What is up with Dominic James?

[MU Avenue]

His play and especially his shot selection are ridiculous today. I know we are only down by two at halftime, but with smarter play and fewer terrible shots, mostly by James, Marquette could be in a much better position at this point in the game.

We all know James is a great athlete and a fine player. We all also know that the NBA is probably in James' future. I would be shocked, however, if any team is looking at him as anything close to a first-round pick this year.

As the game announcers said a few times in the first half, James suffers from inconsistent play and erratic shooting. They were right when they said he is "still learning."

[ecompt]

He may still come back and help us win this game, but the ONLY part of his game that is NBA-ready is his jumping ability, and everyone in the NBA can jump.

[ozmetal71]

Harrison called me a retard for saying that he was terrible in the last game and has a habit of disappearing in games, but look what happened again today...James was totally useless in this game.

He better forget about the NBA and concentrate on learning not to jack up a three with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.

He is overrated, has regressed, and is hurting the team right now.  He better get his act together fast.

[zener_diode]

He's worse than useless right now.  He's actually a negative.  All these 25 foot chucks are really hurting the team, and his on ball defense has been unacceptable for a guard as quick as he is.

[rocky_warrior]

Man am I so tired of this conversation.  Outside of Ooze and Hayward, the whole team wasn't able to pick it up to get a W.

[ozmetal71]

Yes, the team did not play well as a whole, but James is the supposed star and catalyst of the team and he killed us with his shot selection.

I expect more from a supposed first-round draft pick. 

The Big Three all were bad today, but James has been horrible for three straight games.

[MarquetteFan94]

Anyone happen to notice that Matthews took 3 shots and had 2 points?!

[maxpower773]

It was also too bad that Matthews didn't play much(probably sick), and that McNeal had 3 fouls for most of the game. He actually started playing well around the same time the announcers were ripping on him for having a horrible game.

[SoCalwarrior]

He was put on a pedestal early by a bunch of talking heads.  He certainly proved them right in games against Duke, Pitt and a few others.  He's proved them wrong in the last three.  Both the hype and the bashing do not reflect where he is actually at in regards to his game.  He's a sophomore.  He'll get better.  We definitely need him to win.

[zener_diode]

McNeal picked up some cheap fouls early, but at least he was being aggressive and staying within the team concept.  James went away from being aggressive and driving and kicking and instead decided he was going to heat up, hit a bunch of NBA range threes, and single handedly win the game.

[DoubleMU0609]

Thank you SoCal for a level-headed assessment of James.  I think that regarding the ridiculous 3's is just him getting frustrated not being as effective driving through the 7' giants.  James (along with most of the team) can learn some patients.  I really think that's all he's missing.  Get a little bit more patient = better shot selection / higher fg percentage / more assists.

As SoCal said: "He's a soph.  He'll get better."

[thatman32]

James needs to play like a point guard and not like Allen Iverson.  Yet, Crean allows Dominic to play like an idiot.  We should have been ahead at the half as he really doesn't contribute anything offensively.  As for the rest of the game well I give up.

[muwarrior87]

well he has an A.I. sleeve under his top arm sleeve so that's probably rubbing off on him. I have to agree with rocky and socal, ppl that think they know what they are talking about keep saying he's the greatest and amazing, and then ripping him whenever he has an off game. He's played well some games and poorly in others. He's a sophomore, he has time to grow if he decides to stay. i agree that he needs to settle down and try to play more of the PG role since that's what he is but he's also an explosive player when he plays smart and frankly, i just want him to start thinking out on the court and that will bring back the play we saw against Duke and some of the big games he's had earlier this year.

[77ncaachamps]

Why did Wes Matthews only have 3 attempts and 2 points?

Why did McNeal get limited touches?

Why were the Georgetown Hoyas able to expand their lead multiple times?

Why did they have a few fastbreaks after MU turnovers?




Answer: Dominic James.

Love his energy, but there's no way this kid is going to the NBA. Can't shoot, makes ill-advised decisions, does not get his team under control or in scoring opportunities, and IS NOT A LEADER.

With about 5 minutes left, I can recall DAVEED pushing up the ball in the backcourt then slowing down. DJ, from the left wing, went over to him to get it but David went right and passed to Fitz.

DJ felt the taste of limelight and not needs to feel the piercing pain of a loss.

Eat the humble pie, DJ. And may it make you wiser than ever.

[ozmetal71]

Great post.  James has a lot of talent, but really needs a lot of work.

People who are still calling him a first-round pick have blue-and-gold glasses on.

I hope he pulls through, because when he plays well, we are very hard to beat.

[RawdogDX]

Answer: Dominic James.

Love his energy, but there's no way this kid is going to the NBA. Can't shoot, makes ill-advised decisions, does not get his team under control or in scoring opportunities, and IS NOT A LEADER.

the problem with that statement is that you are assuming that:
A: all 31 nba gm's will be thinking about what he can do now and not potential
B: That the teams will be drafting for now and not just picking up a back up or 3rd string pg who they will be giving time to develop.
C:  That the GM's will be focusing on the 6 or 7 bad games and not the ones where he demolishes the other team which hopefully there will be a few more of those in the tourny not to mention the fact that he will probably be extremely impressive in any work outs they run.

Seriously, you have to remember that there are people like Isaiah making draft picks.

[spartan3186]

Why were the Georgetown Hoyas able to expand their lead multiple times?

I think Jeff Green's threes had a lot to do with this. Everytime we closed the lead in the second half he hit another three

[muwarrior87]

Green killed us, seems like every time we got close to them, he'd hit a huge shot, plus, we didn't play that hot.

[Falkinator]

im sick of all this " o dominic is so overrated, terrible, useless" nonsense. Without him we wouldn't win more than 7 games in the big east.

[NavinRJohnson]

Answer: Dominic James.

Love his energy, but there's no way this kid is going to the NBA.

Care to make it interesting?

[patso]

He will be a good player in the NBA if he stays another year. If he goes now he will be like that great point guard from St John's Omar Cook who listened to much to people who did not care about him. l