I would like to know how many people honestly agree with this statement...

[Harrison]

posted by 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.

I mean are you serious. 
Did Dj force Jerel to fight over  as creen with 2 fouls and ten minutes in the first half?  Did he force him to try to block hibbert's shot with1 foul already with 15 to go int he 1st. Jerel had a poor game becuase he only played about 20 mins! and made poor decisions
Did he cause Fitz to hesitate again?  Including one time that caused a shot clock violation when Crean was screaming " Dan, you have to shoot that."
  Did he cause Wesley to have zero rebounds and play terribly. did he force cubes to shoot 1 for 8?
My God enough about him having  bad game now he is to blame for everyone else havin a bad game.

[The Lens]

Do you know how many times I have yelled "noooooo" as DJ has hoisted a 3 only to have him sink it?

A lot!

Fact is we have to deal with the kid all the time.  Sometimes its great, other times not so much. But if you're willing to take his West Va & UConn games you have to take these.

Plus...do you think that maybe Jerel's 3 1st half fouls and WesMat's Flu contributed to it? 

Ooze and Lazar got touches, and not just put backs.

[jutaw22mu]

Good point.

We win as a team.  We lose as a team.  It's that simple.  It's unfair to hold any one player responsible for the outcome of today's game.

You know who I blame?  I blame Georgetown, Hibbert, Green, JTIII for our loss today.  They made all the right moves and Hibbert in particular was a dominating force that we as a team could not defend.

[muwarrior87]

completely disagree with that...we win as a team and lose as a team...DJ has thrown up some prayers that have gone in, he either has the luck or doesn't...completely disagree with 77ncaachamps

almost never can you blame the faults of an entire team on one person.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

posted by 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.

I mean are you serious. 
Did Dj force Jerel to fight over  as creen with 2 fouls and ten minutes in the first half?  Did he force him to try to block hibbert's shot with1 foul already with 15 to go int he 1st. Jerel had a poor game becuase he only played about 20 mins! and made poor decisions
Did he cause Fitz to hesitate again?  Including one time that caused a shot clock violation when Crean was screaming " Dan, you have to shoot that."
  Did he cause Wesley to have zero rebounds and play terribly. did he force cubes to shoot 1 for 8?
My God enough about him having  bad game now he is to blame for everyone else havin a bad game.

Of course it's a ridiculous suggestion. But for whatever reason, James has obviously become somewhat of a whipping-boy for Marquette fans. I guess I tend to fall into that camp as well. I think what is frustrating is that James seems to be such a phenomenal athlete that people expect greatness game after game. Unfortunately, his ability as a basketball player is not as refined as his athletic ability. This is what is frustrating to the naked eye, but God knows he's trying his heart out.

It is just frustrating to watch and is probably magnified by the fact that it appears Marquette has got a PR machine pumping out accolades for James 24 hours a day. I believe Rosiak mentioned he was soon going to be featured in a magazine piece in ESPN Magazine. Much like the College Game Day situation, this stuff doesn't happen by accident. It's generated by Crean and our sports information department. Is this kind of attention warranted given the performances Marquette fans have seen for much of the season? I, for one, don't think so. I tend to think people who watch Marquette every game agree and that's where the frustration has built. Just a theory.

I think James is a fine player. I just don't think he's clearly the best player on the team. I think what is causing a bit of a problem is that James believes he is far and away better than anybody else and thinks that it is his responsibility to do things that he's just plain not capable of doing...like shooting!

DJ should be a pass-first point guard and he, and the coaching staff, seem unwilling to go that route, for whatever reason.

[NotAnAlum]

First of all we were underdogs so we more likely than not to lose.

Our most talented player is DJ.  He knows it and the team knows it.  He has NBA level talent.

Marquette is not a top 20 team without him.

To beat a top 25 team in their own gym we need our best players to play at the top of their potential.  DJ did not and so we lost.  Had he put on the kind of show he did against Duke at the 6 minute mark we probably would have won.  Against Duke (a team at least as tough as G-town) he was unstoppable.

DJ has been in kind of a funk for the last 3 games.  He knows it and the team knows it.  I have no desire to bench him or disparage him in any way.  All we can hope is that he gets his game back by March.  

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I completely disagree that we are not a top 25 team without him. I believe next year, with Acker running the show, we'll be just as good. And a "funk" may have lasted for the last three games, but he's been less than impressive in many more than that.

[tower912]

G-town is good and rolling.   We were in the game with 5 minutes left.   They made a run that we didn't answer.   None of our sophomore guards played worth a crap.  They ALLLLLL needed to play better to beat the Hoyas in DC.  It didn't happen and we had an eight game winning streak ended and lost a conference road game.    Let it go.   An ounce of perspective, please.

[Harrison]

well said tower...why not the multitude of posts diparaging the absolutely pathetic perfomance by wesley matthews or the stupid decisions and poor performance of Jerel.  For what ever reason when Dj plays well it is expected and when he does not he is the curse of the Mu nation and the seed of everything bad with Mu basketball.  man what aload of crap and totally unfair to the kid.  he is a sophomore in colleg and is still prone to having bad games.  ha she ever siad he was going pro?  yet because Mu is having a solid year and their is specualtion he may test the waters people expect him to play like a pro every night.  He is not a pro.  He is a sophomore who will only get better.   Part of me almost wishes he had not just completely dominated so many games the last two years and carried us to vitory becuase now for whatever reason it is expected every game with no responsibilty on any of the other 11 player or the coaching staff.  Completely unfair  Mu does not make the tourney last year and is not ranked this year without him...is that what you dolts would rather have?  or I get it you want NBA like performances from him every night?  Rutgers game he did not shhot and distributed 7 assists and No to's.  today without Jerel and wesley he tried to score more and got ripped just the same.  So what is it you people want or will he jsut get ripped unless he scores 30 ithout a miss and still gets everyone involved without a TO.  Just an unbelievably embarrassing treatment of an outstanding player who has done nothing but bust his ass in an effort to win by the so called fans of his team.  You folks are an emabrrassment to the university.

[77ncaachamps]

I have read all of the above statements and see your points.

I did not know Wes had the flu hence affecting his performance.
I knew Jerel's limited touches were directly affected by his foul trouble.
I also know how important DJ is to this team.

But DJ has been struggling (he needs to acknowledge that) and needs to be the PG that distributes the ball and makes plays happen...not for himself but for the team. This concept of "win as a team, lose as a team" is clearly evident in Crean's teachings and tutelage of his players. That is undeniable.

However, if DJ continues to hoist up shots and not make the important passes, he's not giving his TEAM the opportunity to win the game.

If you're going to hog the shots, you deserve the critical treatment. Is that unfair? I leave that to you to decide.

What really gets me right now is that I feel we need a PG, a distributor...not a SG.

[ozmetal71]

Criticizing a player who is 5-35 in his past three games and his horrible shot selection that has hurt the offense is not an embarassment to the university.

Try and disagree with people for once without acting like a two year-old.

These players are given a free education to play basketball, and I think we have the right to expect them to play well.

Matthews had the flu, and McNeal was bad today as well, but McNeal recovered to score 11 points and played well in parts of the second half. 

[77ncaachamps]

What I just posted above is echoed by DJ in Rosiak's blog:

"I just have to get back to doing the things that I'm accustomed to - give my teammates good looks at shots, not worry about my own shots," he said. "My shot selection today probably looked very poor and that probably just comes from not getting my teammates involved enough."

I hope he takes those words to heart...

[CTWarrior]

DJ is our PG and has the ball more than any other player.  When his decision making is as brutal as it was yesterday, it jumps out at you and is an obvious point when discussing the game.  So I don't think people have been overly hard on DJ.  It's true Matthews and McNeal played poorly for the most part as well, but they didn't miss 15 shots.  DJ is a fine player going through a rough patch.  I think he'll turn it around.  He better, because we're not going to stop playing him.

I like what DJ and Crean had to say in Rosiak's blog, so DJ's probably going to be harder on himself than any of us are, anyway.

[Harrison]

I will agree his shot sulection was not at it's best.  i think much of that had to do with Wesley and jerel not being on the court and he had to attempt to score more for his team.  Did he miss Shots YEs!  Did he at times force things, absolutely!  i think again much of that had to do with Wes and Jerel not being there.  I do not have a propblem acknowledging he had a poor game in many areas yesterday. 
Where I do have a problem is people ripping on him for the Gt game where "he shot to much and was selfish"  are the exact same people that ripped him after the 20!!! point win against Rutgers for not shooting enough and not taking over despite having 7 assists and 0 turnovers. 
that is my point people like ozmetal are going to rip him to shreds no matter what he does...that's pretty sad.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Do you know how many times I have yelled "noooooo" as DJ has hoisted a 3 only to have him sink it?

A lot!

Fact is we have to deal with the kid all the time.  Sometimes its great, other times not so much. But if you're willing to take his West Va & UConn games you have to take these.

This is a great point. I remember Deiner shooting a TON of pull-up 3pointers without passing the ball or setting up the offfense. I HATED that, but he made a lot of them and obviously the coaching staff was ok with that play. I became accustomed to it, and realized that while it wasn't my favorite play, it was a good shot for him to be taking.

Now, I'm not comparing DJ's shooting ability to Travis' (obviously they aren't even close), but I am saying that DJ is the best player on the team and a team leader. I don't think we need to live and die with 2-17, but I think we do need to live with the fact that he is a streaky shooter.

Tough to cheer a guy for "having the guts" to take over the valpo game, but then blast him for trying to do the same against Georgetown.

There is a fine line between "guts" and "stupidity" sometimes, but remember: these are still college sophs, not 11 year NBA veterans. They aren't always going to make the right play.

G-Town is good, its a conference road loss. It happens.

[CTWarrior]

Sure, every once in a while when DJ takes a shot and I think or yell "Noooo" it goes in.  But he doesn't shoot 20% on those bad shots.  Out of 17 shots he took yesterday, at least 12 were of the "20% will go in at best" category.   He's not a great shooter, but the bigger problem is the shots that he takes that NOBODY would make a high enough percentage of to make them worthwhile shots.  The flat footed afterthought threes in no rhythm, the one on three fade away jumpers over a 7 footer, the get in the air and see what I can come up with twisting jumpers.  He's got to cut down significantly on those kinds of shots. 

I like his pull up jumper from 10 feet or so.  That is a very tough shot to defend.  I like his ability to drive and find the open man or finish if they lay off for the pass.  I'm even OK with three pointers he takes in rhythm off a feed from a penetrator.

[77ncaachamps]

Sure, every once in a while when DJ takes a shot and I think or yell "Noooo" it goes in.  But he doesn't shoot 20% on those bad shots.  Out of 17 shots he took yesterday, at least 12 were of the "20% will go in at best" category.   He's not a great shooter, but the bigger problem is the shots that he takes that NOBODY would make a high enough percentage of to make them worthwhile shots.  The flat footed afterthought threes in no rhythm, the one on three fade away jumpers over a 7 footer, the get in the air and see what I can come up with twisting jumpers.  He's got to cut down significantly on those kinds of shots. 

I like his pull up jumper from 10 feet or so.  That is a very tough shot to defend.  I like his ability to drive and find the open man or finish if they lay off for the pass.  I'm even OK with three pointers he takes in rhythm off a feed from a penetrator.

I second that.