Jim Boeheim isn’t going to treat Dajuan Coleman’s left knee like a prized pitcher’s elbow, even if a lot of Syracuse’s potential hinges on Coleman’s health.

In Syracuse’s 97-58 exhibition win over Le Moyne on Monday, Coleman played 23 minutes but all nine scholarship players ran for at least 10. It’s conceivable that he’ll need to play more than that with the Orange lacking depth at center. Boeheim has said that Coleman will sit because of the fatigue from not playing in two years, but that he won’t be on any kind of “minutes limit” due to his recovered knee.

“It’s either go or not. It’s either he’s going to go and be all right or he’s going to go and not be all right,” Boeheim said at Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Media Day on Oct. 28. “It has nothing to do with minutes. He could play two minutes a game and get hurt, or he could play the whole game and not get hurt.”

Boeheim’s logic is simple: If Coleman is scrimmaging in practice at full speed, he shouldn’t be held back in games. Coleman echoed his coach at Syracuse’s annual media day on Oct. 16, saying he never wants to come out and is ready to play a full load of minutes. While he thought about his knee, almost obsessively, for the better part of the last two years, Coleman is now able to focus on playing rather than “being careful.”

He’s gone to the floor in practice and gotten up just fine. The last thing Coleman wants, even with his injury past, is to be babied by the coaching staff.

“You have to understand, I’ve been playing outside my whole life. Falling, scraping my knee. This is, this not really anything I care about falling on the ground in here,” Coleman said, pointing to the team’s practice courts in the Carmelo K. Anthony Center. “I don’t even worry about my knee. I’m fine, I’m fine. I don’t really think about it.”

Heading into the regular season, the Orange will need Coleman to shoulder a minutes load that even slightly resembles Rakeem Christmas’ from a season ago.

According to Kenpom.com, Christmas played 85.1 percent of possible minutes on the season and 92.1 in conference play, which was the highest mark of any ACC big man. Minutes percentage factors in overtime games and games played, and Christmas saw a lower percentage of possible playing time than just five ACC players.

That can’t be expected from Coleman — because of the injuries and his bigger build — but Christmas’ minutes masked SU’s lack of center depth last season. Backup center Chinonso Obokoh doesn’t seem quite ready to contribute, as he failed to grab a rebound and committed three fouls in 11 minutes against a Le Moyne team that had no player taller than 6 feet 7 inches. To spell Coleman, the Orange has Obokoh or a three-forward lineup that features 6-foot-8, 210-pound Tyler Lydon at center.

Boeheim said Monday that the offense, that’s shifting to the perimeter as is, won’t put too much on Coleman’s plate in the early going. Yet it still seems that Syracuse is not just better off with him on the court, but also noticeably shorthanded when he’s off it. He’s the team’s biggest body, knows the center spot in the zone better than any of his teammates and provides the most tangible low-post scoring threat.

And as of now, Boeheim isn’t going to let the history of Coleman’s left knee dictate his playing time.

“He needs rest. He’ll be out. He’ll be rested, but it won’t be because of (his injuries),” Boeheim said. “It’s just like if he were a guard and he were back healthy he’d play the whole game probably. He’d play the whole game.”

Published on November 3, 2015 at 6:32 pm

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