The No. 2-ranked Syracuse Orange's front court depth took a big hit Monday, as Syracuse.com is reporting sophomore center Dajuan Coleman will miss the remainder of the season because of leg surgery.
The Syracuse Orange basketball team will be without sophomore center Dajuan Coleman for the remainder of the season, as Syracuse.com's Donna Ditota is reporting the big man has undergone surgery on a left-leg injury and will not return.
Coleman, a former McDonald's All-American that started 12 games and averaged 13 minutes, four points and four rebounds a game for the Orange this season, has missed the last five of six contests with the apparent leg injury.
During that time, head coach Jim Boeheim was listing Coleman as day-to-day. Though, Boeheim had been optimistic about Coleman's return, which happened briefly in a blowout win of Virginia Tech a few weeks back, there was some creeping doubt about his status as he continued to miss more and more time.
Unfortunately, this is becoming a common theme with the local product, as he also missed eight conference games last season when he needed in-season knee surgery.
In his absence, sophomore forward Jerami Grant has stepped into the starting role after he served as the Orange's sixth-man off the bench during a 12-0 start to the season.
The debate will now be whether or not missing Coleman will hurt Syracuse's Final Four chances (last year it didn't), but one thing can be said, this will hurt SU's depth in the front court, which was a HUGE advantage entering the season and it will also force Grant, C.J. Fair and others to play more minutes.
