At first glance, LU’s 6-9, 215 lb. freshman center, Julius Rajala, was not too impressive. In LU’s 37 games he averaged 3.2 minutes a game & averaged less than 1 rebound & less than 1 point a game. He missed the last 9 games of the year with an injury.

However, taking a closer, you can see why the Coach was so upset that Rajala did not get the experience of more playing time in those last 9 games.

The answer is in the last 5 games (all MVC conference games) Rajala played before he was injured.

In those 5 games he averaged:

10.2 minutes per game
14.6 points per 40 minutes
8.5 rebounds per 40 (better than any other Rambler regular’s rp40)
57.1 FG % (better than any other Rambler regular’s FG%)

The 14.6 points per40, compared to the league’s returning starting centers, was only bested by the league's 1st team All MVC center, Evansville’s Egidiju Mockevicius and LU’s own Montel James (who next season will hopefully be playing power forward with Kirby & Rajala handling the center spot).

If Rajala recovers from his injury before the Season begins & adds a few pounds of muscle in the weight room, LU looks pretty good on the inside with 6'9" 235 lb Coffeeville transfer Kirby bringing 14.8 pp40 & 14.7 rp40 & 53.8 FG%, backed up by Rajala’s 14.6 pp40 & 8.5 rp40 & 57.1 FG% at the center position & Montel James moving over to the power forward position, where he will get less of a pounding.

It should keep other teams back on defense & to man the boards, giving our 3 point shooters (LU was 17th of the NCAA’s 531 teams in 3 point percent last year) less pressure.

Rajala may be a valuable Diamond in the rough that may increase LU’s fortune next year.

I completely agree that Rajala has a ton of up-side. He barely played at the beginning of the season, but was used more and more frequently toward the end of the season. You could see him getting more and more comfortable in each game. It was a bummer to see him go down, because it seemed like he was finally starting to find his way and fit in with everyone else on the floor before he got injured.

I still think this off-season will be very telling for him. I would not surprised if he ended up being a major contributor in the upcoming year...and I'm really hoping that happens.