It’s that time of the year for college basketball fans when we get to spend some time getting to know new faces and names. Just around the Pac-12 we’re looking forward to getting acquainted with Jabari Brown and Chasson Randle, Nick Johnson and Tony Wroten Jr. And as we get to know them over the coming days, months and years, we’ll see their games develop. But for most of those student-athletes, we have some idea what to expect. We know of Wroten’s reputation as a power guard and a spectacular passer, we’ve heard about Brown’s ability to catch fire offensively, and we’ve already seen Johnson take strides in just his first couple of games at Arizona. But down in Los Angeles, USC head coach Kevin O’Neill is working with a kid, redshirt sophomore center Dewayne Dedmon, who is more or less a blank slate. There has been talk about his potential and his vast upside, but few people have ever actually seen the guy play. Even O’Neill only saw him play once at Antelope Valley College two years back, yet O’Neill calls Dedmon a potential first round NBA draft pick. So where has this kid been hiding? How has he flown so far below the radar? Well, the fact is, now 22 years old, Dedmon has only been playing basketball since he was 18.
In Just His Fourth Year Playing Basketball, Dedmon Is Expected To Play A Big Role For USC (credit: USC)
As detailed by Chris Ballard in this week’s Sports Illustrated, Dedmon was kept from playing sports as a matter of religious principle by his mother, Gail Lewis. As a devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lewis believed that participating in team sports would keep Dedmon from paying complete allegiance to God. But as Dedmon grew up, he grew tall, up to 6’8” as a senior in high school, when he announced to his mother that he would be playing high school basketball. Of course, given that he had never played before, he was starting from scratch and didn’t earn much playing time.
But in the three years since his first taste of competitive organized basketball, Dedmon has not only added another three inches to his frame (along with 65 pounds and the muscle to go along with it), but he has developed his game slowly but surely. Where at first he couldn’t handle the Mikan drill, he has now added post moves, ball handling and even a jumper out past the arc (although it remains to be seen if that’s a skill that Dedmon will be encouraged to use). Better yet, he’s shown a love and an understanding of the game that goes beyond the short time in which he has known it.
Now checking in at 6’11” and 255 pounds, Dedmon has certainly got an NBA body, and O’Neill claims that Dedmon is “the best athlete of his size I’ve ever seen, including the NBA.” It seemed that Dedmon’s progress was going to be put on pause earlier this fall after he broke his right hand during a practice. However, while wearing a cast on his broken hand, he spent time working on dribbling, passing, shooting and blocking shots with his left hand, “a blessing in disguise” according to O’Neill. Dedmon is expected to play in USC’s opener tonight against Cal State Northridge with a brace on his broken hand, and it will be the college basketball world’s first look at this intriguing talent. It is expected that the broken hand will limit his already raw offensive game, but where Dedmon should be able to make an immediate impact is defensively. He’s described as having a phenomenal motor, running the floor like a deer, working hard on every possession, getting after it on the glass and challenging any shot in the paint. While it may be years before we get a glimpse of Dedmon as a polished product, his raw ability should be worth keeping an eye in the interim.