Men’s Basketball: UL’s Soto declared eligible

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, November 27, 2012

One day after a 63-60 loss Sunday at No. 15 Michigan State, the 2-4 UL basketball team got some much-awaited news at home Monday.

UL learned that the NCAA has ruled guard-forward Josh Soto academically eligible, clearing the way for the true freshman to play for the Ragin’ Cajuns beginning with Thursday night’s Sun Belt Conference season-opener vs. Middle Tennessee at the Cajundome.

Soto had been permitted to attend class and practice with team this semester, but he missed six non-conference games while waiting for the NCAA Clearinghouse to make its decision regarding coursework he took while a high school freshman in his native Puerto Rico.

"We’re excited to add him to the roster, and look forward to seeing how he can contribute," Cajuns coach Bob Marlin said Monday night. "He’s done a good job in practice, and we’ll have to see how he fits in the rotation.

"But we’ll play him, and hopefully he’ll be able to help."

The highly regarded 6-foot-4, 210-pounder signed with UL out of Florida Air Academy, a boarding school in Melbourne, Fla., where he averaged almost 20 points and six rebounds as a senior on a 22-4 team.

Coming out of Florida Air, Soto was rated as the No. 19 shooting guard and the No. 71 prospect in Florida by FloridaHoops.com.

Marlin said he is a strong shooter who "can score."

Soto can play multiple positions, and should help provide depth for a Cajuns club that already this season has started three different shooting guards — senior Alan-Michael Thompson, Tulane transfer Kevin Brown and mostly recently true freshman Steven Wronkoski — alongside junior Bryant Mbamalu on the wing.

But he can also play the 4 spot when the Cajuns go small, as Wronkoski also has done at times this season.

"He (Soto) knows how to play," Marlin said.

"He’s a strong young man, and he can also help in the rebounding department."

Dec. 22 not changing

A Cajuns spokesman said Monday that UL’s Dec. 22 game against Duquesne will remain scheduled for 7 p.m. that night at the Cajundome, even though the UL football team learned last Saturday it will play earlier that same day in the New Orleans Bowl.

UL sports information director Brian McCann said that by the time the New Orleans Bowl had tapped Dec. 22 for its game date this season, prompting the Cajuns to consider a request for rescheduling, Duquesne had already purchased airline tickets for the under-contract basketball game.