Season preview from the YDN today included this sentence: "Cotton — a guard out of New Jersey who was one of four players to appear in all 31 games last season and ranked fourth on the team in scoring — told the News that he will not be suiting up for the Bulldogs this year as he recovers from injury, but plans to stick around the team."
Seems to suggest that he won't be playing this season and won't be taking leave to preserve Ivy eligibility. I will be interested to see how James plugs the gap, but have no doubt he'll work something out.