Syracuse Basketball: Appreciating Rakeem Christmas's Development

It seems that at least once per game I'm struck with amazement of how much Rakeem Christmas has improved as a player. To think, this is a guy who never averaged more than 5.8 points per game in his career heading into 2014-15, and at basically the halfway point of the season is the unquestioned MVP of the Orange.

Boeheim said Christmas would be better this year, and when the coach makes a prediction like that, he's usually right. So we had no reason to doubt him. But to expect this level of production, consistency and reliability would have been a major stretch in October.

When Christmas caught the ball to attempt the would-be-game-winning shot last night at Hank McCamish Pavilion, I felt this strange confidence that he would absolutely make the shot. Then when he was fouled, there was little doubt that the 74-percent free throw shooter would make both to give the Orange the lead.

The big fella in the middle is going to be one of the greatest success stories for a four-year player in Syracuse history, something that will likely be rarer and rarer as the NBA continues to draft more on potential than production.

So how does the Rock stack up to the other players who truly developed in a four-year career over the past decade?

Rakeem Christmas

Freshman - .573 FG%, .571 FT%, 2.9 RPG, 0.2 APG, 0.8 BPG, 2.8 PPG

Sophomore - .530 FG%, .574 FT%, 4.6 RPG, 0.2 APG, 1.8 BPG, 5.1 PPG

Junior - .613 FG%, .726 FT%, 5.1 RPG, 0.7 APG, 1.9 BPG, 5.8 PPG

Senior - .600 FG%, .738 FT%, 8.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 2.3 BPG, 17.3 PPG

C.J. Fair

Freshman - .543 FG%, .609 FT%, 3.8 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.8 BPG, 6.4 PPG

Sophomore - .464 FG%, .743 FT%, 5.4 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.5 BPG, 8.5 PPG

Junior - .470 FG%, .755 FT%, 6.9 RPG, 0.7 APG, 1.1 BPG, 14.5 PPG

Senior - .429 FG%, .725 FT%, 6.4 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 BPG, 16.5 PPG

Rick Jackson

Freshman - .526 FG%, .528 FT%, 3.0 RPG, 0.5 APG, 1.3 BPG, 3.7 PPG

Sophomore - .623 FG%, .481 FT%, 5.8 RPG, 0.9 APG, 1.6 BPG, 8.3 PPG

Junior - .591 FG%, .500 FT%, 7.0 RPG, 1.7 APG, 2.0 BPG, 9.7 PPG

Senior - .588 FG%, .533 FT%, 10.3 RPG, 2.2 APG, 2.5 BPG, 13.1 PPG

Andy Rautins

Freshman - .377 FG%, .500 FT%, 0.9 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.1 BPG, 2.9 PPG

Sophomore - .372 FG%, .708 FT%, 2.0 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.2 BPG, 7.2 PPG

Junior - .380 FG%, .733 FT%, 3.3 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.2 BPG, 10.5 PPG

Senior - .438 FG%, .815 FT%, 3.4 RPG, 4.9 APG, 0.2 BPG, 12.1 PPG

Demetris Nichols

Freshman - .347 FG%, .444 FT%, 2.2 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.6 BPG, 4.2 PPG

Sophomore - .379 FG%, .722 FT%, 2.1 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.4 BPG, 3.9 PPG

Junior - .427 FG%, .677 FT%, 5.8 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.3 BPG, 13.3 PPG

Senior - .447 FG%, .850 FT%, 5.4 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.4 BPG, 18.9 PPG

Josh Pace

Freshman - .496 FG%, .583 FT%, 2.0 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.1 BPG, 4.3 PPG

Sophomore - .525 FG%, .560 FT%, 2.7 RPG, 3.3 APG, 0.4 BPG, 4.3 PPG

Junior - .500 FG%, .390 FT%, 5.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 0.4 BPG, 9.5 PPG

Senior - .571 FG%, .556 FT%, 5.0 RPG, 3.8 APG, 0.4 BPG, 10.8 PPG

Hakim Warrick

Freshman - .552 FG%, .383 FT%, 4.8 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.6 BPG, 6.1 PPG

Sophomore - .541 FG%, .667 FT%, 8.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.3 BPG, 14.8 PPG

Junior - .512 FG%, .692 FT%, 8.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.1 BPG, 19.8 PPG

Senior - .548 FG%, .681 FT%, 8.6 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 BPG, 21.4 PPG

Takeaways

Christmas is having the most impressive senior-season improvement in at least the last decade, if not all-time. His 198-percent increase in points per game is not even close to matched by anyone on the above list (Nichols ranks second with a 42-percent increase). Likewise his 72.5-percent increase in rebounding leads the list, ahead of Rick Jackson's 47-percent increase.

For many of the other players, the jump actually took place earlier in their careers. Fair, Nichols and Pace all made the leap in their junior seasons, while Warrick showed major improvement his sophomore year. Rautins and Jackson made more of a steady progression as their playing time increased, with Jackson likely showing the biggest improvement his senior season (as well as Nichols).

What do you think? Is this the most impressive senior-season jump in program history? I know Rony Seikaly improved over his four years, but it was a lot more steady than this. I'll let some of the older guys educate me in the comments though if you have a better example.