Dominic James—Lottery Pick To D-League?

The big three (small three? All three are guards) for the Marquette Golden Eagles have all been vital this season as Marquette jumped out to 20-2 start and atop the Big East standings. The three, all seniors, are Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews. And while all three players have had solid seasons, one player is still not playing up to his full potential and it has hurt Marquette as they dropped two straight Big East games. I bet all you smart readers out there can guess which of the three players has stumbled—hint: look at the headline. So while McNeal and Matthews have stepped up in their senior years, James looks lost at times—mostly when he loses his dribble, decides to try a mid-air pass to no one, or just shooting the ball in general. His leadership will be needed more than ever if Marquette is to press for a Big East title and a run in the NCAA tournament.

I consider Jerel McNeal the best of the three players. He is the most all-around player who won Big East Defensive Player of the Year honor in the 2006-2007 season. His offense has drastically improved as his scoring went from 11 points per game as a freshman to 20 per game as a senior. One stat that jumps off the page is his .472 three-point field goal percentage. Pair the defense with the lethal deep threat, and McNeal is NBA ready.

Wesley Matthews was sort of a late bloomer. He was highly recruited and surprised many when he chose Marquette over Wisconsin. His 11.3 points per game as a junior were okay, but his 18.9 points per game as a senior have been a huge lift to a team in need of another go-to guy. He has especially come up big in the second half of games when Marquette needs him most. He always finds a way to get to the free throw line where his 175 free throw attempts rank 9th in the country.

So McNeal and Matthews have put up great numbers. Can the same be said for Dominic James? It can be argued that he is playing better than years past, but that doesn’t mean that he is playing well. James sprang onto the scene with an incredible freshman season of 15.3 points per game and 5.4 assists per game. He was contemplating the NBA draft. That dream slowly faded as his production has dropped every year since his freshman year. His points per game dropped (every year’s points per game were worse than his previous year) to 11.7 points per game his senior year. His sporadic shooting was supposed to improve from his freshman year. That hasn’t happened yet. The stat that jumps out for him is his free throw percentage. A career .652 free throw shooter entering his senior year wasn’t great—a guard shooting 65% from the line is never great. Boy would Marquette fans give anything to have that number back. James is shooting an astonishing 45% from the free throw line! Hell, Shaq’s career free throw percentage is 7% higher than that. And to top it all off, James is shooting just over 27% from the three-point line. Those numbers aren’t going to get anybody into the NBA, let alone the national title game.

One key to Marquette’s season and tournament run will be on Dominic James’ shoulders. And Dominic needs to prove that he can play in small as well as big games. At South Florida, (2-7 in conference play heading into the Marquette game) James was 0 for 2 from the free throw line (not a surprise) and 1 for 9 from three in a loss. What is James doing shooting 9 three pointers in the first place? James needs to understand that he needs to be a ball distributor and third option to McNeal and Matthews. He also needs to work harder than ever on his free throw shooting. Look at how important free throw shooting is. We should have been talking about the 2008 National Champion Memphis team who instead blew the game at the line and lost. James cannot have the same thing happen if Marquette wants to win and it starts with the fundamentals.

So while Marquette is enjoying a great season, it should look to shore up some weaknesses before heading into the Big East Tournament. James’ free throw shooting (and three-point shooting for that matter) is a major weakness that needs to be fixed if Marquette wants to be a contender instead of a pretender. If James can improve his shooting, Marquette could find themselves in a deep tournament run down the road.