Paolo Banchero is a 'Heavy Sweater' Who Loses Seven Pounds a Game, Requires Special Drinks

Duke lost their first game of the season on Tuesday night, falling to Ohio State in Columbus, 71-66. Duke's super freshman Paolo Banchero was held in check with 14 points and five rebounds. And to make matters worse, Holly Rowe outed Banchero as a "heavy sweater." So much so that he's had to take a sweat test and he has to drink a special "oxygenated fluid" so he won't cramp up during games.

It is unclear how rare or dangerous this condition is because there doesn't appear to be anything about Banchero's condition online. And initial Google searches for "BOA oxygenated fluid," didn't return much either. Not that it matters. The cat is out of the bag and Banchero will now forever be known as a "heavy sweater."

As for the claim that he loses seven pounds during a game, that doesn't seem so ridiculous. When fighters cut weight, they make themselves sweat to cut water weight. At 250 pounds that means Banchero sweats out about a quarter of a percent of his bodyweight during a game.

Here's an article in Scientific American from 2010 where Chris Fishetti, an athletic trainer for the Buffalo Bills, says that a running back might lose three to four pounds during a game. Considering there's much less cardio and much more opportunity to sit on the bench and rehydrate during a football game, someone Banchero's size sweating out seven pounds doesn't seem that outlandish.

While cramping may be a real issue for Banchero, the whole "losing about seven pounds per game" thing is probably one of those things that sounds crazy because no one has ever really said it out loud before. It should be fun to see how tightly people hold onto this seemingly unimpressive fact.