University of Washington Official Athletic Site - Men's Basketball
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Junior Patrick Femerling
By Gavin Niemi
Looking up at a giant, seven-footer, you would expect basketball blood to run rampant, but that is not necessarily the case with Washington's junior center Patrick Femerling, who stands seven feet, one inch tall.
Soccer, or futbol as its called in Germany, was Femerling's sport of choice in his youth. He played a some mean goalkeeper and defenseman. He even has a prediction for this summer's World Cup '98 in France:
"Brazil is going to be good again," says Femerling, not really going out on a limb. "But I don't think they're going to make it all the way. Germany is pretty good, but sometimes they win every game, 1-0, 2-1; really close games -- too close."
Please tell us who will really win the Cup, Patrick.
"The French are going to be really good too. They're at home and are a really good team this year."
You might suppose the USA is "really good" too, but they are not at home. You could also bet that Germany is his choice to win the Cup, considering this colossal center hails from Dusseldorf, Germany, a city roughly the size of Seattle, with 700,000 people.
Germany and its love for soccer is a drastic change for this 22-year-old, who now goes home to a house in the University District with friends Todd MacCulloch and Chris Thompson, also teammates.
"If we don't have basketball," says Femerling, "we are usually always going to be home, usually on Sundays. We sit around and make fun of each other and watch tv."
The friendships that Femerling has made with his point guard and shadow in the paint have helped his progress in becoming a better basketball player. UW has started Femerling and MacCulloch in 14 of 19 games this season.
"It definitely helps," says Femerling of the double-big man middle. "Playing with two big guys makes it a lot easier on both of us. We share the responsibility of rebounding and our size inside makes it not very easy for opponents to score on us."
MacCulloch and Femerling are 1-2 on the team in rebounding, averaging about 10 and seven per game, respectively. And the attention is often focused on the Huskies' main weapon inside, MacCulloch, freeing the other seven-footer for open shots.
"Sometimes teams double," says Femerling. "Actually a bunch of times, especially on Todd, and that should open some room for me to get open, get the ball, and make a bucket her or there."
His scoring productivity has not flourished perhaps as quickly as some might have hoped, but all areas of his game are improving.
Femerling has increased his output and abilities each season since he arrived on the UW campus. He is now a regular starter, averaging 27 minutes per game, compared to 18 minutes per game last season, and 12 his freshman year. His stamina has definitely been a boost to the team.
"My confidence grew through my physical ability of playing here," reflects Femerling. "When I came here as a freshman, I was kind of underweight, kind of light, not really strong enough to compete in the Pac-10. Over time that has changed."
It certainly has, and it's evident in games such as the Arizona State win at home and Stanford heartbreaker.
Against Arizona State, Femerling registered his first career double-double, scoring 11 points and hauling down 12 rebounds. His presence, along with MacCulloch's, who also had a double-double (30 points, 21 rebounds), had a large impact on the Sun Devils' front line.
"There's no question that the two big kids tonight for Washington show you the importance of size and how some skill down there can hurt you," said ASU coach Don Newman.
The Stanford loss at the buzzer, 74-72, on a Kris Weems three-pointer, obviously was devastating. But what people might have overlooked is the game that the pride of Dusseldorf provided.
His efforts were quite impressive: a career-best 40 minutes played, nine points (on 3-for-7 shooting), 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, one steal, and only one turnover. A move that Femerling pulled on Stanford's Tim Young in the second half is ingrained in the minds of Femerling fans.
After a timeout and the Huskies down by nine points with 12 minutes left in the game, he got the ball at the top of the key on the left elbow, and proceeded to drive with his left hand down the lane, banking in a basket. The play sparked Washington to a 9-2 run to get within two points.
Femerling deflects personal praise, and is focused on the team's goals.
"As a team, we can say that we can compete with these guys," says Femerling, referring to the close loss to Stanford. "They were unbeaten and ranked fifth, but we gave them a good fight here. We weren't breaking down. They got a lead a little bit, but we came back, and it forms character as a team. And it should give us confidence to a certain extent, that we are capable of playing with these teams if we concentrate and execute."
The teams that the Huskies must combat and overcome the second half of the Pac-10 are Arizona, Stanford, and UCLA. Washington went 6-3 the first half, losing to those three teams. They have already lost to Arizona, and if the Dawgs want to be invited to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1986 season, they may need to beat a ranked opponent.
"We have to win in order to make it to the NCAA tournament," says Femerling. "We are not going to get a bid just because we played a decent first half. In the past years, it has been our problem that we didn't win in the second half of the Pac-10. We lost a lot of games on the road. This year we have to change in order to make it to the NCAA tournament."
"I want to contribute to this team and play as well as I can for this team and help us make the NCAA tournament," he continues.
That is all he is focused on - Beating the teams they are supposed to and getting that big W against a top 25 opponent.
Over the past three seasons, the Huskies have faced 19 top-25 opponents, and 14 of them have come in the form of this year's big three -- Arizona, Stanford, and UCLA. The UW is 4-12 versus those teams the past three years, and 3-11 when they are ranked. Washington has not beat UCLA since February 4, 1994, when they defeated the unranked team, 81-67 at home. Four of this season's Pac-10 losses thus far are credited to the big three, who happened to all be ranked in the top 10 at the time as well. Beating any of them is not an easy task.
"If you think about revenge for a close loss versus Stanford," says Femerling, "or getting beaten pretty badly by Arizona, or at UCLA, then you just lose focus on what we have to accomplish. Of course you want to get them back too a certain extent, and win all the other games, but you can't lose focus on what you have to do."
Against the big three, Femerling has increased his minutes played by 12 over his three-year tenure, increased his rebounding by four per game, and his points have increased slightly, up to 5.8 per game.
The team is going to need Femerling to continue his strengths inside, but maybe more importantly, they will need more point production.
"We are going to come out and play as hard as we can," says Femerling about the second half of the season. "That's all we can do."
