Mookie Cook, 5-star forward who had UK in final 3, decommits from Oregon

The Kentucky Wildcats will have two 5-star recruits coming to Lexington this fall, and they currently have two more set to join the program in the 2023 class.

However, it looks all but guaranteed that Kentucky will find a way to add at least one more 5-star player to its 2023 class.

One more option just emerged in the form of Mookie Cook, who just backed off his pledge to the Oregon Ducks. Cook is the No. 5 player in the nation, the No. 2 small forward in 2023, and the top player from the state of Arizona.

The Cats were strongly interested in the Compass Prep star the first time around. Cook named Kentucky among his top-three programs, also including Oregon and Gonzaga, and Kentucky was believed to be the runner-up when he ultimately picked the Ducks.

Jai Lucas led the recruitment for Cook, but he’s now at Duke, so it will be interesting to see if that plays into Kentucky’s decision to get back into this recruitment.

Cook did note to On3’s Joe Tipton that he’s open to considering Oregon still.

“I am grateful for their support as well as the fan’s. However,after much consideration and talks with my family, I have decided to reopen my recruitment. During this time I will weigh other options in addition to The University of Oregon,” Cook said when talking with Tipton.

It’s also worth noting that Cook was a reclassification candidate, though he said he wanted to stay in 2023 and become a McDonald’s All-American. You do have to wonder if Cook is rethinking that since he’s now back on the board heading into the summer with plenty of time to still make the jump to 2022.

As of now, it’s unclear if Kentucky will get back into the mix. It is worth noting that the Wildcats did just land fellow 5-star recruit Robert Dillingham after he initially spurned the Wildcats for NC State, only to decommit and later commit to John Calipari.

Could we see a repeat of that with Cook?