Skyline Trojan sophomore center/forward Tremaine Fuqua will be attending Oklahoma State University to play division one basketball next season.
     Fuqua will be playing in front of a national television audience almost every week and will be playing in a well-known tough college basketball conference called the “Big XII.”
     “I am excited for him,” said Skyline basketball head coach Tony Raffetto. “How often do people get a chance to get play at one of the best conferences in the nation. Play on national television and play in front of 17,000 people every night.”
     With all this anticipation going on, Fuqua is eager to being playing against such names as junior center James Thomas of the University of Texas, Wayne Simeon of Kansas University, and legendary college basketball coaches like Roy Williams of Kansas University, Bobby Knight of Texas Tech University, and Quin Snyder of the University of Missouri.
     “Those are big schools,” Fuqua said. “It’s an honor to be playing against T.J. Ford of Texas and a lot of big time players in the Big XII. I just look forward to be playing in the Big XII.”
     Recruited out of Skyline high school in Oakland, Fuqua has blossomed into one of the premier players in community college basketball and has made Skyline into one of the top teams in the Coast Conference. Fuqua also has very exceptional basketball fundamentals for a 6’9″ player.
     “He has the softest hands I have ever seen,” Raffetto said. “His hands are special for a guy his age. His footwork- he spends time working on things most guys don’t work on. That is why he could swing around and pump fake.”
     Fuqua has great presence from inside the key that opponents have to either double or triple team him. In Fuqua’s previous three games he has scored 10, 21, and 15 points, grabbed nine and seven rebounds twice, and dished out seven assists in two of the last three games.
     “He has advertisement on his back,” Raffetto said. “When you sign at Oklahoma State everybody wants to beat you. He is the vocal point of our offense. We can give the ball to him anytime we want he can really go to work.
     “He can really make baskets. I think they fear him more than anybody and they should he is the best half court player on the court.”
     Teammates are excited that Fuqua will be playing at a division one school and believe that he will do well like he has at Skyline.
     “He has worked a lot on his game just making the transition from being just ‘big man’ to now becoming versatile,” said Trojan teammate Hasan Houston, who also was recruited as a freshman. “It expands his game and I think that Oklahoma State really is going to benefit from having a guy like him on their team.”
     Another teammate of Fuqua, Eldridge Henderson echoed the sentiment of Houston in that Fuqua will succeed at Oklahoma State.
     “I know it’s a good school and a big school,” Henderson said. “I know they are a winning team. It should be a good experience for him and he should fit in.”
     Oklahoma State is going to have one of the best players to come out of Skyline basketball and will do well in the future with the addition of Fuqua. He is a player that can beat opponents with a very good inside game and scores in bunches. The “Big XII” conference is going to be a good experience for Fuqua and his talents.
     “I worked hard in the gym working on my outside game. Worked on my post moves and it paid off for me” Fuqua said.