Back to school for James
Point guard withdraws name from NBA draft
By TODD ROSIAK
trosiak@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 17, 2007

The National Basketball Association draft has seen its share of underclassmen who ignored the advice of those in the know and turned pro, only to wind up going undrafted and losing their college eligibility, never to be heard from again.

One player who won't be joining that group is Marquette University's Dominic James, who announced Sunday that he was pulling his name out of the NBA draft pool and returning to the Golden Eagles for his junior season.

Although it's possible the 5-foot-11 point guard could have been drafted, it probably wouldn't have been until later in the second round because of his subpar performance at the NBA pre-draft camp earlier this month in Florida.

So instead James went with the sure thing, and he will now go about the business of trying to lead MU to a Big East championship and a third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

"My outlook is completely positive," James said. "I discussed it over with my family, and it's the best thing for me. I had an assessment from the GMs and scouts and all that, but I feel like the most important assessment was the assessment of myself.

"You've got to be honest with yourself throughout this entire process because it's my career. I feel like another year of college, or maybe even two, will set me up for the future."

Coach Tom Crean said James' decision was an example of the draft process for underclassmen working the way it's intended.

"You can go two ways on this," he said. "You can either fight the process that the NBA puts forth and take a lot of risk and put it in your own hands Or you can work with the process, have an open mind and have as clear an understanding as you can about what it takes.

"In this case with Dominic, he definitely trusted the process and allowed it to take its course. He got the information throughout it that gave him the best chance to make the best possible decision."

James, who left the door open for a possible return to MU by not hiring an agent, had until 4 p.m. Sunday to withdraw his name from the draft pool.

"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."

The final factor in James' decision was probably the conversation he had Wednesday with NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson, who oversees the league's underclassmen committee that advises players about their chances of being drafted.

"That's their job, to be honest with the players," James said. "That's why it's such a great league, because they look out for the best interests of the players that are trying to be a part of it. They tell players what they need to get better at, and a fair assessment of their game, and that's what they gave me.

"I don't look at it in a bad way, I just look at it as a chance to get better. That's what my whole life has been, taking some type of adversity and turning it into a positive."

James' return figures to be a positive for MU.

The Golden Eagles will return eight of their top nine players from last season, including their entire starting five.

Taking that into consideration, they're likely to be ranked among the top 15 teams in the country in pre-season polls.

But, more importantly, they'll be in position to challenge Georgetown and Louisville for Big East superiority. They'll also be in position to get past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.

"With Dominic this year, as with all of (the players), our focus this year is not going to be on the next level," Crean said. "It's going to be winning games and getting to a point where we can take our team into March and be successful."

James' return will also require a roster change; MU's incoming four-man recruiting class, plus James, leaves the team one above the NCAA-mandated scholarship limit of 13.

"Right now we've got to get through the first session of summer school and our eligibility situations for our incoming freshmen," Crean said. "We'll get through that, I'd say, over the next couple of weeks, and we'll have a much better indication of what our roster's going to be next year."

James also said he intended to accept an invitation to USA Basketball's Pan-Am Games team trials, held July 12-14.