Former Trailblazer Jamal Crook - Western Kentucky University
Press Release by Western Kentucky - 9/4/2009
WKU Adds Jamal Crook to Hilltopper Roster

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - WKU men's basketball has added a late signee to the 2009-10 roster in the form of Jamal Crook, Hilltopper head coach Ken McDonald announced Wednesday afternoon.  Crook, a 6-3, 165-pound point guard, comes to WKU after one year at Bridgton Academy, a prep school in Maine. 

Orginially from Louisville, Ky., Crook played for Ballard High School before finishing his senior year at Durango High School in Las Vegas, Nev.  He joins freshmen Caden Dickerson, Jordan Swing, and William Green along with transfer Cliff Dixon to make up the incoming recruiting class.  Senior transfer Nemanja Milosevic and redshirt freshman Jameson Tipping will also take to the floor for the first time in 2009-10. 

WKU finished the 2008-09 season ranked 41st in the RPI ratings as well as receiving votes in the final ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll after going 25-9 and winning the Sun Belt Conference East Division championship.  The Toppers won the SBC Tournament and earned the program's 21st NCAA Tournament appearance, knocking off fifth-seeded Illinois 76-72 in the first round before falling at the buzzer to 10th-ranked Gonzaga 83-81, just missing the program's second-straight trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. 

WKU returns four starters for the 2009-10 season including five of their top six scorers.