Cyclone signee Elgin Cook to attend prep school

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

Due to multiple challenges during his senior year, Elgin Cook will attend a prep school next fall instead of becoming a member of the Iowa State men’s basketball team.

Cook, a 6-foot-6 forward out of Milwaukee Hamilton High School, signed the National Letter of Intent to attend Iowa State in October. After being academically ineligible during the first three games of this season and also suffering from a broken left wrist, Cook’s family has decided that a year at prep school is the best thing for his future.

“Because of the injuries, he wasn’t able to develop at the level that we wanted him to,” Cook’s mother Cece told CycloneFanatic.com. “He wants to be able to be an instant impact player when he does make it to college.”

At this point, Cece Cook and her son have not selected a school that he will attend next year.

“I just made up my mind this week so I am just starting to research and look into different schools,” Cece Cook said.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cook recently left Milwaukee Hamilton High School for personal reasons. Cook is currently living in Texas with his father.

Once Cook arrives at a prep school this fall, other college basketball programs around America will once again be able to recruit him. Cook made it very clear that her son is still interested in becoming a Cyclone.

“I asked him about it and he said that he would stick with Iowa State,” Cook said. “Elgin still wants to be recruited by Iowa State.”

Iowa State associate head coach T.J. Otzelberger began recruiting Cook when Greg McDermott was still in Ames. Cook originally committed to the Cyclone program in August of 2009. Cook elected to stay commited to Iowa State when Fred Hoiberg became the head coach in April of 2010.

“T.J. has been a straight-shooter all along. He’s been great,” Cook said. “Coach Hoiberg has a wonderful sense of humor.”

As a junior, Cook earned first-team all-state honors in Wisconsin, while averaging 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.