Dominic James

Today was the first day of class for sports and society, and already we touched on Marquette Basketball. I am hoping we focus on MU basketball or atleast college basketball the entire semester, since we all know that it is the most important, exciting, and enlightening sport of all. One topic today was on Dominic James. More specifically the question was asked, "Why is James such a poor free-throw shooter." Being the fanatic I am, I had to calm myself before I shot out the first thing to come to mind. Luckily for me some other fool had spoken before he thought and the teacher simply ignored his response. Dr. Jones explanation was very interesting, which is why I wanted to share it will all of you. He explained the reason James was such a poor free-throw shooter was due to him leaning back before each shot. We can all picture this in our heads, as James does this every time. James also flicks his wrist more than most on his free-throws which causes inconsistent spin on the ball after each attempt. The professor went on further asking why do you think James leans before each shot? I think the biggest reason is due to his shorter height on the court. Any shot he takes while being defended he will have to create some room between him and the defender, so he almost has to lean to get an open shot. But, this should not be part of his form during a free throw. Another reason can be due to the more agrresive play on the playgrounds in which James grew up? I think we would all agree that playing defense was not the most important part of the pick up games we were part of growing up. It was more about the offense and more specifically the shooting( remeber white men can't jump, but they can shoot damn well...thank you Travis and Steve). I strongly hope Prof. Jones speaks with Crean and explains to him the bad habits James has picked up from his childhood such as leaning back before each free-throw, a shot that is the only guaranteed un-defended shot during the game. There is no reason for him to lean back as to be moving away from a defender. All in all, I think Dr. Jones gave a pretty interesting explanation as to why James is not the best of free-throw shooters. Let's go Marquette!