Thursday, May 04, 2000

Johnson City, Tenn. -- The East Tennessee State University men's basketball team today announced that Cory Seels, a 6-9 / 265-pound forward, has signed a National Letter of Intent. Seels will join the Buc program this fall.

As a senior, Seels led Ridgewood High School (New Port Richey, Fla.) to a 20-10 record while averaging 16.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. He was named both the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times Pasco County Player-of-the-Year. Seels was ranked among the Top-100 players in America by the Bob Gibbons All-Star Scouting Service. Seels also earned All-Conference Honors and was a member of the St. Petersburg Times All-Area team. Last summer he attended the National Basketball Association Players Association Camp at Princeton University where he ranked #18 out of 45 seniors.

"I think his attitude, coupled with his size is going to take him a long ways," said Ridgewood Head Coach Coach Gary Anders. "He is a great kid and I am happy that he will have an opportunity to be successful at East Tennessee State."

"Cory is the kind of post player that we have been searching for," said ETSU Head Coach Ed DeChellis. "He is obviously a very big kid who has good skills. He was highly recruited throughout the nation and we feel very fortunate to have him join our program. He gives us immediate size and immediate presence. He is a kid who can score with the ball in the post and he is also a very good rebounder both offensively and defensively. We are just ecstatic that he has taken our last scholarship and he is the kind of player that we have been looking for in terms of size and ability in the post."

Seels joins Jerald Fields (Gainesville, Fla.), Ryan Carson (Charlotte, N.C.), Zakee Wadood (Lonoke, Ark.)and Tim Boyd (Crossett, Ark.) on the Bucs 2000-01 recruiting class.