14 WASHINGTON

Despite an improved inside game, the Huskies' biggest weapon is a marksman in the mold of the Pistol

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