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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1934028, member: 289"] CENTERS [I]DaJuan Coleman, 6-9 258, senior[/I] Five years ago there were two big local stories on the sports page: Breanna Stewart and DaJuan Coleman.”Stewie” was considered the #1 female basketball prospect coming out of high school nationally and DaJuan was one of the top male centers in the country. There were pictures of them posing together. [IMG]http://media.syracuse.com/sports/photo/2010-03-23-mjg-hoops1jpg-ca65761055ab8cc8_medium.jpg[/IMG] Breanna chose to go to Connecticut and won four national championships and three Player of the Year awards there. DaJuan has spent that time mostly rehabbing his aching knees. From my pre-season preview last year: “He ripped up his left knee twice in two seasons and wound up going through something called OATS surgery. From SB Nation: That procedure addresses cartilage damage by scooping out an area of healthy bone and cartilage from a non-weight bearing part of the former McDonald All-American's leg and inserted it into a small hole of cartilage damage in his knee.” (I didn’t know “scooping out” is a medical term.) Coleman went on a “juice” diet to reduce his weight from 282 to 258 pounds and take the pressure off his knee. So he’s spent most of the least two years in rehab, which takes a particular sort of determination.” Last year we held our breath as he tried to play an entire season without re-injuring his knee and he made it. He managed to play in all 37 games and averaged 17.5 minutes per game. Here are his averages for the season, adjusted to 40 minutes so we can see what it might be if he played an entire game: 17.5M 11.2P 10.7R 0.9A 1.6S 2.0B = 26.4+ 3.5MFG 1.5MFT 2.5TO 6.3PF = 13.8- = 12.6NP 6.2OE 6.4FG (M= minutes per game; P = points; R= rebounds; A = assists; S = steals; B = blocks; MFG = missed field goals; MFT = missed free throws; TO = turnovers; PF = personal fouls, all per 40 minutes. + = P plus R, A, S and B. - = MFG plus MFT, TO and PF. NP, “Net Points” = + minus -; OE, “Offensive Efficiency” = P –MFG and MFT; FG, “Floor Game” = NP – OE). I guy who scored 11 points, had 11 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and two blocks would be considered to have a pretty good game. He can score, although, like a lot of big men, he’s found that the moved that worked in high school don’t work as well in college. He can’t bull his way past everyone and he’s not taller than the guys guarding him, (I think he’s really 6-8, not 6-9). He has a tendency to hold the ball too low, which gives everybody a shot at it. But he can catch in the blocks and turn around and score inside and there’s that many guys who can do that in college ball any more. He’s a good rebounder and not a bad passer. In high school he was famous for his long outlet passes, although we haven’t seen much of that on this level. His big problem is the fouls: they only allow 5 of them and DaJuan commits 6.3 per 40 minutes. Then there’s his limited mobility: when he’s in the game, we are pretty much stuck in a half-court offense because he can’t get up and down the court. He did show signs of improvement as the season wore on last year. He had an 8 point 8 rebound game vs. Pitt and followed that up with 11-11 against the same team, along with 2 blocks and 2 steals. The Panthers are typically the most physical team we play. He played 33 minutes in the latter game and 35 against NC State, scoring 7 points with 7 rebounds. I recall that Rakeem Christimas was another Mickey Dee who was disappointing for three years but started to have some big games late in his junior year and then played like an All-American his senior year. Rak didn’t have DaJuan’s knees but I have hopes that DC II, as he’s sometimes called, (no he’s not related to Derrick Coleman), can become a consistent contributor this season. Some views of Coleman in action last year along with his comments: [MEDIA=youtube]Qgkd6_bkdIE[/MEDIA] [I]Paschal Chukwu, 7-2 226, sophomore[/I] I saw Chukwu last season standing next to Chinoso Obokoh, who was listed at 6-9. It seemed to me that the top of Obokoh’s head came up to about Chukwu’s chin. 7-2 is 5 inches taller than 6-9 so my perception wasn’t too far off. His arm span is to scale. He’s obviously not bulky but he didn’t really look skinny, either. I’ve only seen one film clip of his play from the one year he spent at Providence before transferring to SU. He looked athletic and quick. He blocked a shot, ran the length of the court and violently dunked in a follow shot. He looked like a great fish leaping out of the sea. Visions of such a player operating in the middle of Boeheim’s zone danced in my head. I recalled that we’d gone 30-1 with Fab Melo in the line-up in 2012 and I wondered if maybe we could have that type of team again with Chukwu. I posted that sentiment to the Syracusefan.com board and one poster assured me that Chukwu was no Fab Melo and I should forget about it. Melo did have a different physique at 7-0 255. He was a stronger man but perhaps not as quick or athletic, He certainly wasn’t his first year when JB was always complaining about his lack of conditioning. Let’s look at Melo’s first year numbers, (again per 40 minutes) from 2010-11: 9.9M 9.4P 7.8R 1.0A 1.2S 3.1B = 22.5+, 2.7MFG 2.0MFT 3.1TO 7.3PF = 15.1- = 7.4NP 4.7OE 2.7FG He could score a bit, wasn’t that much of a rebounder for his size but made some steals and could block shots. He was terrible at the foul line, (9/25), had too many turnovers and far too many fouls to even stay in the game. Boeheim and Bernie Fine worked on his conditioning and his game, (too bad they didn’t work on his academics, too) . Here are Fab’s numbers in his second year: 25.4M 12.3P 9.2R, 1.1A 0.8S 4.6B = 28.0+, 3.9MFG 1.2MFT 2.3TO 4.5PF = 11.9- = 16.1NP 7.2OE 8.9FG He was more of an offensive threat and a better rebounder. He went from a good shot blocker to a great one. The charging fouls he drew aren’t in these numbers but they and the blocks made a big difference. He missed a few more shots from the field but became an acceptable free throw shooter for a big man, (38 for 60: 63%), reduced his turnovers and reduced his fouls to a level that allowed him to stay in the game for 25 minutes instead of 10. Here are Chukwu’s numbers in his one year at Providence: 9.9M 10.7P 9.9R 0.6A 1.1S 2.7B = 25.0+, 2.0MFG 1.9MFT 2.3TO 7.5PF = 13.7- = 11.0NP 6.8OE 4.2FG That’s the exact same number of minutes per game that Melo had as a freshman for the exact same reason: he fouled too much to stay in games. He was a somewhat better scorer and a better rebounder than the freshman Melo. He was similar in his other positive stats. He was also already a minimally adequate foul shooter, (24/40, exactly 60%) and he had fewer turnovers. he was clearly better in net points, offensive efficiency and floor game. Fine is gone but Boeheim and Hopkins have had a whole year between his freshman and sophomore years to work with him. That doesn’t mean he will turn into the 2012 Melo. But I think it means that he could and if he does, this could be a heck of a season. Chukwu is a native of Nigeria and hasn’t playing the game very long, probably less than Melo did in his native country of Brazil. Chukwu had been playing the game for only 9 months when he arrived in this country in 2010. Here is an excellent article from Syracuse.com on Chukwu’s development as of last February: [URL="http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2016/02/updating_paschal_chukwu_syracuse_basketball_center.html"]Updating Paschal Chukwu: Syracuse center tackles learning curve, 'is progressing great'[/URL] He’s very cerebral and is fascinated by the zone, which he says goes against a player’s normal tendencies. He still had a lot to learn at that point. The speed of the game at this level was also an adjustment. He’s building up his body thought diet and the weight room. I have a feeling that African players are simply not used to consuming large quantities of food because of the poverty in their countries and having to eat like an American athlete is still another adjustment. Playing against the bulky Coleman in practice has shown him that he has to get stronger so he can hold his ground in the paint against the type of players he will face. Here is that tape I saw of him on that play for Providence: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djxcXBVdDX8"]Paschal Chukwu Throws it Down[/URL] (Actually it wasn’t off a block but rather a rebound. Your memory plays tricks on you at this age.) I have also found this high school tape of Chukwu: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_vtMNuROVE"]7'2" Paschal Chukwu is a Providence Friar!! Official Mixtape by Next Best Basketball[/URL] Neither he or Coleman are 35-40 minute a game players so I suspect they will split the positon, which will be interesting because they are the exact opposite of each other: a somewhat short but strong college center with limited mobility but who can score and rebound in the paint vs. a thin skyscraper lacking in some basic skills but who is incredibly long and athletic and could make the zone an almost impossible defense to score against unless you go off from outside. I’m guessing we might even have a different sort of line-up with Coleman in the game than with Chuwu in the game. Coleman should be surrounded by jump-shooters and guards who can feed the post. Chukwu won’t clog the lane and should be surrounded by drivers and guys who can run the court. We’ve got both. We’ll be a different team, depending on who is playing center. We also have Tyler Lydon who did a fairly good job playing center when Coleman was out last year. He wasn’t ideal at 6-8 205, (basically Coleman’s height with Chukwu’s bulk), but he showed a knack for blocking shots with 67 blocks. He actually played center instead of the 6-9 217 Obokoh. Hopefully he won’t be needed in this capacity this year but it’s good to know he can play center if we need him. Taurean Thompson at 6-10 220 could also see time at center, so we’ve got good depth here. [/QUOTE]

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