Huskies Trying to Get Kepnang Back This Season and Next

They'll hang Detlef Schrempf's jersey No. 22 from the rafters at Alaska Airlines Arena on Saturday afternoon during the University of Washington-Wisconsin basketball game, one that begins at 1 p.m.

The school might consider putting Franck Kepnang's knee brace up there, as well.

With three season-ending surgeries and now a sore leg because of it all, the 6-foot-11, 250-pound Kepnang has given his all to Husky basketball and earned a chance to take a bow, if it wasn't so painful.

While he won't play against the Badgers (19-9 overall, 11-6 Big Ten) because of his discomfort level, with the season down to at least four games, Kepnang is a senior who might not be on his way out just yet.

He has a seventh year of college eligibility remaining because of all of his injury travails and there's a good chance he'll take it.

"He loves Husky basketball," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said. "He loves Husky Nation, like he loves the University of Washington."

Until missing the Rutgers game this past week because of soreness, Kepnang had played in all 27 Husky outings. In contrast, he had appeared in 32 UW games total over the previous three seasons since transferring from Oregon.

"He does have another year," Sprinkle confirmed. "Now it's just kind of the wear and tear and getting him through a season. That's been the hardest thing for Franck. This is the most he's ever played in his college career."

Kepnang has pulled 616 minutes so far, or 22.8 per game, which has been greatly encouraging for all involved. He gives the Huskies a 6.2-point scorer and more importantly a 6.3-an-outing rebounder who has blocked 56 shots, or more than two per game.

That compares to his previous seasons of 278, 189 and 183 game minutes, where he never got out of December the first couple of years because his luck was so bad in staying healthy.

The Huskies currently will try to get him healthy for the rest of this season, which involves Wisconsin, USC next Wednesday at home and Oregon next Saturday in Eugene, with at least one Big Ten Tournament game to follow.

"He'll be able to come back at some point, but I don't know when," Sprinkle said. "It might not be [Saturday] but maybe Wednesday]. Getting him to that finish line is huge."

Again, that overall finish line still might be 12 months away.