Chris Murray stays busy

Chris Murray profiles Malik Cooke who doesn't draw the publicity buzz like a couple of his teammates but is performing superbly in a role that no other Wolf Pack player could emulate. It's all about the win and the team for him, with personal numbers off in the distance.

Most valuable Malik
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
January 25, 2009

Malik Cooke was furious.

Although normally mild-mannered and soft-spoken, he had seen enough and was ready to do something about it.

It was his sophomore season at Christ School in Arden, N.C., and he was playing pickup ball with a handful of his teammates. Shirts and skins. Winner stays on the court.

His team had just lost its seventh straight game to a squad led by a pair of Christ School seniors -- twins Travis and Chavis Holmes, two of the best players in the state.

After his team's last loss, one of the twins told Cooke, "Go sit your tail down!"

"He came off the floor and he was just furious," Christ School coach David Gaines said. "He was running off at the mouth. I couldn't understand what he was saying. So, I'm like, 'Malik what's wrong?' He says, 'I thought we were supposed to be teammates.' He was as upset as I have ever seen him, and he asked me what he should do. I said, 'I think they're right.' You have to figure out how to help your team win or go sit down."

Cooke was only 14 years old at the time -- a skinny kid, more elbows and ankles than power and grace -- but he learned a lesson that day that is still embedded in his basketball DNA...

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