Cottrill, a 6-foot-2 senior basketball standout and WVU recruit, was in Logan on Friday morning as he took a brief tour of Logan High School’s Willie Akers Arena.
He was there at the fieldhouse his freshman and sophomore years as a member of the Poca High School basketball team as the Dots played the Wildcats.
On Friday, he returned.
Cottrill will soon be donning the Blue and Gold.
Not just the Blue and Gold of West Virginia.
He’ll be wearing the Blue and Gold of the Logan Wildcats.
Cottrill made it official on Friday and ended weeks of speculation as he signed his transfer papers and enrolled for fall semester classes at Logan High School.
Cottrill played last season at new Beckley prep school Mountain State Academy. His Falcons’ team last year met up with Logan and came away with a 99-67 blowout win over the Cats the University of Charleston’s Eddie King Gym.
Just last year, Cottrill sent shockwaves across the West Virginia high school sports scene as he transferred from Poca to Mountain State Academy.
Now’s he’s on the move again and has landed in Logan – his third school in three years.
“I’m very excited to be here and it’s a great place to play,” said Cottrill on Friday in Logan’s 2,700-seat Willie Akers Arena as he looked up to the rafters at LHS’s six state championship signs. “The atmosphere here is awesome. The last time I played here there were 2,000 people calling me a crybaby and holding up signs. The people have been very welcoming and are good people and I’m really excited to be here.”
Cottrill scored 19 points and dished out eight assist in the game with Logan last season.
He’s currently ranked No. 79 in the nation in the Rivals150 Class of 2010 list.
ESPN ranks Cottrill as the 14th-best point guard in his class in the country, while scout.com rates him 11th-best.
Cottrill averaged 25.8 points per game last year at MSA. His freshman year at Poca he poured in 23.8 points a game. In his sophomore year with the Dots he pumped that up to 30.9 points.
Cottrill made statewide and nationwide headlines before his sophomore year at Poca with his early verbal commitment to WVU. He ended up being then new coach Bob Huggins’ first in-state recruit.
This summer, Cottrill played for the Ohio Basketball Club and led his team to the JamFest Tournament title at Morgantown. He lit up the scoreboard for 32 points in an 86-70 victory over a team from Washington D.C. in the championship game.
Cottrill has received a lot of praise from nationwide basketball recruiters and on-line services.
Said Scouts, Inc.: “Cottrill is a high-octane, Energizer Bunny of a point guard who has deep range, very good court vision and a motor that does not stop. This in-state point guard has committed to West Virginia University and promises to go down fighting in every game he plays. Cottrill is a scoring lead guard that is constantly on the attack. He does a good job of advancing the ball in transition off the pass or dribble and if the defense fails too control him he can get to the rim or stop and pop with range behind the arc. Cottrill is also a good penetrator with deceptive speed and quickness.”
Wildcat basketball fans have one thing in mind when the roundball campaign begins.
And that is a trip to Charleston in March.
Cottrill, along with a host of other Logan basketball returnees, could get Logan back to the state tournament.
Last year ended in disappointment for the Wildcats as Logan lost to Cabell Midland in the Class AAA sectional tourney at Huntington and closed out the basketball campaign with a 15-7 record. It was Logan’s first year back in Triple-A since 2002.
Logan made five straight trips to the state tournament as a Double-A team from 2004-08.
Coach Mark Hatcher’s Wildcats won the 2A state title in 2005 with a victory over Westside. He also has a state runner-up finish in 2007.
LHS has had a history of winning at least one state championship in every decade since the 1960s.
Logan won the 1964 Class AAA state title under Willie Akers, then took back-to-back 3A crowns in 1977 and 1978. In the 1980s, Logan won the 3A state championship in 1983 under Akers. LHS prevailed in 1991 as Coach Vic Herbert led the Wildcats to the Triple-A state title. Hatcher then led Logan to a state title in the 2000s decade with the ‘05 Double-A crown.
Now comes a new decade.
The teens.
Can Cottrill lead the Wildcats to the 2009-2010 season title?
“That’s my goal and that’s the goal for everyone else on the team,” Cottrill said. “I know that we can do it.”
Cottrill said his game blossomed last season at Mountain State Academy. The Falcons, a new prep school, did a lot of traveling, especially out-of-state. MSA even matched up against Oak Hill Academy (Va.), considered the best prep basketball team in the nation.
“It was a good experience. It helped my game out a lot,” Cottrill said. “We played against the best kind of competition that you could play against. I want to play a year of games in-state and be close to my family.”
Back in June, however, Mountain State Academy Coach Bob Fulford left for Huntington to coach a privately-funded basketball academy. That led to speculation about Cottrill possibly leaving school, too.
Now Cottrill has left MSA and is a Logan Wildcat.
Cottrill gives Logan the entire package.
He can shoot the 3 from deep range.
He can dish it off.
He can handle the rock.
He’s a true team leader.
For local basketball fans he’s a Wildcat and that’s what’s most important.
Rivals.com summed up Cottrill the best.
“He’s an exciting point guard with a flair for the dramatic.”
Get ready, Logan Wildcat fans, and get your tickets as soon as you can.
Seeing Noah Cottrill play this season will certainly be a hot ticket.
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