SEATTLE — When Charmaine Barlow saw her star teammate drive the baseline, go up toward the basket and come down hard on the floor, her first thought was not of disaster but of deja vu.
“Kristi falls all the time, so it was just like: ‘C’mon, Kristi, get up,'” Barlow said this week, recalling the Aug. 26 day when University of Washington women’s basketball player Kristi Kingma tore her anterior cruiciate ligament during an exhibition game in Asker, Norway.
While Kingma bounced up right away, she wouldn’t play basketball again. Not that day. Not on the rest of UW’s international tour. And she’s not expected to play at all during the upcoming season.
And as for the Huskies?
Well, that show will have to go on.
The UW women’s basketball returned to the practice court Tuesday without its star player and with a new coach — former Xavier head man Kevin McGuff — but what may be even more noticeable is the lack of outside expectations.
“I think that there are a lot of doubts — of course, with Kristi being such a big part of our program,” senior post Regina Rogers said when asked what the outside world might be thinking of UW women’s basketball right about now. “I also think a lot of people are wondering what’s going to happen with the new coaches. So people are waiting to see what’s going to happen.”
Kingma is among those who can only watch and wait. She attends practices and is scheduled to be with the team on upcoming road trips, but her only activity is an intense rehabilitation designed to get her back on the court in the spring.
In a way, the wiry, 5-foot-10 wing was the elephant in the room during Tuesday’s press conference in that she was the center of conversation but mostly hanging in the background.
What Kingma wants the public to know is that she’s in good spirits despite the injury.
“Every day gets easier, and I’m really optimistic that I’m going to have a full recovery and have a great senior year (in 2012-13),” said Kingma, who underwent surgery on Sept. 9 and is aiming toward an April return to the practice court. “… I know it will be hard when they’re playing a game and I’m out there on the sideline.”
At the time of the injury, Kingma didn’t know exactly what she’d done. She didn’t feel much pain but noticed immediate stiffness in her right knee as she was helped off the court.
“I never let myself think it was an ACL (tear), because then the rest of my trip would’ve been miserable — we still had eight days left in Europe,” said Kingma, who hurt the knee during a Scandinavian exhibition tour. “Then we got home, and I found out it was the ACL and meniscus.”
As far as her initial reaction, Kingma said: “My heart stopped for a second. It was not the best day.”
Without her, the Huskies might rely more on an inside game that features four returning players with extensive playing experience. The 6-foot-4 Rogers appears most likely to assume the role as leading scorer, but it remains to be seen whether she can handle the up-tempo offense that McGuff brings to UW. Mollie Williams, Mackenzie Argens and former Glacier Peak High School star Marjorie Heard also have starting experience in the Huskies’ frontcourt.
Kingma herself said she’s seen huge strides in the play of Barlow and sophomore point guard Mercedes Wetmore, who appears likely to replace Sarah Morton in the starting lineup.
“I think it’s a year when people are going to be surprised,” Kingma said. “I’m really excited with the direction of the team.”
McGuff said the Huskies will continue to rely on Kingma’s leadership but that they’ll also move on without her.
“There will be no excuses,” he said. “We’re certainly going to miss Kristi, but collectively it doesn’t change who we’re going to be as a defensive team, and it doesn’t change the toughness that we’re going to play with. On offense, I think we’re just going to have to be a little more balanced than they’ve been in the past.”
Heard and several other players admitted that they’ll be trying to take on more of a scoring load in Kingma’s absence. But they’re not going to waste much time this season worrying about what could have been.
“We can either overcome it or use it an excuse to hold us back, which is not what we want,” Heard said of losing Kingma. “It’s been a little different because she’s such a great leader and such a big voice on the team. But overall, I think we’re handling it, as a team, really well.”
However the Huskies are handling the loss of Kingma internally, the outside world of women’s basketball fans can’t help but cast doubt on UW’s chances this season.
“They’re probably saying we’re hurting,” Wetmore said Tuesday of the outside expectations. “A lot of them probably think we’re not going to be good for a couple more years.
“I don’t have that kind of time, and people on this team don’t have that kind of time. I’m not waiting until my senior year. It needs to happen now, and everyone here is out to make sure it happens now.”
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