Brian Joshua Cook (born December 4, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted out of the University of Illinois with the 24th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2004, Cook was named to the University of Illinois All-Century Team. High school career Cook played high school basketball at Lincoln Community High School in central Illinois where he led the Railsplitters to the quarterfinals of the 1999 Illinois High School Association class AA state boys basketball tournament. Cook scored 38 points in 2 IHSA tournament finals games, averaging 19.0 points per game. He was named to the 1998 State Farm Holiday Classic all-tournament team and was a 1999 McDonald's All-American. He was also named the 1999 Illinois Mr. Basketball after averaging 21.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 2.0 steals and 1.8 assists per game as a senior. Cook was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2016. College career Cook played 132 games in four years for the University of Illinois, most of them under coach Bill Self, and led the Illini in rebounding in each season. Cook was a versatile scorer from both inside and outside the paint, utilizing his height to score in the post and hitting three-point shots when left open. This helped him to earn co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors during his freshman year at Illinois. Cook helped lead the Illini to a number one seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, and the Illini cruised to the Elite 8, where they were upset in a hard-fought and controversial game by Cook's future teammate Luke Walton and the Arizona Wildcats. As a senior in the 2002–03 season, Cook led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 20.0 points per game, and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball as the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Conference. That same season, Cook was named second team All-American by The Sporting News, and third team All-American by the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and The Basketball Times, as well as Big Ten Player of the Year and first team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media. Additionally, he would lead the Illini to the Big Ten men's basketball tournament championship and be named Most Outstanding Player. Cook left Illinois as the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,748 total