
14 WASHINGTON
Junior guardRyan Appleby (left) grew up idolizing LSU legend Pete Maravich, but aside fromAppleby's floppy locks and long-range bombs, there's not much of the Pistol inhis play. "Once in a while Ryan will get in a jam and you'll see him pull apass out of nowhere," says Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar. "But he's notusually a showy guy on the court."
That is, if youdon't consider deadly accuracy from 25 feet out showy. Appleby, who played ayear at Florida before transferring to Washington, hit 70 treys (42.4%) comingoff the bench last season to earn the Pac-10 newcomer of the year award."He is a phenomenal shooter," says Romar. "If you took a picture of50 of his shots, I think all 50 would look the same."
Appleby firstsaw the Maravich biopic The Pistol when he was seven, and he later acquired theMaravich ball-handling and shooting videos. "I fell in love with the way heplayed, his love for the game," he says. But it was Maravich's work ethicthat had the biggest impact: At Stanwood (Wash.) High, Appleby showed up at thegym at 5:30 every morning to take 250 to 300 shots before class.
Now Appleby canstretch defenses that want to focus on 6'7" sophomore Jon Brockman and7-foot freshman Spencer Hawes, the jewel of a talented four-man freshman class."We've been pretty perimeter-oriented since I've been here," saysRomar, who is in his fifth year in Seattle. "This year we will have more ofan inside presence and better balance. That's an exciting prospect."
STARTINGLINEUP
COACH: Lorenzo Romar (5th year)
5'11"Soph.8.3 ppg3.8 apg--KEY RESERVE-- G Adrian OLIVER* 6'3" Fr. 25.5 ppg 4.3 apg
RETURNINGSTARTER *HIGH SCHOOL STATS
SCHEDULE
Nov. 12Pepperdine*
Nov. 13 NichollsState*
Nov. 14 NorthernIowa*
Nov. 19Sacramento State
Nov. 24 EasternWashington
Nov. 29Idaho
Dec. 4 SouthernUtah
Dec. 9 atGonzaga
Dec. 16 PortlandState
Dec. 20 LSU
Dec. 22 WeberState
Dec. 28 atUSC
Dec. 31 atUCLA
Jan. 4Arizona
Jan. 6 ArizonaState
Jan. 11 atStanford
Jan. 13 atCalifornia
Jan. 20 atWashington State
Jan. 25Oregon
Jan. 27 OregonState
Feb. 1 atArizona State
Feb. 3 atArizona
Feb. 8California
Feb. 11Stanford
Feb. 14Washington State
Feb. 17 atPittsburgh
Feb. 22 atOregon State
Feb. 24 atOregon
March 1 USC
March 3 UCLA
*BasketballTravelers Classic, Seattle
ILLUSTRATION
PHOTO
ROBERT BECK