Leuzinger High’s Willis Is Quickly Becoming a Real Basketball Insider : Basketball: The senior, who will attend New Mexico next season, uses his 6-foot-8, 245-pound frame to his advantage.

Every time New Year’s Day rolls around, Frank Willis becomes a year older.

But in the four years leading up to Jan. 1, 1991--when Willis celebrated his 18th birthday--Willis has grown in more ways than just days and years.

Leuzinger High basketball Coach Phil Sherman remembers Willis as a chubby, 6-foot-4 freshman forward who liked to shoot from the outside and wanted to “play just like Magic Johnson.”

Four years later, Willis has sprouted to 6-8 and 245 pounds and is a ferocious rebounding force for Leuzinger. On Nov. 16, Willis signed a letter of intent to attend the University of New Mexico next season.

Willis, who averages 17 points and 11 rebounds a game for Leuzinger, was the most valuable player of the Torrance tournament last week. He has blocked 32 shots and is shooting 68% from the floor.

Since coming to Leuzinger, Willis has transformed himself from a smooth finesse player who relied on his outside game into one of the South Bay’s most fearsome centers.

“We run a lot at Leuzinger, but most of the time I work inside,” Willis said. “I don’t have to shoot much outside anymore, because inside is where all the easy buckets are.”

Sherman has structured his offense around Willis this season. Willis and forward Ty Merriweather work the post positions, and with flashy point guard Antwan Lewis (38 assists in three Torrance tournament games) running the show, the Olympians (8-2) are a high-scoring team.

“Frank has become a power player, and he’s doing a good job using the drop step to clear a path to the bucket,” Sherman said. “He used to be an undisciplined player, and he really didn’t know how to take the ball inside.

“He used to have kind of a strange shot, like Mychal Thompson. It’s taken a lot of work, but now he has a high extension shot, and he has the ability to dominate a game.”

Not too many people want to get in the way of Willis’ big body. But despite his size, Willis has a wide array of guard-type skills. He’s not only an accomplished passer and ballhandler, but has shooting range that spills into three-point country.

Cal State Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg worked with Willis on post moves during his summer camp and the big senior’s improvement caught the attention of several college coaches.

Willis was the focus of a recruiting battle between New Mexico, Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine, Drake, San Diego State and Arizona State.

Willis was close to signing with Fullerton, but chose New Mexico because of its facilities and Coach Dave Bliss’ uptempo style of play.

“It makes you feel bad to say no to any of the coaches, because they’re all nice guys,” Willis said. “But you can only make one decision.”

Willis and New Mexico seem like a good fit. Bliss recruited Willis as a high-post player whose outside-shooting touch makes him dangerous trailing the fast break.

“The (New Mexico) coaching staff said I would have a lot of freedom to create my own plays,” Willis said. “They even let (7-2 center) Luc Longley shoot threes.”

Willis’ powerful rebounding, especially on the offensive boards, will also help the Lobos. Willis has averaged more than 10 rebounds a game since becoming a regular as a sophomore at Leuzinger.

In back-to-back playoff games last season against St. Anthony and Lakewood, Willis pulled down 26 and 21 rebounds, respectively.

Sometimes Willis’ wide body gets him into trouble, however. This season, Willis has had a knack for finding himself in foul trouble.

“A lot of times, a guy that big gets too much attention from the officials,” Sherman said. “Frank gets called for a lot of rinky-dink fouls that a 6-4 or a 6-5 guy wouldn’t get called for.”

Willis has another theory why he has been a magnet for fouls--he has had a hard time getting back into the groove after spending much of the year banging the iron rims at Del Aire Park, west of Hawthorne near Los Angeles International Airport.

In those rough-and-tumble pickup games, Willis often found himself matching up against older players, many of them former college athletes.

Hence the pushing-off calls that seem to hound Willis as he duels for offensive rebounds.

“I’ve been playing so many games in the street, where you push and shove and do what you have to do,” Willis said. “Sometimes it carries over.”

At times, Willis’ all-around skills can be almost too refined for his own good.

Willis sometimes gets the urge to bring the ball up court himself after a rebound and dip into his bag of tricks for a jump shot or a fancy pass.

“Frank has a lot of skills, and those are the things that can hurt him sometimes,” Sherman said. “Sometimes if he gets carried away, we end up with a 6-2 guy or a 5-10 guard finishing off a play that should have been finished by our 6-8 guy. So I tell Frank to take two dribbles and then pass it off.”

Still, for four seasons, the earnest and friendly Willis has been a coach’s dream.

“Some say he’s too nice of a kid to play ball, because he won’t get angry out there,” Sherman said. “But I’m lucky in that respect. My best player also happens to be the nicest guy on the team.”