some of these double-A and triple-A teams, they’re going to flat wear us out,” Pauley said. "Our guards have to feel some confidence. Make or miss one, they’re going to have to shoot with confidence. The confidence to say they’re going to shoot it again.”
Cook said he met Jones during a middle school game at Mount Hope.
"I’ve talked to Earl a couple times,” Cook said. "Someone at the middle school game introduced us to each other. He didn’t really [offer any advice]. He asked how I was doing, but I can’t really remember the conversation.”
Valley (3-2), despite falling behind by as many as seven points after three quarters, was able to keep things close down the stretch as Liberty missed its first nine shots in the fourth quarter.
A pair of Adkins baskets broke a 38-all tie with about 2:30 left and Jason McGinnis deflected a pass that led to a key steal and Michael Prater made a free throw for a 43-40 lead with 23 seconds left.
Arik McGinnis led the Greyhounds with 11 points. Corey Tolley came off the bench to land 10 rebounds as Valley trailed just 35-34 off the boards against the taller Raiders.
In the second game, Zach Null led Sissonville (4-0) with 22 points and Caleb Wilkinson added 18 and J.P. Mawyer 11. Trevor Chadwick and Zach Marsh each tallied nine for the Pioneers (1-3).
Sissonville, with no player on the roster taller than 6-3, now gets to match up with Liberty’s front line of 6-10 and 6-7.
"We’re looking forward to that,” said Indians coach Rich Skeen, "but obviously we’ve got to do things better than what we did tonight. I’ve never felt quite this way after a 30-point win. We weren’t focused tonight, and take nothing away from Wayne. We weren’t focused, and for that they get to come in at 8 o’clock in the morning [for practice].
"We’re going to be us [against Liberty]. We’re going to talk about it as coaches and come up with a game plan and see what we need to do. They’re coming off a good win Saturday, beating St. Albans at the Hoops Classic. I know they’ve beefed their schedule up – they’re going to Logan this year – and they’re planning for big things, too. At this point of the season, it’s a good challenge for us. You don’t get to see too many teams with 6-10 and 6-7, so it’s a good opportunity for us to get better.”
http://wvgazette.com/Sports/Marshall/201112220223
Just seems like a huge kid, he apparently does not turn 15 until May. Apparently, Bob Huggins has already started scouting him pretty hard and WVU has the early recruitment lead. They say he is losing weight and supposedly is averaging around 17 and 13 in HS this year as a 14 yeard old freshman. Just a prospect to keep an eye out for, as he already seems to have legitimate big man size.
Video of him obliterating a couple kids shots:
