Decisions, Decisions for Dabney

Cooley · September 30, 2005

September 30, 2005

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TexasHoops.com Recruiting Staff

Last weekend, the United States Military Academy pulled a coup out of the Lone Star state when they secured commitments from Lance Pevehouse and Cleveland Richard. Can Army pull off a third this weekend with a pledge from Cole Dabney? It's possible the massive 6-foot-10, 260-pound post from Bowie High School in Austin pulls the trigger, but it's just as likely he won't. He's got a whole host of options he's trying to sort out this fall.

Dabney Family

"Right now, I'm just sitting back looking at what everybody has to say," Dabney said. "I'm taking an official visit to West Point this weekend, and a couple of other schools want me to set up this October, so I'm deciding when and where right now."

Dabney has a whole host of options that he's looking over. His offers so far come from Army, Albany, Binghampton, and UT-Arlington, but he's got high-major programs such as Michigan and Northwestern talking to him, mid-majors like Tulsa, SMU, and UNT calling, and academic-oriented schools like Yale interested. Asked to give a top five or six, Dabney replied with Yale, North Texas, UNC-Wilmington, Tulsa, Army, and Michigan. Of those, two are at the very top.

"Yale and North Texas are my top 2, and while they are night and day, they both have a lot to offer," Dabney said. "I have the grades to most likely go to Yale, and North Texas has a great film program (like Yale) and that's what I want to major in and then my mom and dad, family and friends could see me play on a regular basis, since it's only 3 hours away."

"The Ivy League has a really cool basketball scene, and you have a chance to go to the Tourney every year," he continued. "They play a really cool southern and north-eastern schedule, with a little bit of everything: Big 12, Big 10, Conference USA, and Big East are all in there. The no athletic scholarship thing they have is kind of hard, but the opportunity to go to a university that is consistantly rated the first, second or third best school in the nation along with Princeton and Harvard, would be a once in a lifetime experience, and a degree from there would be a big accomplishment that I would like to achieve."

Still, Dabney is thinking about the possibilities of playing in a big conference if given the chance. "Michigan is in the Big-10, and that's big-time basketball," Dabney said. "And Northwestern - they've been recruiting me for awhile. They have a really good program too."

For now though, Dabney is looking forwards to his visit to Army where he hopes to have some of his questions about the school and program answered. "The thing with West Point is the five-year commitment afterwards," Dabney said. "I don't know if I definitely want to do that. But the coach did an in-home visit with me and told me that I would be the biggest guy they'd ever have there. So it's kind of neat to have somebody who really wants you. I'm definitely looking at them."

Will Dabney be able to process enough information to make an early decision? "I've always planned on signing in the fall if the opportunity was there," Dabney said. "But the thing I've heard a lot is that it doesn't make any difference if you sign in the fall or in the spring if you're not 100 percent sure. There's no reason to take a chance on four years of your life. So I don't want to rush it. There's so much to take into consideration basketball and academics-wise, so I just have to find a place where the basketball and academics are right."