Josh Heytvelt's return hasn't been big

The first time I saw Josh Heytvelt was half an hour before a Class 3A state-tournament game in 2004 in Tacoma. His Clarkston team had a game against Meadowdale.

Heytvelt, at 6 feet 11, was shooting threes in warmups. Two hours later, Meadowdale had handed Clarkston a defeat, holding him to 11 points and six rebounds.

So much, and so little, has changed.

Nearing the end of his fourth year at Gonzaga, Heytvelt, a junior, is mostly an enigma. Playing as he did 15 months ago against North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough — 19 points, eight rebounds, rejecting a couple of Hansbrough's shots — the Zags might be getting mentioned to win it all.

Playing as he did last week in a game at St. Mary's, they're a team that still struggles to find an identity, one that could be vulnerable in any NCAA game.

"He was missing in action," said an NBA scout who watched that game. "Here's my feeling: He has completely lost all his aggressiveness and his confidence. He is a shadow of himself."

Tough love, right there, but the NBA is a tough business. Last weekend against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, Heytvelt showed some improvement, but those are two of the worst, most outmanned teams in the West Coast Conference.

Today, as the Zags (19-6) head into the stretch they hope will lead them to a a 10th straight NCAA tournament, this is the reality: Heytvelt is their third big man.

For a while, they were starting Abdullahi Kuso, who has zero game but a motor that runs at 6,000 RPMs. Then Kuso said he thought he was better off the bench, so that opened the door for Heytvelt, who was coming off persistent ankle problems and then bronchitis.

But his night at St. Mary's was so unpersuasive — two points, five rebounds in 19 minutes, and little impact against the Gaels' big guy, Omar Samhan — that the Zags are now starting freshman Robert Sacre, then shuttling in Kuso and spotting Heytvelt after that.

"We're just trying to get the best out of our squad," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said Tuesday, "and right now, the best for us is when Kuso is out there."

Heytvelt? "He's just not playing very [well]," Few says. "He hasn't got his athleticism back since his injury, and a big part of his game is his athleticism."

In his last four games at 20 minutes apiece, Heytvelt is averaging nine points and 4.3 rebounds. Consider what he averaged last year against these big-time teams — Stanford, Nevada, Duke, Washington, Washington State, Texas and North Carolina: 14.8 points and eight rebounds a game.

Without question, Heytvelt was dealt a lousy hand with the big man's nemesis — foot and ankle problems. After he redshirted at Gonzaga as a freshman, he began his first year of play by sitting out several weeks of practice with a precursor to a stress fracture in his ankle.

When he came back, he was showing promise when a Connecticut player fell on his ankle in the 2005 Maui Invitational final, causing a break and effectively sabotaging that season.

Before this season began, one with the suggestion of big things, there were more ankle problems. He sat out, played in an exhibition game, and then had screws inserted in the ankle. Heytvelt was back Dec. 20 and had a 12-point game in 24 minutes against Tennessee at KeyArena in a hopeful performance.

Rolin Heytvelt, his father, says this season's ankle problem was similar to the one two years ago, but "the recuperation time on this was a lot faster. The surgeon that performed that thing said he couldn't think of a handful of people that had taken that approach.

"It was Josh's intention to do everything he could to come back."

No doubt that was born partly of Heytvelt's signature misadventure last February, when he was busted in Cheney for possession of psychedelic mushrooms and suspended for the rest of the season.

His teammates had considerable reservations about allowing him to return. Even when his comeback was announced in October, Few seemed cautionary, saying, "To be honest with you, I was initially against it."

But Heytvelt, who entered a diversion program, fulfilled more than his 240 hours of community service. And Few notes, "He's been doing great in school. There have been real good changes there."

Says Rolin Heytvelt, "I was very proud of him. If anybody were to think Josh and Theo [Davis, who had a lesser penalty for marijuana possession] were the first two kids to ever make a mistake, it would be pretty naïve.

"To not run away from it, to face the consequences and essentially go above and beyond, I'm very proud of him for doing that."

On the floor, his ankle problems may have sentenced Josh Heytvelt to fall short of what was forecast for him. This was a springy, shot-blocking prospect whose talent presaged NBA first-round selection, maybe even as a lottery pick.

He was a player good enough to range outside, shoot the three and stretch the defense. But one of his biggest assets is one of his greatest pitfalls. He doesn't instinctively battle for position on defense or grind on the low block at the other end, instead floating to the perimeter. His coaches have thrown up their hands and tried to accommodate what he seems to do best.

Until further notice, that's coming off the bench as a bit player.

"I would like to see him play up to his potential," said the senior Heytvelt, "but I'm sure he's giving what he can right now."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com