Dime Magazine

NO73 2013

Dime is the premier basketball magazine, covering the NBA, NCAA, High School, Playground and International basketball - as well as sneakers, fashion and music.

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WHAT'S MY NAME? PHOTOS. WORDS. Daniel Marks UT Athletic Media Relations & USA Basketball Jarnell Stokes Te University of Tennessee football team sees plenty of athletes enroll after the conclusion of the frst semester in their senior year of high school. Tey fnish up their high school season, get their diploma, and then head to Knoxville for the team's spring practices. Teir sights are set on playing right away as freshmen, and spring practice puts them in front of the coaches earlier than most recruits. Once fall hits, they have a leg up for immediate playing time. While this is common for the football team, it's almost unheard of for basketball. It just wouldn't make sense for a player to enroll early. Unlike high school football, basketball happens over the course of two semesters. To enroll early, players must leave high school in the middle of their senior season, and jump onto a college roster with no chance to learn the playbook. For those reasons, Tennessee never had an early enrollee in basketball. Until last season. Jarnell Stokes completed one of the most unique freshman seasons in recent memory after graduating high school in December. Why would Stokes, a fve-star recruit, do this? Because he didn't have a choice. The 6-8 Stokes didn't play high school ball as a senior. "I wanted to play badly but due to complications with me transferring schools I was ruled ineligible to play. At the end of the day I just wanted to play basketball, and because I was ineligible to play in high school, this was really the only way I could play. Thankfully I had the grades and had fulflled all the requirements needed in order for me to graduate early and enroll." Stokes' high school career started at Memphis Central where he was the star on a team consistently ranked in the top 24 15 in the state of Tennessee. However, after his junior season, he made the decision to transfer to Oak Hill Academy, a breeding ground for the nation's top players. While Stokes planned on attending Oak Hill, there were complications with his fnancial aid packages and a concern on Stokes' end about how he would commute between Memphis and Oak Hill. Instead, he enrolled at Southwind High School in the Memphis school district. That's where the problems began, as the state high school athletic association ultimately

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