The University of Massachusetts men's basketball program got good news from the admissions department Friday as highly-rated forward Luke Cothron was admitted to school.

Once Cothron, the highly-rated forward who announced his commitment to UMass earlier this week, was officially accepted Friday, he flew from his Huntsville, Ala. home and was expected to arrive on campus late Friday. Classes begin next week.

The 6-foot-8 forward, who is a consensus No. 20 power forward among recruit rankings, originally signed to attend Auburn, but the Southeastern Conference doesn't accept academic nonqualifiers. Cothron re-opened his recruiting and chose UMass over Texas-El Paso.

He'll pay his own way during the 2010-11 school year and won't play or practice with the Minutemen. He'll be eligible in 2011-12 and could earn back his lost eligibility if he's competed enough credits by the end of his fourth year in college.

The Minutemen will have four players sitting out during the first semester of the 2010-11 season: Cothron; big man Cady Lalanne, who will also sit out the year as a nonqualifier; combo guard Jesse Morgan, who will be eligible in late December after the fall semester is complete; and point guard Chaz Williams, who is sitting out the NCAA-mandated year after transferring from Hofstra.

LAURY JUNIOR COLLEGE BOUND - David Laury, the much-traveled 6-foot-8 forward from Newark, N.J. who committed to the Minutemen in April, will instead attend junior college. Laury previously committed to both Western Kentucky and Iona.

GIBBS TO NEWBURY COLLEGE - Former Minuteman combo guard David Gibbs transferred to Division II Newberry College in North Carolina. He'll be eligible immediately and has two years of eligibility remaining.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.