By Robert Fafinski III and Joe Beres

Following this afternoon’s press conference about Marquette’s reaction to the departure of nine-year Head Coach Tom Crean, Warrior reporters spoke with Lazar Hayward and Dominic James, both of whom expressed residual troubles surrounding Crean’s departure on April 1.

“It hurts when the team is losing its leader,” James said in the Al McGuire Center lobby. “But we have to move on.”

Hayward said the difficulties he was having stemmed from the fact that the team seemed to be gelling and falling into place as one of the top five teams in the Big East.

“It’s tough to deal with, especially when we played so well last year,” Hayward said.

In terms of the team’s future, Hayward said his goals have not changed.

“It’s the same goals as last year,” Hayward said. “I’m always trying to get better and improve. No matter what happens I’m always working to improve on last year.”

James, though, went one step further.

“It increases goals,” James said.

When asked whether or not Crean’s departure would affect his decision to leave Marquette early for the NBA draft, James indicated that it would.

“It’s definitely a factor, but it is going to take time. I need to talk to my teammates before I make a decision,” James said. “It’s going to take time.”

But to further muddy the waters about his already clouded future at Marquette, James seemed to signal that reprisal was in the front of his mind.

“It increases goals.” James went on, “If someone leaves us, we just want to rub it in.”

In spite of recruits asking for release from their obligations to Marquette and rumors surrounding any future coach – names that include Tony Bennett of Washington State, Bobby Knight formerly of Army, Indiana and Texas Tech, Bruce Weber of Illinois and Sean Miller of Xavier – Hayward’s criteria for a future coach is simple:

“We want someone who’s a hard-worker, allows us to play freely and loves winning,” said Hayward.

Photo Credit: Mike Rudzinski

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