Tekele Cotton is a Shocker

[Anthroshock]

This is particularly exciting.

"Cotton finished with 12 points, but his last two brought the Whitefield Academy house down. With the game in hand, Cotton was fed the ball with a running start with 19 seconds left. He threw down a one-handed dunk, causing the raucous student section to scream even louder than it had through the course of the game."

[wufan]

Cotton makes the all-region team and player of the year I think the article says.

http://southcobb.patch.com/articles/...sketball-crown

Very impressive!!!

[Wuzee]

Cotton with 14 as Whitefield wins its first round game in the GHSA Class A tournament. Second round game will be Tuesday.

http://www.ihigh.com/whitefieldacademy/article_56247.html

[Wuzee]

Correction: Whitefield plays Athens Christian at 7 p.m. Wed.

The game isn't being broadcast by iHigh.

[Wuzee]

Tekele scored 19 points and Whitefield cruised past Athens Christian 90-55. The Wolfpack had a 57-point second half after leading by only 4 at the break.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/030311/pre_793735978.shtml

Next up is an Elite Eight matchup with North Cobb Christian Saturday night. If they win, they'll advance to Macon for the Final Four March 9 and 12. Those games will be webcast and archived at http://www.ghsa.tv

[Wuzee]

Cotton with a game-high 24 in the State Quarterfinals, as Whitefield advances 86-59.

His next game is Wednesday at 7:30 Central Time -- carried live on http://www.ghsa.tv

[ShockTalk]

So, if I understand this right, Whitfield is in the smallest division, A, of 5 divisions in Georgia. However, they are currently ranked #11 among all schools and in the other side of the bracket is Wilkenson Co who is the #9 team overall.

[Wuzee]

Cotton scores 13, but Whitefield falls in the semis, 66-63.

http://www.albanyherald.com/sports/headlines/Macon_Waves_117712938.html?ref=938

[wushock]

He made Atlanta Constitution Class A all state lst team

[Ricardo del Rio]

He made Atlanta Constitution Class A all state lst team

How many classes does Georgia have? Where does Class A rank relative to the others?

[WuDrWu]

He made Atlanta Constitution Class A all state lst team

How many classes does Georgia have? Where does Class A rank relative to the others?

A is the smallest of 5 classifications.

[ShockTalk]

He made Atlanta Constitution Class A all state lst team

How many classes does Georgia have? Where does Class A rank relative to the others?

RDR, see my post 3 up from yours. :D

And note where Cotton's team ranked among all Georgia schools (prior to their semi's loss).

[150946shox]

PG, SG or CG

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/125543/tekele-cotton

Strengths:
Cotton is a strong, powerful guard who has the ability to heat up and shoot the ball with range from beyond the arc. Offensively, he uses his frame to get in the paint to finish balls at the rim or pull-up for mid-range jump shots. He has the explosiveness to finish over defenders while absorbing with contact which allows him to spend a majority of his time at the free throw line. Defensively, he has foot speed and strength to keep defenders in front of him.

Weaknesses:
Although he has the ability to make shots, Cotton lacks a consistent perimeter stroke from behind the arc. At times he looks like more of a combo guard than a true shooting guard. At 6'2, Cotton will have to compensate for a lack of size in some situations and be able to create space to release him jump shot over defenders. The majority of his shots have come off the dribble, so his development of coming off screens will be a key to his success.

Bottom Line:
Cotton is a solid mid-major guard who any coach would love to have. He comes from a good basketball program where coaching and success have been present in his growth as a player. Whether a shooting guard or combo guard this guy will know how to help a team win with his toughness and dependability. He is young player who will except his role early and be able to defend at the next level. Greg Marshall and the Shockers will not miss a beat with the Georgia native in their program.

Based on this ESPN Evaluation, I had assumed that Tekele had played mostly the SG. However, going through the posts from the past season, it sounds as though he may have moved over to the point. His assist totals (4.8 per game) certainly seem to be reasonable for a PG.

Between what I had read prior to this season, and what I've heard HCGM say, I really have not considered Tekele as a PG of the future. However, his play the past year might show that he has progressed as a PG and may become a good offensive PG who provides great defense as well.

Just something to throw out during the short lull in the recruiting information after the exciting past couple of days.

[wufan]

I'm excited about Cotton, but I hope he is more Demetric Williams than Wendell Preadom.

[Snapshot9]

It does look like he came on as the season progressed, but as I said before
I was not impressed with the videos I saw and the competition level. It will be a major change for him to play Div-1 ball, and we will just have to see how well he adapts to it.