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SoCalHoops High School & Prep Report

Schea Cotton To Be Cleared To Play?? Maybe.--(June 3, 1998)

Frank Burlison in the Orange County register is reporting that Schea Cotton (6'-5" ?? G/F) hopes to hear from the NCAA's Committee on Initial Eligibility that he's been cleared, academically, to play as a freshman at North Carolina State next season. The 20-year-old, who played at Mater Dei and St. John Bosco in Bellflower, had, as we all know, intended to play last season at UCLA, but was declared academically ineligible after the NCAA Clearinghouse ruled that his SAT scores were invalidated because he took the test in an untimed setting. Cotton claimed that he had a learning disability which prevented him from performing under timed test settings. Even though legal action was threatened by Cotton, his family and UCLA, none was taken, and Cotton enrolled in a prep school for last year.

Burlison's article says that according to Schea's mother, Gaynell Cotton, additional documentation pertaining to his learning disability that affects his test-taking ability was submitted to the NCAA in hopes it would reverse its decision. And with the NCAA's announcement that it has signed a consent decree with the Justice Department concerning NCAA compliance with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), expect the NCAA this time to clear Cotton to play.