Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
During the season, The Juice Online will tackle a burning question about the Syracuse basketball team in “Tipoff Countdown.”
Today’s topic: How confident are you that Syracuse will work its way around the loss of DaJuan Coleman?
On Monday night, Syracuse announced that starting center DaJuan Coleman will be out the next four weeks because he “will have a surgical procedure done on his left knee on Tuesday, January 29.”
Coleman will be out four weeks
That leaves Syracuse in a precarious situation. The Orange looked to be one of the NCAA’s deepest teams this year, with a rotation that went 9-deep. Now, without Coleman and with James Southerland out due to an NCAA eligibility issue, SU has only seven scholarship players available in the rotation.
» Related: Syracuse loses to Villanova
Coleman hasn’t been much of a factor for the Orange in conference play. In seven Big East games, Coleman is averaging just 7.8 minutes, 1.7 points and 0.8 rebounds. He only played seven minutes in Syracuse’s 75-71 overtime loss to Villanova on Saturday, and went scoreless.
But Syracuse’s loss to Villanova showed that the forwards must avoid foul trouble. While Coleman didn’t appear in overtime, perhaps that can in part be attributed to his knee. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim chose to go with Brandon Triche at the wing, something that Triche simply isn’t suited for.
Or, that perhaps that’s being overly generous to Coleman, who has struggled mightily on both ends of the floor when he’s been in the game. Though Coleman had started every game this season, he was more of a ceremonial starter in the same way that Rakeem Christmas and Fab Melo were in their freshman seasons.
» Related: Still no news in Southerland matter
At the very least, Coleman was five fouls a game, and gave the Orange some depth on the front line that has been without Southerland for the last four games. Without Coleman, be prepared to see more of the three guard lineup with Triche playing out at wing. While it makes Syracuse more dangerous on the offensive end, Saturday also showed that it makes SU susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds.
How big of a loss is DaJuan Coleman for Syracuse? Voice your opinions below or Tweet us your opinions!
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Tags: Basketball, Dajuan Coleman, Syracuse
More From: Wesley Cheng
its a big loss only if cuse could stay outta foul trouble. i think cooney could develop in this timeframe and the team as a whole will get better because of the absence of two players. the only player that wouldn’t progress is coleman. dont really need him. i think rak is good he just needs to learn not to get fooled by the head fake all the time and stop leaving his feet when he blocks shots. this team is good and i think they could make it happen. i do think southerland would be back on or before the providence game…heard through the grape vine that its a 4 week investigation that the ncaa is conducting on him and the schoo. i just hope when he comes back that he can play in the ncaa tourney too