Washington vs. USC : Huskies in Need of a Point Guard

Although the University of Washington’s football team was ranked second in the final wire-service polls, having lost only to USC, the Huskies might have won the national championship if they’d had a proven quarterback. It seems that Washington’s basketball team has a similar problem. The Huskies, who who will play USC tonight at Cal State Dominguez Hills, have a formidable front line--7-foot Christian Welp, 6-9 Detlef Schrempf and 6-9 Paul Fortier. But Washington Coach Marv Harshman doesn’t have a real point guard, the basketball quarterback who initiates the offense. “Our biggest question mark is who is going to take care of the basketball,” Harshman said at the start of the season. The problem hasn’t been resolved for the Huskies, who are 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference. Clay Damon and Shag Williams, both good shooters, are off-guards, not playmakers. Even so, both will be starting in the backcourt against USC. Gary Gardner, who had been a starting guard, didn’t make the trip. He is academically ineligible, at least temporarily. Harshman has a freshman, David Wilson from San Francisco, who is a point guard, but the Husky coach has been reluctant to charge him with the responsibility of running the team. “The pressure on a freshman in league play could turn him upside down,” Harshman said. Harshman could solve his problem, but might create another, by moving Schrempf to the backcourt. The versatile West German Olympian is the team’s best ball-handler. “Detlef is the best passer on our front line,” Harshman said. “If we move him to the backcourt, we’d gain something and give up something.” There’s a possibility that 6-7 forward Reggie Rogers could replace Schrempf up front, but Rogers, a star linebacker on the football team, just rejoined the basketball team. He isn’t familiar yet with all of the nuances of the offense, according to Harshman. Washington didn’t have that problem last year when it shared the Pac-10 championship with Oregon State. Harshman had one solid playmaker in Alvin Vaughn and another in his replacement, David Koehler. Even so, some coaches would gladly trade places with Harshman. USC Coach Stan Morrison says that Washington has one of the best front lines west of the Mississippi. He isn’t exaggerating. Schrempf, a dedicated gym rat, does it all. He has a 16.7-point scoring average, a 7.9 rebounding average, a 4.2 assist average, and a court sense that can’t be taught. Welp, who played on West Germany’s Olympic team with Schrempf, is averaging 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and is shooting 60.3% from the field.

Fortier is averaging 13.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. “Detlef is not as fluid as we would like him to be,” Harshman said. “Teams are putting a lot of heat on him, and he has been banged up. He’s a marked man and he has been since the Olympics. Other countries knew that if they stopped Schrempf, they’d stop the West Germans.” USC, 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, couldn’t stop Schrempf last season. He scored 19 points, blocked 3 shots and had 5 steals when the Huskies beat the Trojans at Seattle, 79-47. In the rematch at the Sports Arena, he had 34 points and seven rebounds as Washington won, 71-66.