FanHouse DominicJames

The NCAA tournament is just one day away, so FanHouse writers and editors got together to talk over each region. The Midwest Region got the ball rolling, followed by the East. The South looks like it could go to the top seeds, but what about the West? Here is the last installment of our NCAA FanHouse Roundtables.

Chris Burke: Unlike the other three regions, where it's the top seeds' bracket to lose, UConn may not have the same stranglehold over things due to Jerome Dyson's injury. The Huskies have lost two straight and are just 4-3 since Dyson hurt his knee, so they look, to me, like the most vulnerable of all the No. 1 seeds. It doesn't help that, after the first round, they may not have another easy game. The other six teams in the top-half of this bracket can be considered threats, from Washington right on down to Mississippi State and Northern Iowa.

Point guard Patrick Mills has been cleared to play in the WCC tournament which begins in Las Vegas on Sunday. (Don't ask why that conference chose Sin City of all places.) That's great news that not only greatly increases St. Mary's conference tournament chances, but also should impact the Gaels at-large bid hopes.

St. Mary's isn't in the tournament right now -- not according to any of the mock brackets out there. But should St. Mary's be given the benefit of the doubt in this instance? Should the tournament selection committee consider Mills' injury while figuring out the tournament resume of the Gaels? Uh, yeah.

And for that reason, St. Mary's should be given an at-large bid in the tournament.

Trent Johnson's questionable ejection from today's Stanford/Marquette game could have sunk Stanford's season, but the team's two best players simply wouldn't allow it to happen. The Brothers Lopez combined for 48 of Stanford's 82 points in their overtime win over Marquette, including Brook Lopez's difficult leaner with 1.3 seconds left that gave the Cardinal the win.

Referee Curtis Shaw's ejection of Johnson had a huge effect on this game, although it's difficult to say who was given the bigger edge. The Cardinal got a lot of calls in the second half of this game, which gave them 20 free throws (in comparison to three for Marquette) in the second half. The twins certainly force their fair share of fouls in any game, but this large disparity suggests that the referee's might have made some makeup calls after the break.

Then again, Trent Johnson might have made some better coaching decisions in this game than the ones by assistant Doug Oliver. With Stanford up six points with 11:18, Oliver sat both Brook and Robin Lopez for the next 4:18. When they returned, Marquette had a one-point lead. Now, the decision to take them out was probably a good one given that they seemed on the verge of picking up technical fouls (and Robin had already picked up one of them), but sitting them for so long turned the momentum back to the Golden Eagles. It's tempting to think that Johnson would have brought at least one of them back sooner.

Marquette will now be discussed as one of three pre-season favorites (along with Georgetown and Louisville) to win the Big East with Dominic James coming back for at least one more season. James came back without much hesitation after a great freshman year, only to see his game picked apart and his stock fall. His sophomore season did not show much progress in his game and his shooting remained very suspect.

Even after he declared, the NBA did not seem particularly interested. Dominic James only got to play in the Orlando Pre-Draft Camp as an alternate. In the camps and in workouts he struggled, and did not get many good reviews.

Despite that, James seemed to be inching closer to staying in the draft. Indicating that all it would take was a promise from a team in the second round. Then came the assessment from the NBA regarding underclassmen in the draft. It wasn't positive. Not that James would actually admit that it was his poor workouts, camp and the NBA assessment that sent him back to Marquette.

"I've known in my heart for a while now, after my workouts and stuff like that," he said. "I didn't feel like my game wasn't there; I just felt like I had a few things I needed to work on, and I didn't want to put my career in jeopardy by making a decision that wasn't right for me."

Right.

It wasn't about going undrafted and struggling in the NBDL after performances everyone else said were not very good. It was about his heart not really being there.

Every year, it's part of the debate of underclassmen and the NBA Draft. Not the discussion of should they go into the NBA draft this year or wait, but which players should have entered the draft the year before? They get lauded for returning for another year -- whether it's to "refine their game" or "unfinished business" -- and then get picked apart the following season.

Chris Taft of Pitt was a classic example. Considered a top-5 lottery pick because of his size and potential after a freshman season in 2004. He was an aggressive rebounder and defender, plus a nice scoring touch. Scouts considered him a potential Kevin Garnett-type power forward. He came back for a sophomore season, showing no growth to his game. His work ethic and motor came into question, as Pitt had a disappointing season. Declaring for the draft in 2005, his game was dissected and he slid to late in the 2nd round. A back injury in the summer league essentially ended his career.

(Brief digression: Duke big man Josh McRoberts seems well on his way to being that guy this season. Last year, he was a lottery pick. Now, the mock drafts are putting him somewhere in the mid-first round. By draft day, he could easily be in the second round come June.)

Sophomore guard, Dominic James from Marquette is learning about coming out a year late.

This week's Fanhouse House Meeting focuses on the most important players in college basketball to watch in the second half. In the Big East, the most important player to watch may well be Marquette's stud point guard Dominic James.

James is the leader of Marquette's triumverate of outstanding guards with Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. Marquette sits at second in the Big East, and has been the only team in the conference to beat Pitt. Marquette could be the more dangerous team coming from the Big East because of how well the guards play together and the defensive pressure they can create on teams.

The Golden Eagles are not just James, but he sets the tone. He makes things happen with his ability to penetrate, score and dish on offense. His defense and ability to pester, steal and prevent the pass inside are just as important. The downside to his game is that despite his threat on offense, he is not a particularly strong shooter. He is only a 32% 3-point shooter and 62% at the free throw line. In both, he can be incredibly streaky.

When Marquette got off to an 0-2 start, James stopped trying to go inside. He fell in love with the jump shot and especially the deep 3. He shot 1-15 from outside in those 3 games and 3-23 overall. He was shooting way too much from outside and forgot what he does best is drive and force defenses to collapse, foul or let him go one-on-one with a defender.

What makes James so important in the second half of the conference play and the upcoming tournaments, is not simply whether he can take over games. The important thing will be in the games where he isn't shooting well. Will he recognize that his touch isn't there and instead rely on his teammates? Use his ability to penetrate to create opportunities for the others, and redouble the effort on defense? If he does that, he will be the most important player for Marquette and possibly deep in March -- even if he isn't the player scoring.