DePaul's Koshwal not 100 percent, but...
When DePaul plays at Connecticut on Saturday night, it’ll be just the 11th game this year for junior big man Mac Koshwal.
He missed eight games in November and December with a stress fracture in his left foot. Then he missed four games in January when doctors feared his right foot was on the verge of its own stress fracture. He returned for the Jan. 25 home game with West Virginia, though he hasn’t looked quite as explosive as the normal Mac.
“I feel healthy,” Koshwal said. “I don’t know if I’m fully 100 percent, but there’s no choice. I’ve got to be out there, you know? I want to play. I’ve got love for the game.”
And he might get paid for that love. NBA Draft Express, which seems like it knows what it’s talking about, lists Koshwal as a late second-round pick in the upcoming draft if he chooses to come out: http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2010/
(That’s in the same range as Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody and Duke’s Jon Scherer, for what it’s worth.)
But future NBA riches are one thing. Considering Koshwal has averaged 13.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game -- and his 56.6 shooting from the field puts him way above DePaul’s collective 39.4 field-goal percentage for the year -- I’m wondering how many more games the Demons might have won with him healthy.
1) Definitely the American game, a 62-57 home loss on Dec. 16 that expedited Jerry Wainwright’s removal.
2) Probably the Florida Gulf Coast game, a 64-61 road loss on Dec. 22 that hurt Wainwright’s case further. Yes, Koshwal played in that game, but it was his first one back after the eight-game layoff.
3) Perhaps the Big East opener at Pittsburgh? The Demons lost by 10 despite Will Walker being so sick he had to come off the bench.
If you give DePaul credit for three wins there – I know it’s a stretch with the Pitt game – then the Demons are 11-11 overall and 2-8 in Big East play and their power ranking is somewhere in the 120s or 130s compared to Ken Pomeroy’s 170 ranking today.
“We just don’t know how good we are right now,” Koshwal said. “We’re really good. Just a few things we’ve got to fix and it’s taking a little longer, but nobody ever thought we were ever going to hang with Syracuse.”
LW
It would hurt to have a new coach lose the only two Big East quality players on the team right now (hopefully others like Stovall step up to become Big East players). That said, Mac needs to get good advice about his draft prospects. I can't blame anybody for wanting to make the next step if they are going to be a first round pick (i.e. guaranteed money). Win, lose, or draw, I wish Mac the best in the future.