by BUD POLIQUIN POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST , The Post-Standard

He's one of them, you know. At 6-foot-9ish and pushing into the 270s, Onuaku is one of the Big East's mastodons. And he understands that the rooting among them -- among Harangody and Thabeet and Blair and Monroe and Adrien and Summers and Burrell and all the rest, each of whom can fill a doorway in both directions -- has just begun.

Which, in the absence of a smile from Syracuse University's junior center, does explain the nod.

"It's great," Onuaku said prior to the Orange's affair on Friday evening against South Florida. "Having the top league in the country, you see great big men night in and night out. Every day, I know I'm going to be in a hard-fought game. There's always going to be a guy on the other side who's trying to get the best of me. I like the challenge. But I don't have a choice. That's just the way the Big East is."

This one-time tight end is having quite a nice basketball season for SU, which lugged a 13-1 record and a near-Top 10 ranking down this way. A solid one. A steady one.

Sure, Jonny Flynn has been his usual blur. And Paul Harris has ably played the lumberjack. And Andy Rautins has chipped in here while Eric Devendorf has chipped in there. And Rick Jackson has improved, Kris Joseph has helped and Kristof Ongenaet has left his usual skin on the floor.

But it has been Arinze Onuaku who has been the rock upon which the Orange has built its splendid campaign. Indeed, he took to the court of the Sun Dome here against the Bulls with a scoring average of 12.1, a rebounding average of 7.6 and a shooting percentage of 73.7. And as he'd done that in fewer than 27 minutes per game, the former numbers, anyway, should grow as his playing time expands.

And expand, it will. Those Long Beach States are each long gone. Meanwhile, the Connecticuts and Georgetowns and Notre Dames loom. As such, Onuaku -- the proud son of a 6-4 father (Christopher) and a 5-7 mother (Anastasia) -- will swing his hammer more and more and more. And he'll be only too happy to do so.

"When you hear those guys' names ..." said Onuaku, his voice trailing off. "Like Hasheem Thabeet. He's supposed to be a Top 5 pick in the NBA Draft. And Luke Harangody. He was the Player of the Year in the conference. And all those other guys. I mean, you have to get psyched up to play those kinds of people. They're prime-time athletes. You feel them after games, but hopefully they'll be feeling me, too. You always want to throw the first punch."

He meant that, of course, figuratively.

As he's been big ever since he was small, and since most people are smart enough not to bait bears, Arinze has rarely been called upon to clean out a room. In fact, Onuaku insists he hasn't been in a fight since middle school, which is going on 10 years now. Because he wears size-XXL shirts and trousers that are 42 inches in circumference and 38 inches in length -- and not for purposes of foolish fashion, but for proper fit -- this is a very good thing.

"I don't really put myself around much drama," explained Arinze, who's always been more the academic than the pugilist. "I guess that's it. I mean, I know people respect me. But I'm not around the drama, either. Anything that has to do with family or friends, though ... I mean, you're going to get riled up. But then, whether something would happen or not is to be determined."

In other words, don't mess with this young man. Not that the thought would ever cross your mind. And don't try to out-dance him, either, because to hear Arinze tell it, he could glide across an eclair. Ask him and he'll tell you that there's more to him than his sinew.

"I think I have great footwork in the post," said Onuaku, who has provided Jim Boeheim with more points out of the middle than anybody since Etan Thomas. "A lot of big guys don't have feet as quick as mine. That's one of my best attributes.

"You've got to start with your feet. To get a good look at the basket, you have to have your balance. In a league like this, you're not going to be able to overpower everybody. So, if you can get the defense to move from side to side, that'll give you a good look at the basket."

That would help to explain how he's been able to convert nearly three out of every four shots he's taken from the field to lead the nation in that category. And how, going into Friday's tilt with the Bulls, he'd been in double figures in 12 of SU's 14 games. And how he has evolved into a kind of offensive safety net for a club that has begun to think some very giddy thoughts.

Feet ... and talent ... and a body that is big enough to take up the two best seats on any bus. Bundle it all together and you've got Arinze Onuaku, who's two games into the regular season of the Big East Conference and twitching for more.

"I mean, this whole league is a grind," he said. "There's a different big guy every night on every team. But I'm looking forward to it. For me, at the end of the day it comes down to this: What does my opponent want to do, and what can I do about it? Figuring that out is the objective."

That task becomes easier when your muscles have muscles.

Bud Poliquin's column and his "To The Point" observations appear regularly in The Post-Standard, and his on-line commentary is freshly written every weekday at Syracuse.com. He can be heard on Sports Radio 620 WHEN (AM 620) Mondays through Fridays between 3-6 p.m. E-mail: bpoliquin@Syracuse.com

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