Ego Bruised, Dominic James Returns to Marquette

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.