Summer critical for Perry big man
[FONT=verdana, Times New Roman, Times, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By GREG KOHNTOPP
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Perry basketball star Kenny Frease is just going to be a junior in high school, but the 6-foot-11 center has a very important summer in front of him.
It begins this weekend when Frease heads to St. Louis for the seventh annual Nike Hoop Jamboree, an invitation-only camp which features 120 of the top underclassmen in the nation. The week after the jamboree, Frease will join his Perry teammates at the Xavier University team camp.
Xavier has already offered Frease a scholarship.
Perry head coach Rob Toth believes his star player has the skill set to compete with the nation’s elite, but he says Frease needs to continue to work on his strength and foot speed to prove that he belongs in that group.
“He’s been working on his strength and his foot speed and he’s trying to just put it all together,” said Toth. “He has very good hands and has great shooting touch for a big man. He sees the floor well and his good at passing out of a double team. It’s just about being able to put it all together. I think he has gotten stronger. He has to keep working on his footwork and change of direction. Some of the college coaches have already told him those are the things he needs to improve at, so he knows that.”
While Xavier is Frease’s only major offer to this point, the Musketeers are hardly the only college showing interest. Ohio State has made a strong push lately and schools such as Indiana, Michigan, Louisville, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Stanford are staying in contact with Frease.
Toth said Ohio State and Xavier are recruiting Frease the hardest.
Ohio State, fresh off one of the top recruiting classes in NCAA history, is recruiting Frease as a center. The Buckeyes, however, just have a trio of solid center recruits already in Greg Oden, Dallas Lauderdale and B.J. Mullens.
Oden, who some believe is the best center prospect since Shaquille O’Neal, will be a freshman this year, while Lauderdale and Mullens are verbal commits. Lauderdale, who plays at Solon, will be a part of the 2007 class, while Mullens – who played at Harvest Prep in suburban Columbus – will be a part of the 2008 class.
Frease is also in the 2008 class. Toth doesn’t know if the commitments the other top centers will play a part in Frease’s recruitment, but the Perry coach hopes it doesn’t.
“Right now, I think Ohio State is in a mode where they are riding a nice wave of enthusiasm and they are trying to get as many good players as they can – post and perimeter,” Toth said. “I know they just received a commitment from Dallas Lauderdale and they have some other guys coming in. My only advice to Kenny is if you see that somebody is bringing in people like that, it should make you work harder to show that you belong in the same class as those other players.”
The Buckeyes also recently received a verbal commitment from GlenOak senior-to-be Kosta Koufos. But the 7-foot-1 Koufos is expected to be more of a perimeter threat at Ohio State.
“Kenny is being recruited strictly as a five (center),” Toth said. “He does have size and he does have bulk. You don’t find to many guys who can put there back to the basket and play in the low post. He has that going for him.”
