Hersey's Fabrizius picks Dayton

A couple of Luke Fabrizius' hoops buddies tried to sell him on Northwestern.

But a deeper connection sold the 6-foot-9 Hersey senior on playing his Division I college basketball at the University of Dayton.

Fabrizius made his official visit to the Ohio school this weekend and made his verbal commitment Sunday morning to Dayton coach and Hersey graduate Brian Gregory.

Fabrizius will sign his letter of intent in the early period in November.

"It's definitely pretty cool, that connection there that we both played for coach (Don) Rowley," Fabrizius said Sunday night. "He was awesome through the whole process.

"During the whole period I developed such a great relationship with him."

Gregory played on Hersey's 1985 Elite Eight team with new Huskies coach Steve Messer, who replaced the retired Rowley.

Two of Fabrizius' teammates this summer, Nick Fruendt of Batavia and John Shurna of Glenbard West, have committed to Northwestern.

But the lure of playing in the Big Ten wasn't enough to catch Fabrizius.

"It's pretty hard to pass up a school like that," said Fabrizius, who also had scholarship offers from Indiana, Marquette, DePaul and Creighton. "They're awesome guys and that's another hard thing to pass up.

"But I feel Dayton is the perfect place."

The two-time Daily Herald All-Area pick burst onto the recruiting radar as a sophomore when he hit six 3-pointers in a Pekin Holiday Tournament game against Peoria Richwoods and 6-9 Bill Cole, who is now a freshman at Illinois.

He averaged 10.6 points and hit 47 3s as Hersey won the Mid-Suburban League title. Last year he averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks a game and made 63 3s for a 22-6 team.

"I definitely have to work hard and develop the weaker parts of my game," Fabrizius said. "Stepping up to the college game is a huge step.

"The physicalness and quickness, I saw that playing in an open gym with the guys how strong and quick they are. It's definitely a big transition."

Fabrizius, who has a 4.8 grade point average on a 5.0 scale, likes the fact he will be making it at a program led by the energetic Gregory.

Dayton went 19-12 last year and is 75-49 since Gregory, the 1985 Daily Herald All-Area honorary captain, took over in 2003.

"It's a program definitely on the rise," Fabrizius said. "They have great players coming in, and a couple of guys in my class are phenomenal players.

"You can tell it's a high-character program and how high-character the people are. Coach Gregory always talks about high character and how important that is."

Fabrizius was also impressed with the support Dayton received when he went to a game last season.

"It's incredible," Fabrizius said of Dayton averaging 12,266 at home last year and drawing at least 10,000 to 99 percent of its home games the last 14 years. "It's a great atmosphere to play in."

Just another reason why Fabrizius was flying high Sunday.