Syracuse, NY -- Dajuan Coleman situated himself at the far basket of the Melo Center. His light gray T-shirt soaked to pencil black, the Syracuse University center lofted shot after shot at the rim, a netted rebounding device collecting his makes and misses.
For Coleman, this represents progress. The SU junior missed most of last season after submitting to surgery to repair an undisclosed injury near his knee. Orange coach Jim Boeheim has kept fans apprised of Coleman's condition, saying coaches were cautiously awaiting evidence that the leg was stable enough for Coleman to play this season.
On Tuesday afternoon, Coleman said he believed he had made significant progress toward that goal. Did he think, he was asked, that he could play this season?
"Yeah, definitely," he said. "That's the plan."
But Coleman, too, is educated enough about his condition to understand he remains in a sort of athletic holding pattern. He has graduated from three months of crutches, to three weeks of walking, to a month and a half of the stationary bicycle to shooting, the elliptical and the StairMaster.
The progress, he said, has been guarded and gradual.
"They still want me to see what's going on around September," he said. "I can't really say if I'll be ready by that time. They just want me to take it slow. We've been doing a good job of just taking my time, doing what I need to do and just healing up on time."
Boeheim has said concerns about swelling keep coaches cautious. Coleman said he has been pleased by the way the swelling has subsided in recent weeks. But Boeheim has warned that until Coleman subjects the leg to the day-to-day grind of regular workouts, the staff (and Coleman) has no idea how it will react.
"The swelling's been down a lot," Coleman said. "It depends. If I go extra hard one week, it might swell up for the weekend. But it'll go down by that Monday."
Coleman is scheduled to see Dr. Bradley Raphael, the physician who performed the surgery, on Wednesday to gauge his progress.
"Jogging is next," Coleman said. "I'll have to see what the doctor says tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll start running next month -- in August."