MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — For much of his life, people have had to look up to Isaiah Cottrell.
That included his kindergarten teacher.
“It’s funny to think about now, but I was taller than her back then,” said the 6-foot-9 power forward from Las Vegas, who became West Virginia’s first verbal commitment in the 2020 recruiting class last week. “I’m not sure if that’s more of a story about me being tall or her being really short.”
Cottrell, a four-star prospect ranked 64th overall by Rivals.com and 63rd overall by ESPN in the 2020 class, instantly gave the Mountaineers some recruiting momentum when he chose WVU over the likes of Kansas, Arizona, Texas Tech, LSU and a host of others.
He made his announcement while attending the NBA Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, Va. and instantly felt like his life had changed.
“The thing about it was so many other good players were there and were working so hard to make an impression,” Cottrell said. “Once I made my choice, I felt like the only person I have to impress now is coach (Bob) Huggins. Once I started realizing that, it’s made things so much easier.”
There is much to know about Cottrell, who plans to make his commitment official by signing a national letter-of-intent in November.
He averaged 15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game as a junior for Bishop Gorman, which won its third consecutive Nevada Class AAAA state championship in 2019.
Bishop Gorman was then invited to compete at GEICO Nationals and fell in the first round against No. 1-ranked La Lumiere School (La Porte, Indiana) in double overtime.
“We’ve got four starters coming back and have a lot better chemistry,” he said. “I think we’ll have an even better season this year.”
And while he’s called the bright lights of Las Vegas home for most of his life, he has ties to both WVU and the state of West Virginia.
Cottrell is the son of former WVU player Brian Lewin, who was the starting center on the Mountaineers’ 1998 Sweet 16 team.
He was born in Jacksonville, Fla., but soon moved to Parkersburg, where his mother is from.
“In West Virginia, I kind of thought I was going to be a baseball player,” Cottrell said.
Cottrell has a cousin who currently attends WVU and still has his grandparents, as well as an aunt and uncle who live in the Belpre, Ohio area, which is just across the Ohio River from Parkersburg.
Cottrell and his mother then moved to Illinois for a short time before settling down in Las Vegas.
“I was kind of like everybody else. I thought Las Vegas was nothing but the bright lights and big hotels,” he said. “It’s really a cool city, but it also feels like a small city once you’re here. There’s plenty to do, but once you’re outside of the city, it’s nothing but desert.
“Moving around a lot was a little hard when I was younger, but it’s been a good home for us here.”
He said he began to take basketball seriously in the sixth grade. Good thing, because by the eighth grade, Cottrell was already 6-foot-7.
“That’s when a lot of schools first started noticing me and the letters started coming in,” Cottrell said. “In the eighth grade, I was able to show that I could shoot and I started to gain a lot more confidence in my game.”
West Virginia assistant Larry Harrison was one of the early coaches to make contact and Cottrell said he built a good relationship with Harrison.
He took an official visit to WVU last September.
“West Virginia just really felt like home for me more than anything else,” Cottrell said. “Everybody there is so down-to-earth, which made a big impression on me.”
He is also looking forward to developing more of a defensive mentality under Huggins.
“I always liked the mentality that comes with pressing full court,” he said. “I’ve never really had a coach before who pushed me to be that active on defense.
“One of the things that has me excited to play for Huggs is expanding that part of my game. I feel like he’ll help me become more of a complete player.”
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