Last month, Julian Sensley surprised a lot of people when he decided to attend Iona instead of California.

Sensley, a 6-8, 235 pound forward from Hawaii, spent two years under the guidance of Head Coach Jere Quinn at St. Thomas More. In his two years at the tiny Connecticut prep school, he led the Chancellors to back to back NEPSAC Class A titles.

Sensley had committed to Cal while he was attending high school back in Hawaii. He enrolled at St. Thomas More for the 1999-2000 school year in order to work on his academics, and was summarily re-classed academically.

He signed with Cal in the fall of 2000, but failed to attain the necessary test score to enroll at the PAC 10 school. He enrolled at a Bay Area junior college this fall (Diablo Valley) as a part-time student, but could not get the necessary test score.

Then in late November of 2001, Sensley announced that he would be enrolling at Iona regardless of his academic situation. Former St. Thomas More teammate Solomon Brown was a major factor in Sensley's choice of Jeff Ruland's Gael program.

"It's just a shame that it happened the way that it did," Quinn said. "If he was going to become a prop or partial qualifier, he should have done it in September."

"He had opportunities and I talked to him about it," Quinn continued. "But he was getting major influences from people on the West Coast who were hoping that he would continue to take his test and pass it. I explained to him that he could start school now and earn it [the year] back."

As a result, Sensley won't be eligible to play at Iona until December of 2002, as he failed to attain a qualifying SAT score on his last attempt in December.

He is now enrolled at Iona as a partial qualifier, and Quinn spoke to Sensley recently and said his former star is in good spirits.

"A year and a half is a long time not to play, but Iona has some great people," Quinn said. "He's very comfortable with Solomon, and I think Solomon did one of the best recruiting jobs in the country."