April 16, 2008

Milwaukee, WI (UWIRE) -- Only after it seemed as though everyone around him was abandoning the Marquette men's basketball program did Dominic James feel certain that returning for his senior season was the best option for all involved.

Frustration filled large chunks of the past year for the player who has been the Golden Eagles' marquee attraction for the past three seasons. He pulled out of last summer's NBA Draft after receiving feedback that his shot selection and field goal percentage left something to be desired.

He played through an injury-plagued season in which his field goal percentage rose (38.4 percent in 2006-'07; 39.8 percent in 2007-'08) but not to the level it was during his freshman year (43.1 percent).

His team lost in overtime to Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Shortly after the season, his coach - the one who was known for helping his players' NBA dreams come true - bolted town for a locale roughly 325 miles south of Milwaukee.

And then there was the silence. For one very long week following Tom Crean's departure, James said he and his teammates did not hear from a single Marquette coach. Crean was busy holding up self-aggrandizing t-shirts in front of the cameras as he was being introduced as the new head coach at Indiana. The assistant coaches remained absent, as well.

"We hadn't heard from any of the coaching staff from after the point when coach decided to leave," James said Monday after a team workout. "We really didn't know what was going on, who was being hired, who was being interviewed. We was kinda kept out of the loop, if I must say."

James, who had done his best to keep an open mind throughout it all, longed to find someone else who shared his mindset, someone else who saw the foundation of the Marquette men's basketball program shaking, someone else who had both the desire and the ability to provide stability.

"After Coach Buzz was announced, I felt really good about coming back and I almost made my decision right there," James said. "He's the one coach that decided to stay. The rest of the assistant coaches, they all went to Indiana. Right from the start, I had a lot of respect for him for wanting to prolong his career at Marquette."

Assistant Athletics Director Scott Kuykendall confirmed that Tim Buckley, Jason Rabedeaux and Bennie Seltzer - all assistants on Crean's staff during the 2007-'08 season - are no longer employed at Marquette. Indiana Director of Media Relations J.D. Campbell said no one has been hired to Crean's coaching staff as of yet, but he hoped that an announcement would be made by the end of the week.

Even with all that has gone on in the past year, James said he never regretted his decision to return to Marquette for his junior year. He said he's at a point in his life where he feels it's time to give back to the people who have sacrificed their entire lives to help him succeed, and he knows he's never going to receive a paycheck while playing college basketball.

But James also knows that if he can improve his game during the coming year, his potential future NBA career - and subsequent paychecks - will be greatly enhanced.

Thursday night, James announced at the team's year-end banquet that he will return for his senior season.

"A lot of people decided to leave, but I didn't want to leave this program like this," James said. "I feel like I've got a lot to prove to myself and to my teammates."

(C) 2008 The Marquette Tribune via UWIRE