Results tagged “Arch Madness” from Jays Blog

MVC Quarters Gameday: Wichita State

By
Max Univers
on March 6, 2009 12:39 PM |
Tonight, the Jays begin their quest for an unprecedented seventh MVC Tournament Title in 11 years, and their quarterfinal opponent is the Wichita State Shockers, who will be 22 hours removed from a play-in round win over Missouri State. They're the No. 2 seed, which is very good thing: the Jays are 16-2 all-time as the No. 2 seed, and have won the tournament the last four times they've been seeded there. And then there's this: the No. 2 seed has won at least one game in 10 straight tournaments, reached the final in nine of the previous 10 seasons and won the title in five of the previous seven years.

They stand at 25-6 overall, and probably need at least one win in St. Louis to feel good about their at-large chances for the NCAA Tournament should they not win the championship. Two wins would get them to 27-6 -- and NO TEAM HAS EVER BEEN LEFT OUT WITH 27 WINS. Not that the committee pays attention to such things (they don't), but its worth noting.

Arch Madness should be colloquially known as the Creighton Invitational. Why? The Jays have a 20-4 record in Arch Madness since 1999. They've reached the semifinals 8 of the past 10 years. They've won 12 straight games as the No. 2 seed. Dana Altman is 21-7 all-time in the tournament. Yup, the Jays have dominated it for over a decade. You bet.

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MVC Semifinals: Jays 67, Drake 75

By
Max Univers
on March 9, 2008 12:30 PM |
Stuck in Omaha for Arch Madness this year due to some other commitments, I decided to see if there was any mojo left at Buffalo Wild Wings. During the NFL playoffs, a huge group of my friends went to one of their locations in Omaha for the first Sunday of games. My buddy Gilby is from Upstate New York originally, and when his Giants won, we of course had to go back for the second round. And then for the NFC Championship. And then for the Super Bowl.

So there is definitely something going on with that. Hoping to ride on the momentum, the mojo, or maybe just the overpriced beers and expensive wings, we went there to watch the inevitable smackdown to be delivered by the Jays to the Drake Bulldogs, owners of A Proud Basketball Tradition Since November.

Well, a guy has to be optimistic even in the face of a million reasons not to believe, right? Drake is having their once-every-37-years great season, they're led by seniors who look to make shots for each other, and they're easily the best TEAM in the league. Creighton is having a rare rebuilding season, they're led by freshmen and sophomores who look to make shots for themselves, and they're the best collection of young talent in the league, but not the best TEAM. Not yet.

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MVC Quarterfinals: Jays 74, Bradley 70

By
Max Univers
on March 7, 2008 12:32 PM |
WHEW. Another wild Creighton-Bradley game, featuring yet another huge blown lead and yet another clutch finish. More importantly, it did not feature overtime. Most importantly, it ended in a Creighton win.

After blowing an 18-point lead, the Jays simply made the plays down the stretch, and Bradley didn't -- a shock considering that Bradley's key players are veterans and Creighton's key players are underclassmen. In a tight game in March, you'd figure the veteran team would make the plays and the young team would wilt...but the exact opposite happened. Senior Daniel Rough-in, er, Ruffin was the one missing a key free throw. Sophomore Cavel Witter was the one making two key throws.

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MVC Final: Jays 67, Southern Illinois 61

By
Max Univers
on March 4, 2007 11:20 AM |
What a time to play your best three games of the year! On Championship Sunday in St. Louis, the Jays finished off a near perfect weekend of hoops with a 67-61 victory over Southern Illinois.

One of the things I'm really disappointed was not brought up in either the postgame on the radio nor on the local Sunday night TV programs was how it happened. Well, I'm going to bring it up now and rectify the situation.

Fans and writers have complained for a long time about Southern Illinois' style of play. Hell, I've done it myself. Its a grudging complaint, really, because you have to give them credit for winning. You've heard the talking points: they hack, they hand check, they tackle, they turn the game into rugby.


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MVC Semis: Jays 75, Missouri State 58

By
Max Univers
on March 3, 2007 11:16 AM |
History will refer to the 2007 MVC Semifinal as "The Nate Funk Game". In a game where his Jays and Missouri State were playing what some pundits called an "elimination" game for an NCAA Tourney at-large berth, he came up with his greatest game as a Jay, putting the team on his back and carrying them to a blowout win.

Just look at the box score:


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MVC Quarters: Jays 59, Indiana State 38

By
Max Univers
on March 2, 2007 11:14 AM |
The Jays B-team lost to Indiana State 11-10 on Friday night, small consolation for a Sycamores squad whose season ends at 13-18.

Yes, you read that right. Creighton's B-team (or the B-Jays, if you prefer) began subbing in at the 8:02 mark, and the final 7 minutes of the game was played with a lineup consisting mostly of these players:

Pierce Hibma, Nick Bahe, Brice Nengsu, Dustin Sitzmann and Manny Gakou

No starter played after the 5:39 mark when Nick Porter came out, and still, this team of B-Jays managed to hand a one-point loss to the Sycamores over that span.

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Max Univers (not his real name) is a graphic designer and author of two books, neither of which you’ve probably heard of. A 2001 graduate of Creighton University’s Journalism program, Max takes time out of his busy nightlife to share his thoughts on Jays hoops here during the season.

Why Univers? Its his favorite font, plus it just sounds really cool as a surname.

Why Polyfro? Years and years ago, Max had a giant afro wig that he wore as part of a Halloween costume. Not wishing to retire its giant fro awesomeness after the holiday, he began wearing the wig out in public as part of his everyday ensemble. One night at a dance club, the DJ called out the moniker over the soundsystem. Max thought it sounded cool, and purchased the URL shortly thereafter.

More questions? Send me an email: max-at-polyfro-dot-com. I like jokes, story tips, and generally all correspondence involving Bluejay athletics. Emails that point out how stupid I am and/or where I should go after I die are not encouraged.

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