Cooper One of Eight in NCAA Div. III Selected to Play at Collegiate Basketball Invitational

James Cooper

James Cooper (Springfield, Ohio / Springfield South) of The College of Wooster was one of 65 players, and among just eight from NCAA Div. III, chosen to compete at the Collegiate Basketball Invitational (CBI), set to take place from April 24-26, it was announced by McCarthy Sports, Inc., late Wednesday.

The second annual event is bringing together the top seniors from NCAA Div. II and III as well as NAIA, and will be held at Wadsworth High School in Wadsworth, Ohio. The players have been broken up into eight teams and each squad will play three games in a tournament Thursday and Friday. Then, 20 players will be chosen for an all-star game Saturday night, which will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 8 p.m.

“I sincerely congratulate the 65 players that have been selected to compete in this prestigious event,” stated CBI founder John McCarthy in a press release. “I am proud and honored to welcome them to Wadsworth for the Collegiate Basketball Invitational. I am confident that this class of players will help make the public aware of the high level of talent at the NCAA Div. II, NCAA Div. III, and NAIA levels.”

He also thanked the selection committee sayng, “with approximately 1,000 colleges and universities within these divisions, the selection of players has truly been a challenging task. Narrowing this field to 65 players has been very difficult, as there are many others at these levels that are very talented players and of high character.”

Cooper is on a team, sponsored by Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital, and will be coached by Kevin Bille of Notre Dame (Ohio) College. His teammates for the tourney will be Luke Cooper (Univ. of Alaska Anchorage), Antonio Bolton (Voorhees College), Avery Patterson (Tarleton State Univ.), Larry Welton (Aurora Univ.), Devario Hudson (Valdosta State Univ.), Brian Stamer (Colorado Christian Univ.), and Atila Santos (Minnesota State Univ.-Mankato).

Cooper finished his collegiate career as one of Wooster’s all-time greats. A three-time All-American, including first-team recognition from D3hoops.com this past season when he averaged career highs in scoring (19.5 ppg) and rebounding (2.4 rpg), the 6-0, 175-pound shooting guard was just the second Fighting Scot to score 2,000 career points (2,037). Cooper put up big numbers in an efficient manner, ranking among the top-10 in the North Coast Athletic Conference in all three shooting categories – field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, and free throw percentage – each of the last three seasons. For his career, he shot 53.0 percent from the field, including 46.1 on 3-pointers, and 80.8 percent at the foul line.

Wooster also had a representative at last year’s CBI, as Tom Port participated in the event and then went on to play professionally in both Iceland and Ireland this past winter.