Big scoring nights abound

I think its safe to say that Lamar's Mike James had a career night on Tuesday night against D-III Louisiana College.

He came off the bench ... and scored 52 points.

Seriously. 52 points. In just 28 minutes. Off the bench. Incredible, right?

James was 18-35 from the floor. He made 11 three pointers. In the first half, he had a stretch where he went for 15 straight points. In the second half, he did better, pouring in 24 consecutive points. Hey coach, maybe its time to put this kid in the starting lineup, eh?


The 52 points tied Roderic Hall of UT-San Antonio for the most points scored off the bench in the last 15 years. Hall accomplished the feat in 1997, the same year that Ed Gray of Cal scored 48 points in a game that he had played 28 or fewer minutes, the previous high in the last 15 years.

It was the most points scored in a game this season, surpassing Andrew Nicholson of St. Bonaventure, who had 44 points in a 4OT win against Ohio. Ironically, in that same game, DJ Cooper of Ohio went for 43 points.

You want more coincidence? Baylor's LaceDarius Dunn tied Cooper for the season's third highest scoring output by scoring 43 points in an 89-72 win over Morgan State last night. He went an impressive 10-18 from three in that game.

The craziest part of the night?

Neither of those two had the hottest hand. That award has to go to Virginia's Mustapha Farrakhan, who hit his first 11 shots -- eight of which came from three -- en route to 31 points as the 'Hoos rolled over Howard 84-63.

Whatever those guys were drinking, I'll take seven of them.

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The Verdict in is: LaceDarius Dunn to miss three games

If you were like us and away from a computer last night, you may have missed Baylor's announcement that their star guard LaceDarius Dunn would be suspended for three games.

He sat out the Bears' first exhibition and a scrimmage against Ohio State. He was in street clothes last night (along with point guard AJ Walton, who was suspended for a violation of team rules) as Baylor beat Grambling State 87-52.

Dunn averaged 19.6 ppg for Baylor's Elite 8 team last season and was picked by many to be a preseason all-american. He will be eligible to return November 22nd against Lipscomb.

This post can also be found at Beyond the Arc.

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LaceDarius Dunn is back in class

Its been a rough week for Baylor, but they got some huge news last night.

Their suspended star LaceDarius Dunn has been allowed to return to classest. He's not yet reinstated to the team, but if he is eventually, the chance to get back into class is important. He missed less than a week, meaning it will be quite possible for him to make up the work and prevent himself from becoming academically ineligible for the second semester.

No word yet on what his punishment will be from a basketball standpoint.

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LaceDarius Dunn suspended from campus

Another turn of the page in the LaceDarius Dunn saga.

As you know, Dunn turned himself into police on October 5th after a warrant was issued for his arrest stemming from a September 27th incident in which Dunn broke his the jaw of his girlfriend, Lacharlesia Edwards, by striking her in the face.

The accounts of that day have differed. Dunn hasn't released a statement, but his girlfriend's father said that what happened was an accident, while Edwards herself said the same. Her attorney also had a comment on the matter, saying that Dunn only punched her once, not three or four times.

The latest? Baylor announced yesterday that Dunn would be suspended from campus, including all classes, until the resolution of this case. Missing that much class time obviously won't be good for Dunn academically, but it is school policy to ban any student facing a felony charge.

To his credit, Bears head coach Scott Drew is preparing for the season as if Dunn will be playing:

"I'm not going to speculate on any of that because there's no reason to," said Drew, who was in Dallas to announce Baylor's inclusion in a December doubleheader at American Airlines Center, home of the Mavericks. "That's why we have a process set in place and we wait, and at that point, we'll see what happens."

In all likelihood, Dunn will end up playing this year, although he will undoubtedly face some kind of suspension. Four games is the guess I have seen most often.

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Baylor's all-american guard LaceDarius Dunn gets arrested for felonious aggravated assault

Earlier today, the Big XII released their preseason coaches poll, and there wasn't a huge surprise at the top -- Kansas State was picked first, with Kansas being picked second.

The surprise came next, as Texas was picked third by the coaches with Baylor coming in fourth. Most writers (including us) have Baylor as not only a top three team in the league, but a potential top ten team.

Maybe the coaches knew something we didn't, because not six hours after the poll was released, word came out of Waco that LaceDarius Dunn has been indefinitely suspended from the team. He turned himself into police this afternoon to face felony charges of aggravated assault. Police were called to Hillcrest Hospital after Dunn's girlfriend was taken to the hospital on September 27th with a broken jaw. Dunn has been booked into jail with a bond of $12,500.

LaceDarius Dunn turned himself into police after allegedly punching his girlfriend in the face.
(photo credit: Dallas News)

But here's the catch -- the woman, a 21 year old named Lacharlesia Edwards that has been dating Dunn since the eighth grade and had a three year old kid with him, doesn't want to press charges. In fact, according to Edwards' father, the incident was an accident:

"She said it was an accident," Charles Edwards told [Jeff Goodman of] FOXSports.com. "She said she sneaked up on him in the dark and he hit her by mistake. It wasn't a fight at all."

"She doesn't want to press charges or anything like that," he added. "She's torn up now that he's been arrested."

The woman's attorney told Yahoo's Jason King a different story, that she and Dunn got into an argument and that he hit her "one time" with "one punch, not three or four". It broke her jaw in two places, requiring minor surgery to fix.

Regardless of which story you want to believe, the one constant here is that the victim does not want to press charges, and was actually upset when she learned of Dunn's arrest. She refused to give police a statement at the hospital.

Dunn, if convicted of the felony, could face up to 20 years in prison. But a conviction would be tough without a witness, and Dunn may not even be formally charged.

"Even though he was arrested for a felony, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to be formally charged with a felony in the court system," [Edward's attorney] Jason Darling [told Jason King of Yahoo! Sports]. "[The victim] will probably fill out an affidavit of non-prosecution or write a letter to the D.A.'s office that she doesn't want to pursue any charges.

“At that point it will be up to them whether to pursue the charges or not, but it's going to be hard to prove a case without a witness."

Dunn has been suspended from all team activities by Baylor head coach Scott Drew until further notice. Dunn's importance to the Bears cannot be understated. He is a senior leader for this team, one of the best scorers in the country, and a surefire preseason all-american. Losing him would be a catastrophic blow to the 2010-2011 version of the Bears, and would put a whole lot of pressure on guys like Quincy Acy, AJ Walton, and super-frosh Perry Jones to perform beyond expectations if Baylor has any hope of making the tournament. It will be interesting to see what kind of punishment Dunn gets from Scott Drew.

The bigger issue, however, is the trend this summer of male college basketball players assaulting women. From Tre'Von Willis to Tony Woods, or the unnamed Michigan State players to the unnamed St. Louis players, it seems like every time we turn around there is another instance of a hooper hitting or raping a woman. And while seven players does no constitute a trend in a sport with nearly 350 teams, it absolutely is seven players too many.

While we wait to hear what Dunn's specific punishment from Drew will be (and it should be fairly hefty), how about we keep our to our hands to ourselves. Whaddaya say, fellas?
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