SUE WICKS : Coach Calls Rutgers Forward, Who Averages 22 Points Per Game, Another Cheryl Miller

Sue Wicks of Rutgers is called the best player in women’s basketball this season, the second coming of Cheryl Miller.

She is also the player most recruiters overlooked three years ago, though she led the nation in scoring as a high school senior.

“I think she was a blue chip but no one knew she was a blue chip,” said Rutgers Coach Theresa Grentz. “She just didn’t get the notoriety that a player of her talent usually gets. She didn’t attend the camps and was basically untouched.”

The 6-2 junior forward averages 22 points per game and almost 13 rebounds while helping the sixth-ranked Lady Knights, 26-2. She also has been nominated for the Champion Player of the Year coaches’ award, along with Cindy Brown of Cal State Long Beach, Clarissa Davis of Texas and Katrina McClain of Georgia.

“She is the best,” said Grentz, who got a tip about Wicks after a 37-point performance in the Empire State Games in New York. “I don’t have to think twice about it. Sue Wicks is the best and she is going to get even better.”

Wicks does it all now. She can easily hit the 15-foot jumper, drive the baseline or post-up underneath. She rebounds, blocks shot--she had 11 earlier this year in a game against West Virginia--dribbles, dishes off and plays defense.

Not bad for someone who got her start when she found a basketball hoop in an empty parking lot and hooked it up.

“I used to play all the time by myself and gradually my brothers would come over and play with me,” said Wicks, the daughter of an Eastern Long Island shell fisherman. “Finally, we all started playing basketball instead of baseball.”

Wicks lives for basketball. Prior to her sophomore season, she broke an ankle in a pickup game and was told she would be sidelined until New Year’s. She was back on the court Oct. 21.

“I lifted weights and rode the bike all the time,” she said. “I even went down to the gym and played basketball in a cast. I played one guy and beat him and he was so mad. All I would do was stand there and shoot, and if you get that going . . . “

Grentz said Wicks has worked hard to become a great player. She came to Rutgers with lots of raw talent, but little refinement.

“I never worked on my individual skills until I came to Rutgers,” Wicks said. “I played and had fun. I didn’t go to camp when I was younger. I just played all the time and the individual skills I had I developed playing with the guys.”

Now, Wicks is being compared with Miller, the Olympian from USC and three-time women’s Player of the Year. And she feels the pressure.

“Every time you play, people are looking at you because you are the so-called standard,” she said. “If you are the best, you better go out there and show people you can play.”

Wicks has one year left at Rutgers, and isn’t interested in pursuing a basketball career. She is interested in a business career that might include working in sports. She is adament about not coaching.

Grentz is familiar with the lack of professional basketball prospects for women. In the early 1970s, Grentz was the nation’s leading player, taking Immaculata College to three consecutive national championships.

“When she comes out of school, she will be the best player in the country,” Grentz said, “but for one lousy chromosome, she’d be making millions of dollars. I experienced the same thing. It’s just a situation you have to prepare yourself for.”

“That’s fine with me,” Wicks said. “I am happy where I am and what I’m doing. I get a lot back from basketball. I don’t have to be a millionaire to be happy.”

What would make her happy is a national title.

“If we can get to the point where everybody is doing what they have to do, then we are going to win and it doesn’t matter who we play,” she said. “We only lose when we beat ourselves.”