Inside The Huskies

As Steinbach's Star Continues to Rise, Will Teammates Join Him?

One outfit considers him the top international player in college basketball right now.
Dan Raley|
Hannes Steinbach exhorts his UW teammates during the UCLA game.
Hannes Steinbach exhorts his UW teammates during the UCLA game. | Dave Sizer photo

The University of Washington has one of the nation's most talented basketball players, whether he waves the red, white and blue or hails from somewhere else with a different flag.

Hannes Steinbach further demonstrated this by coming off a three-game injury absence to put up a stirring 29 points and grab 10 rebounds, while shooting 11-for-12 from the field and 7-for-8 from the foul line, all in an 82-80 loss to UCLA on Wednesday night at home.

The Field of 68 website fully understands his talent level now and elevated the 6-foot-11 freshman forward from Wurzburg, Germany, to the top of its list of international newcomers, leapfrogging other credible imports such as Virginia's Thijs De Ridder and Illinois' David Mirkovic, to name a few.

The obvious question is this: Will the Huskies step it up and take advantage of a player of this ilk or will they waste him such as previous UW teams did with Isaiah Stewart, Jaden McDaniels and Keion Brooks?

Yes, Steinbach and the Huskies overall have been injury riddled over the opening month of the season.

Yet as UW coach Danny Sprinkle will tell you, nobody cares. Everyone has injuries and must somehow overcome them.

When healthy, Steinbach looks like a generational player who's only going to get better and better.

Dirk Nowitzki, the sequel, anyone?

Hannes Steinbach grabs one of his 10 rebounds against UCLA.
Hannes Steinbach grabs one of his 10 rebounds against UCLA. | Dave Sizer photo

What the Huskies really need right now is their guards, who were greatly outplayed for much of their game against UCLA, to step and take advantage of a big man who's just 19 years old and most likely only in town for one season.

Steinbach is old-school basketball at its finest, with deft footwork to get open around the basket, a fundamentally sound jumper and the desire to be the best rebounder on the floor.

Sprinkle calls him the team's best passer, which is part of the problem, because some of his guards need to claim that label and get the offense moving in a more positive manner.

UCLA, it should be noted, dropped into a zone defense to better put multiple defenders around Steinbach and dare the Husky guards to make 3-pointers. They went 9-for-24 behind the line.

Steinbach looked fully recovered from an ankle sprain as he ran the floor and made things happen.

He should be the voice of reason again against USC on Saturday in Los Angeles, especially with two of his teammates, former Trojans guards Wesley Yates III and Desmond Claude, facing their old team for the first time.

They need to play effectively like the big German does.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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