schea 811

SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Schea Cotton To Long Beach. . .
City College--(Aug. 11, 1998)

Frank Burlison has been very busy, indeed. First he gets word of the Lubos Barton signing with Cal, and, perhaps the biggest news of week, month, and maybe the summer, he also reports that Schea Cotton (6'-5" Grad. F) will play this fall at Long Beach City College, where he has reportedly enrolled in classes and is expected to being attending classes this coming Monday. Geez, what a long, strange trip it's been. . . from Long Beach, to UCLA, to NC State, and back to Long Beach yet again. And never a game played or a class attended in more than a year.

The Schea Cotton saga has been long and torturous but it looks like he's finally found a place to play, at least for the next two years, which will assure him of admittance to a D-I school in two years, provided he passes all of his classes. Schea has been moving around from school to school ever since he was 14 years old. He played for St. John Bosco in Bellflower, transferred to Mater Dei where he played on two championship teams as a freshman and a sophomore, and then he transferred back to Bosco, where he finished high school. His prospective college career began with him signing a letter of intent to play at Cal State Long Beach with his brother, but when James jumped to the NBA, Schea got a release from the LOI, and then attempted to enroll at UCLA. He never attended classes or played a day as a Bruin though because the NCAA Clearinghouse invalidated his SAT scores; he was allowed to take an untimed SAT with larger type, claiming that he had a learning disability. Apparently the Educational Testing Service which administers the test was satisfied, but the NCAA Clearinghouse wasn't, and the scores were thrown out. Cotton next committed to North Carolina State this past spring, but just last week, NC State announced that Cotton would not be attending the school. No reasons were given, and Schea couldn't be reached for comment. But his mother Gaynell was reached by reporters and she told them that the decision not to have Schea enroll at NC State was not a decision that was made by the Cotton family, leading to speculation that it was once again due to either the NCAA or perhaps NC State simply reneging on the offer.

If Schea stays two years at LBCC and he doesn't eventualy jump to the NBA, we'd look for to attend a Division I school, possibly even UCLA, which wanted him all along, but which was really powerless to challenge the NCAA Clearinghouse decision.