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Coles looks for big things from Mavunga
By Pete Conrad
It’s Charlie Coles’ style. When the Miami University basketball coach has a big-time but still-developing talent on his roster, he takes pains to nurture that talent.
It isn’t a gentle nurture, either. Coles pushes, hard. He keeps the pressure on. If he’s ever satisfied, he takes pains not to show it. He doesn’t praise if he can help it, though sometimes it slips out, because Coles’ first instinct is always to tell it as he sees it. But Coles tries doesn’t want players who are satisfied with themselves.
Nathan Peavy knows about that. Coles pushed Peavy from the time he was a seldom-used freshman until he was a senior who averaged 14 points and helped lead Miami into the NCAA Tournament.
Coles wasn’t easy on Michael Bramos, either, the same Michael Bramos who finished his collegiate career last season as Mid-American Conference Player of the Year.
Now it’s sophomore forward Julian Mavunga who is being pushed, Coles hopes, towards greatness. Mavunga has all the tools, including an intellect that enables him to soak up much in a remarkably short amount of time.
This is an all-state player from Indianapolis who never touched a basketball until he was in the seventh grade, a collegiate sophomore who played with an injured leg throughout his freshman season.
“He was never comfortable with his leg, and then he got overweight,” Coles said of Mavunga just before practice this morning, March 9, at Millett Hall. “It’s tough to play out of shape with an injury.”
There are times when Coles can be gentle and generous. This was not one of them. Not with a trip to Cleveland just hours away. Not with a team, if it wants to make a serious run at the NCAA, that needs Mavunga to be an explosive force against Buffalo on Thursday. He was exactly that last week when he head-butted the Bulls with a 17-point, 3-block performance.
“This year he’s show us that if he keeps progressing,” Coles said, “he’ll be a very good player.”
When Coles says “good player,” he means All-MAC caliber. When he says “very good player,” he’s talking about someone who can strap the team to his shoulders.
Not all players are up to that burden, and it might be too early for Mavunga to accept that role. Right now, Kenny Hayes is the man. It’s Hayes who wants desperately for Miami to run the table at Quicken Loans Arena.
But if Mavunga can dish it out on the inside while Hayes works his magic, this could be a very interesting week.
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