ESPN RISE

Although St. Frances Academy's (Baltimore) Gregory Lewis had modest statistics this season for a balanced Panthers (31-4) squad that featured senior Parade All-American Terrell Vinson and juniors Dante Holmes and Wayne Sparrow, the fast-improving Baltimore big man is already drawing recruiting interest from Florida, Temple and UConn.

"Gregory really came on and improved over the second half of the season," St. Frances assistant coach Carlos Green said. "Gregory played very well in our win over [Bishop] O'Connell at the Alhambra [Catholic Invitational] Tournament. He had 15 points and 14 rebounds in the championship game against Gonzaga, even though we lost.

"At this point, he is kind of a finesse player. A big thing for his improvement this year was that he got more confident. As his confidence grew, he played better. He definitely has a chance to be a really special player."

Lewis said that at this juncture, the colleges he would most like to attend are Georgetown, Florida, Florida State and Syracuse.

"I think I improved a lot this year from last year when I was a freshman," Lewis told ESPNRISE.com. "I had some real good games, and I felt I did what the team needed from me. We had a good year, and we won the [Baltimore Catholic League] and [Maryland Interscholatic Athletic Association] championships, so it was a great year for us. I just go out and work hard and do what the coaches want me to do and what the team needs from me to win."

Because Vinson is graduating this spring, Lewis will play a bigger role offensively for head coach Mark Karcher next season.

"I know I can do more offensively than I showed this year," Lewis said. "I can shoot pretty well from the outside as well as score inside. I can shoot out to the [3-point] arc."

Lewis has two seasons left at St. Frances to help Karcher and the Panthers win more Baltimore city championships. Meanwhile, the versatile Lewis will continue to draw college recruiters to Charm City to court his services as a potential elite big man in the prep Class of 2011.

James Quinn covers high school basketball for MDVarsity.com