At 20, the Illawarra junior might not have cracked the Australian national team yet but he has his sights set on a big future in green and gold.

And he’s got good reason to.

Cooks was recently named as part of an ‘Emerging Boomers’ squad which left on a 12-day tour of China this week. 

After flying out on Thursday, the team will play six matches against elite competition.

Cooks, who has spent the past two seasons playing college basketball at Winthrop University, sees the tour as a massive opportunity to impress Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis.

“We will go over there and run the Boomers sets. It is almost like a try out for the Olympics four years away,” the 6’8 forward said.

“Not this one obviously because it is so close but a run to see how we go running the Boomers sets at an international level and things like that.”

The son of current Illawarra Hawks assistant coach Eric, Cooks joins NBL players Mitch Norton (Hawks) Todd Blanchfield (Melbourne United), Clint Steindl (Free Agent) and Jason Cadee (Sydney Kings) in the squad.

Fellow college players Harry Froling (SMU) and Dejan Vasiljevic (University of Miami) will also be involved in the tour before the squad returns to Australia in early July.

Cooks will travel back to the US a few days later after spending six weeks back at home in Wollongong.

“I have loved being home,” Cooks said.

“It is the best part coming home and seeing family and friends.

“It’s great to catch up with people and get a break from basketball a little bit.”

When Cooks arrives back in America he will begin his junior season with Winthrop.

He averaged an impressive 14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the Eagles’ 2015-16 season where the NCAA division one outfit went within a whisker of making college basketball’s main event – the March Madness tournament.

“We had a really good year,” Cooks said.

“We play 30 games a season and hitting the 20 win mark is considered a good season.

“We got 23 which is really good.

“Unfortunately we got to the final and choked [against UNC Asheville Bulldogs] after we were up by about 10 at half time. We were one game away from being a part of the big March Madness which sucked, but I have got another two years to make it to there.”

Cooks says he plans on continuing to develop his game while playing all four seasons at Winthrop before targeting a professional career.

“Growing up with the Hawks I have always dreamed about playing in the NBL but after going to college I have developed bigger aspirations to maybe go to Europe,” he said.

“Obviously the NBA is a dream, but often not really a reality so playing in Europe is my dream right now.”