Chadwick commits to Cougars

PULLMAN – David Chadwick has known Washington State basketball coach Tony Bennett most of his life.

Now he’ll be playing basketball for him.

Chadwick, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound power forward, announced this week he’ll accept a scholarship at WSU, even though the Charlotte, N.C., native has never been to Pullman.

“I’m packing right now, my flight leaves tonight,” Chadwick said by phone Tuesday, adding he’ll spend a couple days in Pullman. “Getting to play for a coach like coach Bennett and for a great school that is on the rise right now in a system that … I thought I would fit in real well.

“Knowing coach Bennett already helped, but only in that I knew he was a great coach and I know what I’ll be getting into in terms of a system.”

Chadwick’s father, David, Sr., played basketball for Dean Smith at North Carolina and wrote a book about Smith’s leadership principles. He’s also a minister and presided over Tony and Laurel Bennett’s wedding. But that didn’t make WSU David Chadwick’s only choice.

“The past couple years I pretty much decided I was going to make my own path, find my own school,” said Chadwick, who added North Carolina recruited him early in his high school career. “That was something everyone was able to accept. (North Carolina) was his decision, but I had to make my own. It wasn’t really a problem.”

Chadwick, a senior at Charlotte Latin School, said he narrowed his list to George Mason, College of Charleston, Rice, Tulane, Valparaiso and Ohio before picking WSU.