A look at the prospects who hurt or did nothing for their stock with the way they played in round one of the tournament on Thursday. Josh McRoberts puts up career numbers in a shocking upset to VCU. Dominic James exits the tournament disappointed courtesy of Tom Izzo's Michigan State. Greg Oden takes care of business. And much much more.
Stock Neutral
Dominic James, 5-11, Sophomore, Point Guard, Marquette
18 points, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 6-16 FG, 4-10 3P, 2-2 FT
Jonathan Givony
Marquettes season is over after being completely exposed by a balanced team with far superior coaching, but its hard to say just how much of the blame for that should fall on the shoulders of their point guard, Dominic James. Tom Izzo drew up the perfect game plan to take advantage of all of his oppositions biggest flaws, and Marquette was unable to respond or make them pay for the way they were being defended.
Michigan State clogged up the paint and basically forced Marquette to jack up three pointers all game long, and the Golden Eagles responded by hitting only two shots from inside the arc the entire night. On the other end of the floor, Michigan State completely destroyed Marquette inside the paint, and Tom Crean did not even attempt to make any adjustments to his game plan to try and stop them. Considering all the above, the fact that James managed to score 18 of his teams 49 points was a minor accomplishment in itself. He clearly would have finished with a bit more than 2 assists if he had anyone on the wing who could knock down a wide-open jumper or a big man who could catch a simple pass off the pick and roll.
James shot-selection wasnt exactly stellar either, though. He clearly got frustrated at times and heaved up bad shots early in the shot-clock just like Tom Izzo wanted him to do. On other occasions he got too fancy with his dribble and tried to split double teams in wild fashion or drive into triple teams.
One thing that was stellar was the defense he played on Drew Neitzel. James showed his potential as a lock-down defender by not giving him an inch to breathe all night long, chasing him around screens, keeping the ball out of his hands, and forcing him into a poor performance by his standards. To Neitzels credit, he recognized the situation and let his teammates make plays for him, especially his frontcourt mates Marquise Gray and Raymar Morgan.
All in all, it would be foolish to deny that James needed a much better performance in order to boost his already faltering draft stock. With his season now over, hes got an extremely tough decision ahead of him. This scout has no doubt in his mind that hed be able to showcase his tremendous strengths much better if he had better personnel around him, but its not clear if NBA scouts feel the same way. James might very well have to return for his junior season and come back after having polished up his perimeter shooting and decision making skills.
Michigan State clogged up the paint and basically forced Marquette to jack up three pointers all game long, and the Golden Eagles responded by hitting only two shots from inside the arc the entire night. On the other end of the floor, Michigan State completely destroyed Marquette inside the paint, and Tom Crean did not even attempt to make any adjustments to his game plan to try and stop them. Considering all the above, the fact that James managed to score 18 of his teams 49 points was a minor accomplishment in itself. He clearly would have finished with a bit more than 2 assists if he had anyone on the wing who could knock down a wide-open jumper or a big man who could catch a simple pass off the pick and roll.
James shot-selection wasnt exactly stellar either, though. He clearly got frustrated at times and heaved up bad shots early in the shot-clock just like Tom Izzo wanted him to do. On other occasions he got too fancy with his dribble and tried to split double teams in wild fashion or drive into triple teams.
One thing that was stellar was the defense he played on Drew Neitzel. James showed his potential as a lock-down defender by not giving him an inch to breathe all night long, chasing him around screens, keeping the ball out of his hands, and forcing him into a poor performance by his standards. To Neitzels credit, he recognized the situation and let his teammates make plays for him, especially his frontcourt mates Marquise Gray and Raymar Morgan.
All in all, it would be foolish to deny that James needed a much better performance in order to boost his already faltering draft stock. With his season now over, hes got an extremely tough decision ahead of him. This scout has no doubt in his mind that hed be able to showcase his tremendous strengths much better if he had better personnel around him, but its not clear if NBA scouts feel the same way. James might very well have to return for his junior season and come back after having polished up his perimeter shooting and decision making skills.