He should seek out the NC State coach and, with a more realistic shot, the Ball State coach. My source is The Athletic, which says this about their big guys in the portal:Welcome to all the college basketball coaches to the city of New Orleans this weekend. I am offering free transportation if you have a 6’11 player in the Transfer Portal. Call me !!!
Manny Bates | 6-11 center | junior | NC State
The best rim-protector in the portal has arrived. Bates is an enormous center with long arms who swats shots away from the rim with impunity. It’s not an accident that NC State’s defense fell off of an entire cliff this season, as Bates was the linchpin holding things together inside. He averaged 2.8 blocks per game over his first two years in college, earning all-defense honors in the ACC in 2021. However, Bates missed this entire season after injuring his shoulder in the first minute of NC State’s first game of the season, and without him, the Wolfpack plummetted towards being the worst high-major defense in college hoops this season. Offensively, Bates keeps things simple, screening, rolling, rim-running, and offensive rebounding. He can’t create on his own, but a good point guard can get him up around the 10-point mark per game. I’d expect Bates to end up at a different high-major looking for a defensive boost on the interior, as there is a case he’ll be among the best returning to college basketball next season.
The whole article, which talks about the top players in the portal, can be found here: https://theathletic.com/3211734/2022/03 ... r-2022-23/Payton Sparks | 6-9 forward | freshman | Ball State
The MAC Freshman of the Year, Sparks averaged 15.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in conference play this season for Ball State. He was a terrific finisher inside and a foul magnet, averaging over seven free throw attempts per game. A tough lefty who absorbs contact well, Sparks is your typical college interior scorer who carves out position with strength and then finishes on the interior. Ball State used him mostly out of post-ups, and then relied on his ability on the offensive glass — where he averaged 3.3 per game in conference play — to get buckets. The question here is scalability to a winning high-major situation. Sparks won’t have any issue with physical play at 240 pounds, but he could struggle a bit to move his feet on the perimeter, knock down shots from outside and protect the basket in the way a center needs to at that level. It’ll all be about finding the right fit if Sparks decides to spike up, and he’ll need to take some strides in modernizing his game. But there are few more productive bigs in the portal right now.
I also wonder if Cook has any friends from his days at LSU that might want to play in the Big Easy. The pay isn't as good, but the academics and location blow away Baton Rouge.