Marquette's James out for the year

[Cincypunk.org]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3935112

A sad way to end a great college career. I feel bad for the guy... Marquette ended up losing the game too. Their next 3 are against Pitt, U of L, and Syracuse, which is kind of brutal and could have them on a 4 game losing streak heading into the conference tourney.

Anyways, you hate to see a player's college career end because of an injury.

[Frank D.]

My brother graduated from Marquette so I am a fan of the school and the program. And I feel sick about this. Imagine being James (or even McNeal or Mathews for that matter) and sticking around for 4 years, with all you have accomplished, the team having by far their best season together after having lost your coach and the guy that recruited you before the season . . . and then for this to happen.

And you're right, Cincypunk. James wasn't their best player (McNeal and Mathews were having much better years), but now with the brutal schedule they have the rest of the way, if they do struggle down the stretch, they're seeding for the tournament is going to plummet. Unfortunately, the committee will look at the fact James won't be there and they will be punished for it.

[MD Muskie]

I think they went from a possible deep run in the NCAA tournament to possibly having trouble getting out of the first weekend. Of course that it all depends on how they finish out the regular season.

[Cheesehead]

Sucks! I grew up a Marquette fan and still follow them quite a bit. James was really starting to run that team well and accepted not being the big gun this year. Great move by Bo, BTW. Acker is not the answer for them but he will have to do I guess. I think they might want to move Matthews to point and bring in Barros/Burke for a bigger body.

They will not be the same team.

[The Artist]

While the James loss does hurt big time, I think with Marquette it comes down to one thing:

They shoot so many jump shots - if they hit them, they'll be tough to beat. If they don't hit them, they'll have a tough time winning.

[XU05and07]

Video from the game last night didn't show anything specific to the injury...he's playing defense and all of a sudden grabs his foot...freakish injury

feel bad for the kid from Richmond, IN

[Frank D.]

While the James loss does hurt big time, I think with Marquette it comes down to one thing:

They shoot so many jump shots - if they hit them, they'll be tough to beat. If they don't hit them, they'll have a tough time winning.

I think this is true to an extent, but without James (who this year became a much better distributor) they are going to have fewer open looks.

[dc_x]

I think this is true to an extent, but without James (who this year became a much better distributor) they are going to have fewer open looks.

Exactly right. McNeal and Mathews get most of the credit because they score more points, but James is the one who creates open looks for those guys. It's a huge loss.