Prep Basketball | Beach gets stronger with two transfers

The leading scorer for the Garfield High School boys basketball team and the top returning player at Chief Sealth are transferring to Rainier Beach.

Aaron Dotson, a 6-foot-3 guard-forward who averaged 18.6 points and helped Garfield reach the 4A state tournament, is on the list of incoming junior students at Beach. Also headed for Beach is Nyandigisi "Digs" Moikobu, a 6-foot-5 senior who averaged 9.8 points and about six rebounds for Chief Sealth last season.

Chief Sealth coach Colin Slingsby said of the Seattle transfer scene: "It's turning into NBA-like free agency where kids jump and leave when they think the grass is a little bit greener."

Beach athletic director Dan Jurdy said both transfers are legal. He said Seattle has open enrollment and added that Dotson has moved into the Rainier Beach attendance area. He noted that last year two former Beach players moved into Franklin's attendance area and became Franklin Quakers.

Beach coach Mike Bethea said Moikobu lives "about a rock's throw" from the Beach campus. Jurdy said the former Sealth player is transferring because the Seattle School District is discontinuing school-bus transportation from the Rainier Beach area to West Seattle. Jurdy said Moikobu is opting for Beach instead of having to ride a Metro bus downtown and then transfer to West Seattle. Chief Sealth is in the southwest area of West Seattle.

Jurdy said the change in school-district transportation policies could affect the number of South End athletes playing for schools outside their neighborhoods. He said the change might be particularly felt by football programs at North End schools.

Jurdy and Bethea vigorously denied rumors that all-state forward DeAngelo Casto of 4A state-champion Ferris High School of Spokane could wind up at Beach instead of Franklin.

"He's not coming to Beach," Bethea said. Jurdy said, "We believe Franklin is the best place for him."

Casto played for Franklin in an early summer tournament in Seattle. At the tournament, his mother, Stacy, said that the Casto family of mostly adopted children is moving to Seattle from Spokane for a variety of reasons, including "cultural diversity over here that is really lacking over there."

Casto, a 6-foot-8 senior who is one of the state's top recruits, averaged 14.8 points and 12.2 rebounds. He scored 27 to help Ferris beat Franklin 100-79 in the semifinals of the 4A state tournament.

There are rumors that Casto may remain at Ferris. His family couldn't be reached for comment last night. Casto transferred to Ferris last year after two years at 1A Freeman outside Spokane.

Sealth coach Slingsby said summers now are filled with rumors of who is going to wind up where.

"I won't believe who's coming back until school starts," Slingsby said. "And then we'll have to wait until tryouts and practices begin and see who is there. ... I've seen so much that I'd believe anything as far as guys coming and going."

Last summer's most newsworthy Seattle transfer was junior guard Reggie Moore, who left private O'Dea for Rainier Beach.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com