WSU recruit Michael Harthun can really play

EUGENE, Ore. – Late in the first quarter of a 70-62 win over South Eugene High last Friday, South Medford’s Michael Harthun attacked the middle of the Axemen’s zone with the dribble.

As he penetrated near the free-throw line, the 6-foot-3 guard elevated to get a better angle for a pass to teammate E.J. Singler.

But a South Eugene defender anticipated the decision and darted in.

Harthun, committed, still tried to thread the needle. He couldn’t. Turnover.

It was the only one the senior committed in the hard-fought league encounter. Playing all but 30 seconds, with the ball in his hands most of the time, Harthun made one mistake.

One.

Is it any wonder his arrival in Pullman next year is as anticipated as any in the Bennett era?

In the five years since Dick and Tony Bennett arrived and revived the fortunes of Washington State basketball, no recruit – not Derrick Low, not Ivory Clark, not Jeff Varem – has earned four stars from one of the myriad high school recruiting services. Until Harthun.

So what type of player is Michael Harthun?

“They are getting a very committed, dedicated player who has a motor that never ends,” said Glenn Johannes, coach at Mackenzie High in Mackenzie, Ore., and Harthun’s summer coach.

Harthun (pronounced Har-toon) is part of a five-man recruiting class WSU is counting on to fill the void created by the graduation of three starters from Bennett’s first big recruiting class: Low, Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill. That trio was part of a six-player group that entered in the fall of 2004 and led the Cougars’ basketball renaissance.

Marcus Capers, Klay Thompson, James Watson and Nick Witherill will join Harthun as Tony Bennett’s second wave, a group counted on to keep the Cougars among college basketball’s elite.

The most highly rated of the group is Harthun, who teamed with current Duke starter Kyle Singler, E.J.’s older brother, to take South Medford to back-to-back Oregon 6A basketball title games. They lost the first but won last year, besting Lake Oswego and UCLA recruit Kevin Love to earn the championship.

“He’s a kid who has started four straight years for us and played in two state championships,” said Dennis Murphy, South Eugene’s animated coach. “We would like to play in a third, but we don’t know if we will.”

Harthun, who is averaging more than 22 points a game as a senior, suffered a back injury last fall in football. It still hasn’t fully healed.

Recently he received a blow above his left eye in a game against North Medford that required stitches.

After receiving medical attention, he returned to score 13 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter and lead the Panthers (19-4 overall after an upset loss to 9-13 Sheldon on Tuesday) to a key win over its archrival.

“He’s a person who will go ahead and play through pain,” Johannes said. “(He’ll) sacrifice his personal health for a ‘W’ any time.”

Harthun, a soft-spoken 18-year-old, admits he’s all about basketball.

“The main thing is, I just want to play college basketball,” he said after the win over South Eugene.

It’s the emphasis on basketball that’s led to WSU but also made the road more difficult than it should have been.

“I would tell you his four years at South Medford have kind of been a roller coaster,” Murphy said. “He’s made some poor decisions. But, to his credit, I think he’s learned from those things. He’s improved, changed.

“He’s not a bad student, he’s getting better. That part he’s going to have to work on a little bit (in college).”

“Academically, I’ve struggled at times with certain classes, definitely math gave me some trouble,” Harthun said. “I have to work a little harder on the subjects I’m not good at. I definitely need to improve my study habits going into college. I know it’s going to be a lot tougher than high school.”

So will the basketball.

“I need to work on my man-to-man defense, keeping my man in front of me,” Harthun said. “I’m not worried about it, I know coach Bennett will put me to work. I’m excited to learn from him.”

As his decision-making off the court has improved, so has it on the court.

“That’s an area he’s grown in a lot,” Murphy said.

“The best thing I’ve noticed this year, I’ve been able to catch a couple of his games, is that he’s improved his court vision,” Johannes said. “Getting the ball in the open court and making people around him much better.”

That ability showed in the South Eugene game. Harthun scored when the Panthers needed him to, with 15 of his 21 points coming after halftime. In the first 16 minutes he was content to run the offense, ignite the Panthers’ zone press and make the extra pass that led to a teammates’ open shot.

He finished with six assists and seven rebounds, hitting 6 of 13 shots from the field and 9 of 9 from the free-throw line.

“You never know for sure until they are here, but he’s a scoring guard who is very competitive, in some ways similar to Derrick,” Bennett said.

“He has the ability to really score in streaks. Certainly (he) has things to improve on and develop, as all freshmen do, but (he) possesses an ability to really change games with his ability to score.”