Howard v James

[Afroman]

Who would you say was better as a freshman, Markus Howard or Dominic James?
After his freshman season, I thought that DJ was destined for the NBA, but he ended up taking a backseat to Matthews and McNeal.

[Galway Eagle]

I'm only working with second hand accounts of James' freshman year but my understanding was that he was pretty one dimensional. Similar to Cheatham last year where he looked great as a freshman but because everyone focused on Novak he was able to capitalize on that.

[Goose]

James was an excellent talent and athlete. Too early to make conclusions, but it looks like Howard has big time basketball IQ. Howard also flat out knows how to put the ball in the basket.

[MerrittsMustache]

James.

Howard is a MUCH better shooter but DJ was a better overall player at this point, taking into consideration ball-handling, defense, rebounding and creating. DJ was 2nd on the team in scoring, steals and rebounding (!), in addition to leading the team in assists. Howard has the potential to be an all-time great MU point guard but DJ was better as a frosh.

[Nukem2]

As a frosh, DJ was simply a superior defender.  Hard to see Markus being a better defender when he is a senior as DJ was a lock down defender as a senior.  Markus obviously has a huge edge offensively.

[mu03eng]

James.

Howard is a MUCH better shooter but DJ was a better overall player at this point, taking into consideration ball-handling, defense, rebounding and creating. DJ was 2nd on the team in scoring, steals and rebounding (!), in addition to leading the team in assists. Howard has the potential to be an all-time great MU point guard but DJ was better as a frosh.

Results were better, but I don't know that DJ was necessarily better for sure. Senior year Novak has no comparison on this team, other than maybe Howard himself from a scoring and spread the floor standpoint. JjJ is probably a better play on offense then Jerel but worse on defense. Haanif is probably slightly better than Wes but worse than Joe Chapman. Barro is probably a wash with Luke and Hauser/Katin are a step above Amo/Fitz.

So with a better team, DJ outperformed Howard. I have no way to prove this, but if you flipped Howard and DJ, the 06 is amazing offensively and struggles some defensively while the 16 team gets better defensively but is probably considerably worse offensively.

[Silkk the Shaka]

The real question is who was a better 17 year old?

Markus 2 NBA

[4everwarriors]

James couldn't fill Howard's Bike, ai na?

[tower912]

Howard is a far better shooter.  James was more athletic, a better defender.  Glad both came to MU.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Agree, 
Dominc James was an absolutely amazing athlete that played basketball and could overwhelm others with his athleticism. 

Marcus is supremely skilled and is athletic, yet no where near as athletic as DJ.

Combine the two n you get a guy like Russell Westbrook

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

At this point we have to assume that teams are scouting & actively trying to stop Howard right?  We dont really have a 'star' outside of him on the team.  That makes me feel like he may be better at this point - hanging 22 on a team we already played once is a pretty strong result (i.e. they knew what was coming and still couldn't stop him).

[MU82]

James is 30 and hasn't played competitive basketball for 3+ years. I think Markus is better now.

[Dr. Blackheart]

James is 30 and hasn't played competitive basketball for 3+ years. I think Markus is better now.

Dom cutting it up in Qatar

http://basketball.asia-basket.com/team/Qatar/El-Jaysh-Army-SC-Doha/6038

[MU82]

Dom cutting it up in Qatar

http://basketball.asia-basket.com/team/Qatar/El-Jaysh-Army-SC-Doha/6038

Thanks Dr. B. I somehow missed that. The last thing I had read was that he had given up hoops to be some kind of balloon entrepreneur.

[WarriorFan]

I was checking same.  DJ Frosh stats:  15.3 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 reb, 1.6 stl.  He was better as a frosh... more complete.  But, because he got to the hole so easily, no-one realized until much later that he couldn't shoot, and his shot was fundamentally flawed in many ways.  Howard has a higher ceiling, because he can shoot. 

[TedBaxter]

Steve Novak doesn't have the senior year he had without Dominic James.

A former Marquette player who's been around the program for 64 years told me Dominic James is the best on ball defender he's ever seen at Marquette and the when you add in his assists and top 5 scoring, one of MU's best ever.

[Goose]

James was the best on ball defender I have ever seen at MU. Watching him play D was extremely enjoyable and much appreciated by this fan. He really was the definition of lock down D and that is my favorite kind of D.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Yup, Dom could do more things simply because he was a freakish athlete with unreal hops.  Earlier in the year when the discussion was about MU's porous defense, someone reposted the youtube of Dom going up and stuffing a 6'8" PF at the rim.  Amazing. (Ah, here it is, about 25 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6aVbxKf1WM)

But although he was a scorer, he was a poor shooter and a really poor FT shooter.  But when he focused more on being a defender and distributor MU thrived.  His broken foot senior year derailed a team that had a real chance to make a run at the Final Four.

All that said, the early returns suggest to me that Markus has the potential to be better overall.  You just can't teach his shooting ability (just as you couldn't teach Dom's athletic ability), and he seems to have a fantastic BB IQ.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Steve Novak doesn't have the senior year he had without Dominic James.

A former Marquette player who's been around the program for 64 years told me Dominic James is the best on ball defender he's ever seen at Marquette and the when you add in his assists and top 5 scoring, one of MU's best ever.

Agree... DJ was actually phenomenal at eveything but his jumpshot.  His on ball desfense was a work of art.  His combination of strength and quickness and his ability to drive was almost superhuman.  Possibly the best athlete to ever play at MU

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Dom cutting it up in Qatar

http://basketball.asia-basket.com/team/Qatar/El-Jaysh-Army-SC-Doha/6038

Give that man a Pullon!

[tower912]

Ironically, the last shot James made before he hurt his foot was a perfect-form, nothing-but-net 3.   

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

And DJ was by no means a bad offensive player. Crean screwed eveything up his sophomore year by playing him more off the ball andattempting to make him the primary scoring option.  Started taking way to many shots as creans sets were for dj shots n he was forced into taking shots that didnt fit his skill set. He struggled n fans started in on him.  Was creans fault.  When he got back to his strengths , thanks Buzz.  Uneducated fans began to think he was pretty good again

[LAZER]

Howard

[dw3dw3dw3]

James had super human ability to defend. I know we are talking freshman year, but by his senior year it was a tough process just to get the ball past half court with James defending. I've never seen anything like it before or since then.  Always thought he should have gotten the Tyron Lue shot at playing in the league.

Howard seems to be very good to excellent at most skills, but James's defense was all-world if there was such a thing and it completely changed the game. Howard's overall impact might trump James's impact eventually, but has to lead this team to NCAAs to start in my mind, winning matters. I don't care how different the supporting casts were.

[jsglow]

Howard has a better offensive game.  Dom had the better overall game. Both are/were top tier MU PGs.