by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 06, 2010   Last Updated: March 21, 2010

Wesley Johnson is 6' 7", and he plays forward for Syracuse University. He's a hot prospect for the NBA draft in 2010, but interestingly, he's only a junior. Though he played his last game of the 2010 season on March 3, he's still eligible for one more year of college basketball. And as Syracuse destroyed the visiting team 85 to 66, the Syracuse crowd started chanting, "Wes, don't go!"

Syracuse entered the 2010 NCAA playoffs as the #1, top-ranked team, with Johnson playing as the team's starting forward. During a great season, Johnson team scored an impressive 16-point victory over North Carolina's team - even though North Carolina had been ranked #6. (At one point Syracuse racked up a 22-point scoring run matched by one single point from North Carolina.) But it was Johnson's performance that stood out, earning him an MVP award for the tournament. Johnson not only scored 25 points - he grabbed 10 different rebounds.

Interestingly, the 2010-2011 season will be Johnson's fifth year in college. He started his career at Iowa State University in 2006, where he played during his freshman and sophomore years. In 2008 he  transferred to Syracuse University, which triggered NCAA rules which prohibited from playing for the rest of the year. But he trained with the team, and earned a starting position for the 2009-2010 season.

By the end of his first two years, Johnson had racked up an impressive 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds, while leading the team with 33 blocks. And by the end of his sophomore year, Iowa State University was ranked #4 in the country, with Johnson their top-scoring player. But the year also marked a turning point for Johnson, according to one Syracuse sportswriter. Johnson complained of a painful injury in his left foot, but his coach insisted he should still be training harder. Johnson's brother remembers that Iowa's coach, Greg McDermott, yelled at Johnson about his performance after a January win over Colorado - and that's when Johnson got the idea of transfering to Syracuse.

And in his first Syracuse season, he scored a career high of 19 rebounds in an 80-73 game against Seton Hall.

So will he now leave Syracuse University early so he can start his professional basketball career? "Nah," Johnson told one reporter after the regular season came to an end. "It's a wonderful feeling playing for this crowd... with all the fans giving me that support, who wants to leave?"

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.