Frederick could help Huskies

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, January 3, 2002

By John Sleeper

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – Charles Frederick could help the University of Washington men’s basketball team immediately, and looks like he just might.

Ben Devoe, another newcomer, also could help the Huskies immediately, but looks like he might not.

Frederick, despite not having played competitive basketball since March 2000, appears to have lost little as he started practice with his new UW teammates this week, just days after he concluded his first season with the football team.

“I feel a little winded,” Frederick said after practice on Wednesday, “but it feels great to be out there.”

Frederick looked as advertised.

Rated one of the top point guards in the nation coming out of Pope John Paul II High School in Boca Raton, Fla., Frederick was a blur in practices this week. He was deft in penetrating the middle and dishing off to open teammates in the set offense. He especially looked at home on the fast break, either feeding teammates in the lanes or taking it to the hole himself. He also showed talent for perimeter shooting and a thirst for in-your-face pressure defense.

And that was after just two days of practice.

“I can probably bring a faster pace to the game,” Frederick said. “I’m used to running at a fast pace. I think I’ll be adding running a lot to the team.”

And he may do it immediately, starting tonight at UCLA. Although Frederick has had little time to learn the offense, UW coach Bob Bender said he wouldn’t rule out playing the 6-foot point guard tonight against the Bruins or Sunday at USC.

“He made an impression right away (Tuesday, his first practice),” Bender said. “It’s just a matter of learning the offense, not man (defense) so much. He’s got good man instincts. He’s got good offensive instincts. He’s picked up the break extremely well. But he’s stirring the pot, which is what we’d hoped for.”

Although he didn’t play basketball his senior year at Pope John Paul II – he says he was occupied studying for the SAT test – Frederick says his game is about 75 percent of what it was, and that he expects to be back to full speed quickly. It hasn’t hurt that he has been scrimmaging against speedy guards Curtis Allen and C.J. Massingale.

“I think as they keep pushing me, I’ll get better faster,” Frederick said. “I’ve had to guard quick guys when I’m on defense just like myself, so that’s good.”

Devoe, the Huskies’ other newcomer this week, seems capable of filling a role immediately, although Bender said the hope is to redshirt him.

Devoe, a 6-foot-10, 260-pound post from Olympia High School, was contacted by the UW coaching staff after it was discovered that he’d come home a year early from a Mormon mission in Pennsylvania because of a back injury.

The Huskies knew about Devoe because he attended summer camps at Washington as a high-schooler. He turned down a scholarship offer from Northwestern to enroll in the Air Force Prep Academy, but decided to go on the mission after several months at the academy.

The Huskies contacted Devoe in early December because season-ending injuries to frontline players Marlon Shelton (knee) and Mike Jensen (shoulder) left them with just one true center in David Dixon. They’d inserted freshman Jeffrey Day as Dixon’s backup, but Day, at a slender 6-9, is better suited at power forward.

Washington’s lack of depth at center was painfully evident in an 85-79 home loss to UCLA Dec. 20, when Dixon and Day fouled out, and the Huskies were left with forward Grant Leep trying to muscle with Bruins center Dan Gadzuric. Gadzuric finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Northwestern showed the most interest in Devoe, but he also got attention from Gonzaga, Portland, Montana, Oregon and Oregon State.

“Most schools didn’t want me before my mission,” Devoe said. “They said they’d talk to me when I got back. That’s mainly what the UW did. But then they had some injuries and called me.”

Before enrolling at Washington, Devoe was helping coach the Olympia High School junior varsity and C teams, often suiting up and practicing with them for four to six hours a day.

He started his junior and senior years with Olympia, averaging about 14 points a game.

In practices with the Huskies, Devoe appears in good physical condition and has shown a willingness to play a physical style inside. He also has an effective mid-range jumper.

Devoe would prefer to redshirt the rest of the season to learn and get acclimated to the college game.

“Since David is going to be graduating this year and hopefully Marlon can get his knee better, I think I can be ready,” Devoe said. “That’s the big plus of coming in winter quarter, to get me ready for next year. I’ll probably stick around this summer.”

That, however, may not be possible.

“In his best interest, for his development, it would be best if he redshirted,” Bender said. “But where we would consider playing him might be a game-to-game thing. That’s a big body, and who knows where we could be in that situation? We’ve asked him to be flexible.”

Wrenn will play: Forward Doug Wrenn, the Huskies’ leading scorer and rebounder, should play this weekend, despite having suffered a cracked bone around his right eye. Wrenn, who averages 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds a game, caught an elbow in the Huskies’ 71-70 loss to St. Louis on Saturday. The area around the eye swelled severely, but specialists found no damage to the eye itself. Wrenn is expected to wear goggles in games for the next two weeks.

Long drought: The Huskies have not beaten UCLA in Pauley Pavilion since Jan. 29, 1987, a span of 15 games.