Better Know a Recruit: DePaul’s Levi Cook

Back in April, the DePaul Blue Demons were fortunate enough to obtain the verbal commitment of West Virginia big man Levi Cook. Cook was a former three-star recruit and originally was not intending on heading to the Chicagoland area. Originally, he had committed to another Big East school (at the time), as Levi had made his intentions to join the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2012. But, he had decided to decommit two years later, eventually paving the way to landing in Lincoln Park.

The addition of Cook suddenly became a blessing as the most recent offseason chugged along. Tommy Hamilton IV departed the program, and suddenly Cook became one of only two players on the roster to be listed at 6’10, with the other being walk-on Peter Ryckbosch. Ryckbosch is a walk-on, so that means that Levi Cook is the only on scholarship right now on Dave Leitao’s roster that has a towering presence.

With DePaul’s current roster shifted heavily towards guards and wings, Cook will likely play a role unless Leitao legitimately decides to go with lineups with players who are no taller than 6’7”. It wouldn’t be super unprecedented, but the fact that Cook’s size gives him an advantage over others will likely mean that he could get some traction on the floor. Assuming that he plays behind Ryckbosch, a senior, to start the year then it would be easy to suggest that he will be at the forefront of their second unit. There could also be opportunities afoot for him if he plays alongside Ryckbosch in a standard 2-/3-guard lineup with two ‘big men’ down low in the frontcourt.

If Cook is to succeed at DePaul he’ll likely need to increase his scoring output. In his senior year in high school, he merely averaged 6.0 points per game. Now, with that said, he averaged 23.5 points per game in his sophomore year, so somewhere along the line he either lost his touch, or simply was not asked to do as much. With a good chunk of guards around him at DePaul, that situation may arise again, but it will still be imperative that he gets it going again when he gets on the floor if that becomes his role in Leitao’s system.

Time will tell if Levi Cook can make a substantial impact for the Blue Demons. Given the roster and how it’s stacked out right now, we may find our answers sooner, and not later, and we’ll see what he has to offer in his first year of college ball.