Nov. 19, 2007

CINCINNATI -

Xavier head coach Sean Miller announced today that he has received four signed National Letters of Intent from prep players that will be Musketeers beginning in the 2008-09 season. The four players added during this signing period are: Kenny Frease, a 7-0 and 265-pound center from Massillon (Ohio) Perry High School; Brian Walsh, a 6-4 and 185-pound guard/forward from Moon High School in Coraopolis, Pa.; Brad Redford, a 6-0 and 170-pound guard from Frankenmuth (Mich.) High School. All three of those standouts were listed as high honorable mention prep All-Americans in the 2007-08 Sporting News preseason basketball magazine. The fourth signee is Mark Lyons, a 6-1, 165-pound jet quick point guard from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H. (previously a star at Schenectady (N.Y.) High School).

 

"We are excited to announce our four newest additions to the Xavier Basketball Family:  Brad Redford, Mark Lyons, Brian Walsh and Kenny Frease," said Miller. "Each of these players play for outstanding high school programs and coaches.  This will be invaluable for them as they make the difficult adjustment from high school to Xavier University."

 

Frease was listed as a high honorable mention prep All-American in the 2007-08 Sporting News preseason basketball magazine, No. 40 on the ESPN150, No. 41 by Rivals.com and No. 45 by Dave Telep of Scout.com.

 

"Kenny Frease is a very skilled frontcourt player with great size," said Miller.  "He has a soft shooting touch and is an excellent passer for such a young post player.  He will have the ability to make his teammates better because of his impact close to the basket on offense and defense."

 

Frease, a three-year starter at Perry High, has averaged 14.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.5 assists for his career. Frease already holds the school record for blocked shots with 200 despite missing 12 games last season, which was half of his junior year.

 

"Kenny has gotten better every year," said Perry head coach Rob Toth, "and a big reason for that is his work ethic. "He is a true back-to-the-basket post player with a number of quality moves but he can also step out and shoot it. He has shot over 40 percent from three-point range for his career. He has drawn double- and triple-team defenses his entire career. Teams have tried all kinds of things against us. One characteristic that makes him even tougher to guard is that he is so unselfish. He sees the floor well and is both willing and able to make the necessary pass to an open teammate, often to punish a team for its double-team or triple-team defense."

 

"Kenny has gotten much better as a rebounder, particularly since he has improved his lateral quickness," Toth continued.  "He can get to more balls and get there quicker. That improvement has also helped his defense and his ability to block shots. He has always been able to record blocks but now he's blocking and altering a much greater number of shots every game."

 

Frease has earned a long list of honors each of the last two years, including Third Team All-Ohio,  First Team All-Federal League, First Team All-District 4 and First Team All-Northeast Inland.  Frease averaged 15.0 points and 11.0 rebounds as a junior and, despite missing half the season, helped his team finish 13-11 and came back to help Perry win a sectional championship and finish as district runner-up.  The team was 6-0 early in the season before he got hurt. He averaged 18.6 ppg. And 12.0 rpg. as a sophomore, while helping his team reach the district semifinals and finish second in the Federal League to eventual state champion Canton McKinley.

 

While his on-court game is very impressive, he has been equally impressive in the classroom. "He is in the top 10 percent of his class," said Toth, "and has over a 3.7 GPA. He is an impressive young man and I give a lot of the credit for that to his parents. They kept him grounded. In addition, I have never had to teach him about unselfishness and the importance of team over individual. They obviously taught him well."

 

 "One thing that cannot be overlooked in all of this is that Chris Mack and Sean Miller and everyone at Xavier were class acts from the start. There was a genuine concern for him as a person and that was important to him and his family. Big-time basketball at a smaller school that cares about academics and the individual person is a perfect fit for him."

 

Lyons was ranked No. 120 by Rivals.com and referred to Lyons as "a jet quick guard who can score."

 

 "Mark Lyons is an athletic guard that is able to make plays on both offense and defense," said Miller.  "It is important that our guards can pressure our opponent on both sides of the ball.  Mark has the ability to do this for us."

 

Lyons has averaged 17 points and fourth assists per game through three games this season. Brewster Academy is 3-0 and currently ranked fourth nationally among prep schools.

 

"Mark Lyons is a hard-working, competitive young man," said Brewester Academy head coach Jason Smith, who is also the associate director of admission at the school. " He's doing very well academically at Brewster and earned John Brewster Scholar status during our first recognition period.  Athletically, he's an excellent athlete and outstanding defender who will become a fan favorite at Xavier for how hard he competes."

 

Prior to this season, Lyons  played at Schenectady High in Schenectady, N.Y. He also played one year at South Kent (Conn.) School.

 

Redford was listed as a high honorable mention prep All-American in the 2007-08 Sporting News preseason basketball magazine.

 

"Brad Redford is an excellent shooter who can play both guard positions in our program," said Miller.  "It is exciting to add someone that can shoot the ball the way Brad can with the three point line moving back in 2008-09 in college basketball."

 

Redford, a top candidate this year for Michigan's "Mr. Basketball", earned First Team All-State honors as a junior from the Associated Press, Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Redford averaged 25.1 ppg. as a junior on the strength of a school-record 100 three-pointers and 42 percent three-point shooting, leading Frankenmuth High to a 16-7 record. He hit a school record nine three-point field goals in one game against rival Birch Run High School.

 

Redford, who has scored over 1,000 career points and is on target to break the school's career scoring mark, has shot over 90 percent from the free throw line for his career, including 93 percent as a junior. Redford, who is entering his fourth season as the school's starting point guard, has helped Frankenmuth compile a 60-12 record over his first three seasons, including three district championships and two conference championships. The team finished 22-2 his freshman year and 22-3 his sophomore year.

 

 "Brad has as good or better skills than anyone I've coached or coached against at this level," said Frankenmuth head coach Tim Crawford. "The main reason he shoots, passes and dribbles at such a high level is that he spends hours upon hours in the gym. He has worked himself into the player he is today."

 

"Brad can really shoot the ball and his shot mechanics are fundamentally sound. I know the new longer three-point line (beginning in NCAA in 2008-09) will be a problem for some guys but it won't be a problem for Brad. In addition, he handles the ball very well. You are not going to take it away from him. His decision-making is outstanding.  The one area he is working extra hard on is the defensive side of the ball."

 

Walsh was listed as a high honorable mention prep All-American in the 2007-08 Sporting News preseason basketball magazine.

 

"Brian Walsh is a very skilled basketball player," said Miller.  "He handles the ball, passes and shoots effectively, and possesses a great feel for the game.  He can also play a number of positions for us which allows our team to become deeper with his addition.

 

Walsh averaged 17.1 ppg. and 9.1 rpg. as a junior while leading his team to a 25-5 overall record and an 11-1 record in its "AAAA" section of the WPIAL. Walsh, a First Team All-WPIAL selection as a junior, has earned All-West Section honors for the Pittsburgh area two years in a row and recently earned preseason First Team All-Pittsburgh honors from Rise Magazine. He was selected to the prestigious ABCD Camp All-Star Game this past summer.

 

"He's a winner," said Moon High head coach Jeff Ackermann. "That's one of the main reasons he chose Xavier. Another big reason is the personal attention he got from coach Miller during the recruiting process." Moon won back-to-back WPIAL Championships when Walsh was a freshman and sophomore member of the varsity. Walsh averaged 16.0 ppg. and 9.0 rpg. as a sophomore as Moon finished 24-6.

 

"Brian shoots the ball extremely well ," said Ackermann. "He has great form and releases it high and quick." Walsh has scored well over 900 career points and is expected to reach 1,000 early in the upcoming season. "I'd rather not say exactly how many because I'd rather him not think about it."

 

 "Brian is by far the most complete player I've ever coached, especially in my seven years as a head coach," Ackermann continued.  "He's such a great athlete he could be a star in football, baseball, basketball, whatever sport he chooses. I'm happy he chose basketball. He understands the game very well and is very unselfish. He sees the floor very well and finds the open man. He's a great shooter. He's also a great rebounder who is extremely quick off his feet."

 

The addition of these four signees gives XU six new players next season with the addition of 6-8 Tulsa transfer Jamel McLean and 6-8 Hillsdale transfer Andrew Taylor, who are practicing now with Xavier and will be eligible as sophomores next season.