When Syracuse basketball big man Rakeem Christmas graduated in 2015, nobody blinked an eye. Well, let’s put that in a better perspective.
A lot of ‘Cuse foes gave a sigh of relief that the 6-foot-9-inch, 250-pound big man had finally worn out his eligibility after a senior year in which Christmas terrorized his opponents.
The four-year, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native improved his scoring average from less than six points per game to nearly 18 points per game, which is by far one of the biggest jumps in Syracuse basketball history. Pair that with about nine rebounds a game and Christmas was not only a top big man in the ACC but also the country.