Brockman turns into brickman

SEATTLE – Jon Brockman is Washington’s smash-mouth star, a blue-collar All-America candidate who relentlessly bangs into anyone or anything to seize every loose ball.

That may be giving the country’s leading returning rebounder a unique problem: He may play too hard for the Huskies’ own good.

Brockman had 16 points and a career high-tying 18 rebounds while playing 45 minutes of last Saturday’s loss in triple overtime to Pac-10 co-leader California, which kept Washington (11-4, 2-1 Pac-10) out of the conference lead. But he was just 2 for 8 from the line and missed two free throws in the final 3 minutes of regulation while Cal rallied from eight points down.

He missed two more with the score tied and 48 seconds remaining in the third overtime and was 5 for 17 while otherwise dominating two games inside last weekend.

Coach Lorenzo Romar has a peculiar theory why Brockman’s free-throw percentage has dropped from 66 percent in each of his first two seasons for the Huskies to 52 percent last season and just 54 percent entering games today and Saturday at Oregon (6-10, 0-4) and Oregon State (6-8, 1-3).

“I don’t think we understand how hard Jon plays. We see it and all, but he is constantly banging, banging, banging and in his mind doing everything he can to win that game,” Romar said, knowing Brockman spent most of his summer shooting free throws.

Romar, 50, played for Athletes in Action in the 1980s in an exhibition game against the nonstop runners at Loyola Marymount and fleet stars Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. He said he scored about 18 points and had eight assists in the first 6 minutes and was feeling like the track meet was a breeze. But when he was taking free throws in the second half, Romar said he could feel his legs shaking from fatigue. It caused the career 75 percent free-throw shooter at Washington and in five seasons in the NBA to miss.

“I’m just saying that maybe, potentially, possibly, he may wear down,” Romar said of Brockman, smiling as if not to offend his brutish star. “And that’s why he may miss more.”

The problem isn’t just Brockman’s. And Brockman is obviously far more of an asset to the Huskies than a liability. He is why Washington leads the nation in rebounding margin at plus-11 per game, even after Cal became the second team this season to outrebound the Huskies.

He, along with daring freshman guard Isaiah Thomas, are why Romar says: “We’re not a bad basketball team. We can’t lose sight of that.”

“We’re not where we were,” Romar said of this bounce-back season after two years without an appearance in the NCAA tournament. “But we’re not where we need to be.”

Washington is shooting just 65 percent from the line, ninth (ahead of Oregon State) in the Pac-10 and 261st nationally entering this week.

Last season Washington shot 58.6 percent, the worst free-throw percentage among 328 Division I teams. Those Huskies finished with a losing record for the first time since 2003, Romar’s first as coach of his alma mater.

But because Brockman manhandles defenders in the low post for prime position so often, he is Washington’s focal point on offense and goes to the line more than any other Husky. So if he doesn’t improve his free-throw shooting, the Huskies’ healthy chances at finishing near the top of an up-for-grabs Pac-10 and returning to the NCAA tournament will get sicker.

Brockman doesn’t fully buy Romar’s theory of fatigue at the line.

“Everyone is going to shoot better when they are fresh and haven’t been running around out there for two hours, so I’m sure that has a little bit to do with it,” Brockman said. “But also, I just need to concentrate more when I’m up there.”