Willen commits verbally to Lafayette

~ THE Notre Dame senior averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds last season.

Notre Dame's Ryan Willen confirmed Tuesday that he has verbally accepted a full scholarship to play basketball at Lafayette College, which has a Division I program in the Patriot League.

Willen, who also received offers from two other Division I programs -- North Dakota State and Texas-Pan American -- said he selected Lafayette after visiting the school last weekend.

Southeast Missouri State did not offer him a scholarship, he said.

"I really liked the coaches up there and the players," he said. "I went up there and visited and loved the campus and it has a strong academic program, which is good, and a really strong biology department, which will help me get my pre-med major and help me get into medical school somewhere.

"The main selling point for me was the coaches and players," Willen added. "They play kind of the way we play at Notre Dame. It just seemed like a good fit all around. I couldn't think of any negatives on why I shouldn't go there."

Willen, a 6-foot-8 forward who averaged more than 22 points per game and 10 rebounds last season, led the Bulldogs to a second-place finish in Class 4 in the 2006-07 season. He was named the Southeast Missourian co-player of the year along with Bell City's Will Bogan.

Lafayette finished last season 9-21 overall and 3-11 in conference play. The previous year, the Leopards were 11-17 overall. Their last winning season was in 2003-04.

The school, located north of Philadelphia in Easton, Pa., has played Notre Dame in recent years and has a game scheduled this season against nationally ranked Pittsburgh.

The Leopards are coached by Fran O'Hanlon, who has led the team since March 1995 and he has been named Patriot League coach of the year twice, according to the school's Web site.

"He seems like a real nice guy, and everyone I talked to on campus and on the phone had nice things to say about how good of a coach he is and how if he had really good players, he'd be a really good coach," Willen said. "Went I went there he told me, 'I'll be here for the four years you're here.' That's important to me. I don't want to go some place where the head coach is going somewhere else.

"I'll have an opportunity to get some playing time [freshman year] for sure," he added.

Willen also said he liked Easton because it was a small town like Cape Girardeau.

Willen said he plans to sign during the early signing period that begins Nov. 14.