Tekele Cotton

[WuDrWu]

Fantastic article and great insight to this wonderful student athlete.

http://www.kansas.com/2013/04/05/2748168/quiet-tekele-cotton-learned-to.html

I've met his mom several times but the first time, within 5 seconds of meeting her, I said to myself "There is an impressive lady. I know her son is going to be a huge success."

I love these guys.

[wufan]

Love each and every one of these players! In 30 years, it will be said that THIS group was the group that woke the sleeping giant!

[1972Shocker]

Great, great job by Rick Plumlee on that article. Of course, what made the article great was the content provided by Tekele and his family. There has been something special about Tekele from the day we first saw him and we are so very fortunate to have him as a Shocker. Thank you to Coach Dollar for this one.

After reading all the outstanding background pieces on 3G, Carl, Malcolm, Ron, Tekele etc. it is beginning to be pretty clear why this team has become so special. Maybe it's not really so hard to do something special when you have so many special people doing it.

[SHOXAAC]

Recently, I had a chance to meet Tekele and Carl. After arriving in Wichita at 4 am on Easter Sunday, both Tekele and Carl showed up at our family gathering for Easter dinner (my niece plays VB at WSU and invited them over). Given that both young men are from Georgia, it was no surprise to witness their southern gentlemen personalities. They fit right in with our family, staying for about three hours. We watched the L-Ville/Duke game (Tekele commented "coach will make us watch this game 4 times before we play Saturday"). My mother and father have been season ticket holders since the '60's. My father passed away 12 years ago and so now I go to the games with my mother. Ironically, Takele and Carl are my mothers' two favorite players. At the end of the evening I asked them to pose for a picture with my mother. Not only did they do it, they both gave her a kiss on the cheek. My mother is still talking about it.

Tekele and Carl are just two examples of the heart and character we have with this special group of young men. We should not take it for granted. There are so many character compromised student-athletes in today's world. I am so proud of the young men on this team. Although I want the dream to come true and be the last team standing on Monday night, but in the overall scheme of things I could care less. This team has touched my heart and soul like none other.

[pinstripers]

JDog?

[forevershockerfan]

Mr.Cotton will only keep improving. He moves his feet on D. as good as I have seen from a Shocker defender. I am very appreciative that he keeps improving his outside shot and 'Oh baybay' has he hit some huge 3's for us at opportune times. Shocker players are willing to work hard in the off-Season to improve all aspects of their game to to get stronger. Shocker players do develop and improve here and Mr. Cotton is one such prime example of that. Once he gets his overall game and J. really clicking and more consistent, watch out!!!!!!! He is only a Soph. and his best is yet to follow. U like?

[SHOXAAC]

JDog?

What you talkin bout Willis???
(Wink)

[pinstripers]

talkin bout Abes

[SHOXAAC]

talkin bout Abes

Help???

[Dave Stalwart]

I've been thinking about this, and I am bringing it to the floor for review.
Tekele is like a rock for this team. No one debates his importance and some would argue he is actually the MOST important player. He is also extremely quiet and seems happy to stay out of the spotlight and just go about his business. Anyway, in the midst of being good enough already, what elements would it be good to see added to his game this year? I understand that adding anything at all makes him scary good, but I do think it's coming this season.

[Anthroshock]

He's tightened up his shooting game. I would not be surprised to see him tighten up his handle and make more moves to the basket off the dribble.

The guy's a complete player.

[Dan]

The beauty of Tekele is he does what he does best and rarely messes anything up. Shoot a good percentage of open shots, run the floor on fast breaks, handle the ball when necessary, rebound the ball and slam the ball down his opponent's throats. He's not going to be the first or second option on offense but he needs to be reliable to put the ball in the hole when his number is called, and he'll do that more often than not. I can't ever remember saying to myself "man that was a bonehead play by Tekele". He's just as rock solid as they come.

[1979Shocker]

If he can get close to Fred and Ron's free throw shooting, it will be a big improvement.

[Dave Stalwart]

The beauty of Tekele is he does what he does best and rarely messes anything up. Shoot a good percentage of open shots, run the floor on fast breaks, handle the ball when necessary, rebound the ball and slam the ball down his opponent's throats. He's not going to be the first or second option on offense but he needs to be reliable to put the ball in the hole when his number is called, and he'll do that more often than not. I can't ever remember saying to myself "man that was a bonehead play by Tekele". He's just as rock solid as they come.

I can't remember ever saying that either. I think it might have never happened...
On the other hand I can't even count how many timely steals and dunks and critical defensive stops I've seen. The Tennessee game 2nd half was his finest hour.

[Dave Stalwart]

I was kind if thinking his X factor might be something like adding a mid range shot like what Toure had. Back then, we had a great game inside, good shooting outside and Ragland at point. Opposing teams were pretty much beat right there, but Toure was this sort of garbage disposal if the other team somehow denied everything else. Well, you can play great D by luck for one possession but if a guy like Toure can be a threat from 3 AND off the dribble, you really can't stop him if he fakes the three, drives past you like he's going strong, but then he pulls up for a mid range jumper and hits it as you flail past him thinking he's going for a layup.