Former Kalaheo star at Fresno St.

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Peripatetic basketball phenom Julian Sensley enrolled at Fresno State University this week, but won't play for the Bulldogs until nearly next Christmas.

Sensley, who grew up in Hawai'i and played three years at Kalaheo High, left Iona College in New York last weekend amid speculation that he probably would enter the NBA draft in June.

But Danny Tarkanian, son of and assistant to Fresno State head basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, said yesterday that Sensley had enrolled at Fresno State this week and was taking classes and looking for an apartment.

Tarkanian said Sensley, as an NCAA partial qualifier (his SAT score was low), must pass 24 units in two semesters to become eligible. "Summer school doesn't count," Tarkanian said, so the earliest Sensley could play for Fresno State would be Dec. 19, the end of the first semester at Fresno next school year.

Sensley, who grew up in Makiki and Kailua, left Kalaheo High after his junior year and attended St. Thomas More prep school in Pennsylvania for two years. He was a high school All-America and a consensus top 20 prospect among recruiting rating services.

He signed a letter of intent to attend California (Berkeley) but failed to qualify academically, so he enrolled at nearby Diablo Valley community college. But Sensley left there and started the spring semester at Iona, just north of New York City in New Rochelle, on Jan. 22. He quit Iona after two weeks.

Iona coach Jeff Ruland granted Sensley a release from his scholarship agreement.