James Thues thought about it, decided against it and then thought about it again. Now, a year later, he’s finally going to do it.

Thues, Syracuse’s starting point guard last season, will transfer to Detroit Mercy, a Division-I school in his hometown. He considered transferring closer to home after the 2000-01 season before deciding to remain at Syracuse, Thues said.

“I’m 100 percent sure that Detroit’s where I’m going to go,” Thues said last night. “That’s where I want to end my college career, and the paperwork will be finished by the end of the week.”

Thues, a sophomore, has already been released to talk with other schools, Syracuse Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel said. That release required the consent of head basketball coach Jim Boeheim.

A coach with knowledge of the situation said Detroit Mercy had not yet received permission to contact Thues but was expecting it in the very near future.

The release, referred to as “a permission to contact,” is essentially all Thues needs to complete a transfer.

“In a sense, once he has been given permission to contact, that is really all he would need,” said Robert Mathner, SU’s Director of Compliance. “Basketball players only need the permission to contact. Unless that’s a blanket release, it’s usually specific to a school.”

That worked fine for Thues since he only wanted to contact one place.

Detroit Mercy head coach Perry Watson has kept tabs on Thues for years. Watson coached at Detroit Southwestern High School before moving to an assistant coaching position at Michigan in the early 1990s.

In part because of his strong high school ties, Watson watched carefully as Thues earned first-team all-metro honors at Detroit’s Martin Luther King High, said Benny White, Thues’ high school coach.

Plus, under Watson, Detroit Mercy is succeeding. The Titans, who compete in the Horizon League, finished last season with an 18-12 record and a first-round loss in the NIT. In 1998 and ‘99, Watson took Detroit Mercy to the NCAA Tournament.

But mostly, Thues desires to move closer to home.

“James just wants to come back home,” White said. “As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he is a family-committed, mama’s-boy type of person.”

“I just thought about it after the season and made up my mind then,” Thues said. “After a couple weeks went by, I was just thinking, and I just knew that I wanted to be closer to home. That’s all it’s about.”

What it’s not about, Thues said, is the two highly-regarded freshmen point guards who will come to Syracuse next year.

Thues — who averaged 5.6 points and five assists while playing 31 minutes per game last season — denied that the expected arrival of Billy Edelin and Gerry McNamara influenced his decision. Both Edelin and McNamara would have competed with Thues for the starting job.

Though Thues finished the year third in the Big East with an assist-to-turnover ratio just over two-to-one and tied Syracuse’s single-season steals record with 101, some think his starting spot may have been in jeopardy.

“I think that the guys coming in weighed into the decision,” White said. “I don’t think it was the biggest factor, but something like that does sit in your mind when you’re not sure how much you are going to play for the team.”

Next year, Thues won’t play for any team. NCAA rules require him to sit out next season. He’ll have two years of eligibility left at the start of the 2003-04 season.

He’ll finish the school year at Syracuse and then go home at the start of the summer, Thues said.

“It’s going to be tough to sit out next year, but by me being home, there are a lot of places that I could go to work out around the gyms,” Thues said. “It’s not an easy decision, but it’s over.”

Syracuse players and coaches made the choice a little easier, Thues said. The coaching staff, particularly Bernie Fine, supported Thues in his decision. Center Jeremy McNeil, who considered transferring closer to his home in San Antonio earlier this year, shared his experiences and gave advice, Thues said.

“It’ll be tough to leave my friends and teammates,” Thues said. “But I know when I go home and start playing again, everything will work out. I’ve made my final decision, and I think transferring is the right thing for me to do.”

Published on April 15, 2002 at 12:00 pm