Jim Boeheim didn’t have to give a lengthy injury report at basketball media day on Friday afternoon, but his updates did include DaJuan Coleman and Chinonso Obokoh, two parts of a thinning Syracuse front court.

Coleman is still working back from a knee injury that kept him out of most of last season, and Obokoh has missed 10 days with what Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins confirmed as a thigh injury.

“Nothing’s changed. Dajuan has worked every day for eight months. He’s made progress,” Boeheim said of Coleman. “He’s able to shoot. He’s able to run on the treadmill. He’s very limited. We have no real timetable right now. We’re hopeful that he’ll do something in November. Exactly what that will be, we really don’t know.”

With Coleman a question mark for the start of the season and Obokoh — who practiced Thursday — working back, freshman forward Chris McCullough has worked at center on both offense and defense to complement senior Rakeem Christmas, who has started at center in the last two seasons. McCullough said that it hasn’t been too difficult to learn both positions, and Boeheim added that the forward and center spots are interchangeable on offense and just “three feet apart” in the 2-3 zone.

Boeheim also said that Obokoh is a player that could provide the kind of off-the-bench defensive energy that former Syracuse center Baye Moussa Keita did in the past few seasons, and that the team needs him back for that role.

Both Coleman and Obokoh were in full uniform and talking with reporters at media day.

“It’s hard. Coming in here, and everyone’s practicing, and I want to practice,” Coleman said. “I enjoy taking my time, I don’t want to rush it or anything. It’s been hard. I’m just ready to get back out there.”

 

Published on October 17, 2014 at 6:50 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse