FLINT, MI – Physically, Coreontae DeBerry is intimidating.
His humongous stature appears threatening.
DeBerry is listed at 6-foot-9, 260 pounds. He also has huge hands and gigantic feet.
As a Holland High School senior, the big man originally committed to the University of Detroit-Mercy for hoops, but couldn't qualify academically.
The freshman center is easily the tallest and biggest player on the current men's basketball team at Mott Community College – ranked No. 2 in the country.
You can't always judge a book by its cover, though. His looks can be deceiving. DeBerry is one of the nicest guys on MCC's squad.
"I'm trying to get him a little tougher, physically," Mott Coach Steve Schmidt said. "He can be such an imposing presence -- and this is not a negative, but he's too nice of a kid. I need him to change his personality when we're competing.
"I'd like to see him get upset at some point in time and we've got to get him to play with an edge," he added. "He's going to be really good and I think he's going to be a key to our success in the post-season."
Schmidt's tactics have worked, as DeBerry is beginning to
develop as a legitimate low-post threat. He has averaged 11 points over his
last eight games – including a career-high 21 points and seven rebounds in MCC's
win over Wayne County on Jan. 12.
DeBerry has tallied nightly averages of 9.5 points and 4.2 rebounds for the whole season.
"I'm still shocking myself with some of the stuff that I'm doing," DeBerry said. "To be honest, I'm kind of glad that I didn't go straight to a university because it's a lot of stuff that I still need to be working on and I'm getting that here (at Mott)."
DeBerry is gradually improving in all areas of college basketball. He is becoming more consistent after playing complacently at times. MCC assistant coach and former Bears player Marcus Skinner has been instrumental in that growth.
Mott Community College freshman Coreontae DeBerry stares at his coach on the sidelines during MCC's men's basketball game against Schoolcraft College on Saturday, January 26, 2013.
"When he first came here, it was a big hype because we finally got a big man that was 6-9, 250, but he needed to work on a few things," said Skinner, who suited up for Mott from 2004-06. "So, basically, he's been a work in progress. Right now, he's still got to work to do but he's still getting better each day."
Skinner felt that DeBerry needed help improving his foot speed to be able to check players one-on-one in defensive situations. He makes DeBerry complete at least 600 jump ropes every day after practice to get quicker. Skinner is also helping DeBerry develop more range with his post moves and lately everything has been coming together beautifully.
"It's been like poetry in motion to see all of his hard work finally paying off, but we've just got to make sure that he doesn't settle," said Skinner, a Flint Southwestern Academy graduate. "He has to keep working to get better."
Earlier in the season, DeBerry was a full-time starter, but took on a reserve role briefly. Schmidt even suspended DeBerry for three games to improve his academic and overall focus. DeBerry didn't fail any classes, but wasn't applying himself to Schmidt's standards in the classroom. He turned in assignments late and made poor decisions. MCC won three consecutive games during that stretch of his absence and DeBerry returned with a newfound resurgence.
Coreontae DeBerry
"I did not like being on the bench. I needed to be in the games," DeBerry said. "Even though they were winning, I still felt like I could help my team out with certain stuff that I thought we needed. I learned a lesson. My goal was to become a different player after sitting out those games."
Schmidt notices DeBerry's adjustments but the legendary coach is still not cutting his big man any slack. He wants DeBerry to take his game to the next level by maximizing his full potential throughout his two-year MCC experience. No excuses.
"I have a saying that goes: It's easy to be average, but it takes hard work to be good," Schmidt stated. "Anybody can be average and I don't want him to be average and that's why I sent a message to him and it was loud and clear and he got it.
"He could become the most dominant post player that the MCCAA has seen," he said. "I've been here a long time and I haven't seen too many players with this type of potential. But again, what is potential if you don't reach it?"