Ailing Huskies Brace For Bruins

The Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball season opens tonight, and University of Washington is the only team that limps in with a losing record.

But the Huskies (5-7) aren’t just losing games, they are losing players. Sophomore forward Grant Leep will likely miss the rest of the season with a torn meniscus. Four other players, Deon Luton (back), Chris Walcott (knee), Senque Carey (concussion) and Greg Clark (shoulder) will not be 100 percent for the UCLA game in Key Arena tonight. Luton and Walcott might not even play.

“Never in my career, both here or at Illinois State, have I had this many (injured players),” UW coach Bob Bender told the Seattle Times. “For whatever reason it has happened to us; but you can’t feel sorry for yourself.”

So now the Huskies are struggling to figure out who will play against No. 24 UCLA tonight. Earlier, they were struggling to figure out who would score, rebound and defend.

Of the Huskies’ three top scorers - Luton, Carey and Michael Johnson - none is shooting better than 44 percent. Luton, the guy expected to carry the load with the departure of Donald Watts and Todd MacCulloch, is not even shooting 40 percent.

The Huskies, ranked 137th by Sagarin, are also being beat to the boards, turning the ball over an average of 18 times a game and - despite a weak non-conference schedule - have been outscored an average of 71-69 per game. While much of the reason can be found in the graduation of Watts and MacCulloch, a lot of the blame may lie with the lack of development from the Huskies big men.

Marlon Shelton, a 6-foot-11 sophomore, has been statistically unimpressive, averaging just 1 point in an average of 5.1 minutes. Still, Bender is trying to sound upbeat about this project “He’s come a long way from where he was even at the end of his freshman year to where he is now,” he said. “The light at the end of the tunnel is bright.”

The glowing light at the end of David Dixon’s tunnel is probably a fast food marquee. It’s no secret the 6-foot-11 junior-college transfer has struggled with his weight. He came to UW hovering around Oliver Miller numbers and does not have the stamina to contribute to the Huskies right now. He has played in only six games and is averaging 5.8 minutes per game and less than a point per game.

Balanced attack

All five Arizona’s starters are scoring in double figures. And only 2.4 points separate the No. 1 scorer (Richard Jefferson/13.8 ppg) from the No. 5 scorer (Jason Gardner/11.4 ppg). In between is Michael Wright with 13.7 ppg, Loren Woods at 13.5 and Gilbert Arenas at 13.2.

The Wildcats also have the Pac10’s double-double leader in Wright. The sophomore forward has seven double-doubles in 13 games this year. He has 19 in his career.

Hitting the road

One reason for Arizona’s fast start (11-2) and No. 4 national ranking could be scheduling. The Wildcats have had to play only one road game this season, at Texas on Dec. 4. Arizona pulled away and won that game in the final 5 minutes, 88-81. Of their other 12 games, eight have been at home and four have been at a neutral site.

But the Wildcats must hit the road on the first weekend of Pac-10 action. They take on Cal tonight before traveling to Stanford for a matchup with the No. 1 Cardinal on Saturday.

Kapono coming through

Add UCLA’s Jason Kapono to the list of impact freshmen in the conference this season. The 6-foot-7 forward from Lakewood, Calif., carried the Bruins to two clutch wins last week.

To start the week, Kapono had his first career double-double (13 points, 11 boards) in a narrow 68-66 win over Pepperdine. Then against Purdue, Kapono pulled a Tyus Edney, driving the length of the court for a layin with 1 second remaining to give the Bruins a 55-53 win. He finished that game with a team-high 19 points.

Kapono is one of only two Bruins to start every game this season. He also leads the Bruins in scoring with 13.7 ppg.

News and notes

Seventy-two of USC guard Brandon Granville’s 112 shots have been 3-pointers. He has made 12 of his last 20 3-pointers, but is still shooting a mere 33 percent for the season… . UCLA’s Dan Gadzuric has pulled down 59 rebounds in his last six games for an average of 9.8 per game… . USC leads the league in steals with 11.67 per game… . Stanford remains the only school to sell out all of its home games so far this season… . Sean Lampley leads Cal in scoring (16.8 ppg), rebounding (8.8 per game) and minutes per game… . Chris Crosby joined the top 20 in Washington State career scoring with 1,045 points by scoring in double figures in his last five games… . The Pac-10 rates third in the RPI conference report behind the Big Ten and the Big 12. It stands fifth in the Sagarin ratings behind the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC.