By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier began the July recruiting period Tuesday with an extra scholarship to give after Detroit Denby's Darryl Garrett and XU parted ways Monday night.

Garrett, a shooting guard who committed after his sophomore season, would have joined Indianapolis Ben Davis' Stanley Burrell and one other player in the 2004-05 class at Xavier. Instead Garrett, ranked No. 175 in the 2004 class by Hoopscooponline.com, is back on the market, and Xavier has two slots to fill instead of just one. That could work to Xavier's advantage, because the Musketeers now can go after a guard and big man. Prior to withdrawing the scholarship, Xavier would have had to choose between positions. XU also could allow the scholarship to carry over to 2005.

Denby coach Ray Reeves said the two parties mutually agreed that Garrett's commitment to Xavier was not going to work out. Reeves said he had heard rumors for several months that Garrett entertained ideas of de-committing to Xavier to go to college with high school teammate Rico Harris.

"Xavier felt like they had to make a move for whatever reason," Reeves said. "I'm not mad at them. You do what you have to do. (Garrett) was a little down last night, but he talked to Rico on the phone, and Rico told him, 'Now we can do it like we planned.' "

Harris is playing in the ABCD camp in New Jersey, while Garrett, who had planned on attending the camp, is in Detroit taking summer-school classes to improve his grades.

"I wouldn't put it all on Xavier," Reeves said. "It's a situation for both parties to move in another direction. I know they were recruiting someone else because they felt like Darryl would pull out."

Xavier is recruiting other shooting guards, including A.J. Ratliff out of Indianapolis North Central and Churchill Odia from Montrose Christian (Md.). Both are ranked in the top 50 by several recruiting services.

The Musketeers also are looking at point guards, including Kyle Lowry from Philadelphia Cardinal Dougherty, Troy Mathis from Laurinburg (N.C.) Institute and Danny Morrissey of The Pendleton School (Fla.).

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com