Results tagged “George Mason” from Jays Blog

2008-09 Game #29: Jays 76, George Mason 63

By
Max Univers
on February 22, 2009 5:32 PM |
Publicly, I predicted a win for the Jays in my Gameday post, but privately, I had concerns about this game. George Mason likes to play a slow, half-court game with scores in the high 50s and low 60s; Creighton, as we all know, likes to play up-tempo, the higher the score the better. Why is this a concern, you ask? Doesn't this kind of clash-of-styles happen all the time?

Well, yeah, except George Mason and their excellent coach, Jim Larranaga, have been relatively adept at forcing tempo on their opponents from what I've seen -- and a half-court game favors the team that rebounds better and plays better defense. Neither of those characteristics have generally favored the Jays this year, current win streak aside.

I needn't have worried. As has become the norm with Saturday night games, the crowd was rambunctious, boisterous and had an alcohol-fueled aggression ten minutes before tip off, traits which continued for the duration of the night. You could sense it when you walked into the building. You could sense it during starting lineups. And you couldn't mistake it during the first four minutes of the game: there was a different vibe, a different energy in the building, and not just in the stands.

The ESPNU commentators commented in the first minutes of the game that the atmosphere was as good as any they'd seen, that the crowd was in on every play -- and that George Mason would have to adjust because it was going to be a huge factor. Love it. Polyfro props to everyone in the building who contributed to that.

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Gameday: BracketBusters/George Mason

By
Max Univers
on February 21, 2009 12:23 PM |
Its impossible to convey my level of disgust for Bracket Buster Saturday, or as its called now, ESPNU BracketBusters. I hate it more than the Halloween Oreos with orange filling, and I hate those abhorrent holiday cookies quite a bit. I hate it because for one day every year, everything we spend 364 days fighting against gets pushed to the forefront. We spend all year trying the shed the mid-major label, and then by playing in this event, we get stuck with the label all over again. Did I mention I hate Bracket Busters?

It didn't always used to be this way. When the first Bracket Buster was held in 2003, I thought it was a great idea with great potential. Of course, like most things ESPN touches, they turned an amp that should only go to 11 all the way up to 20 and blew it up (in a bad way). Instead of inviting only those mid-major programs that are consistently solid, they invited entire conferences. Instead of a handful of hugely meaningful games, there's almost 50 games, only a handful of which still matter. 

I know what you're saying: "Excuse me, sir, but by inviting everyone, doesn't it allow surprise teams to participate?" Yeah, it does, but I don't care if Drake gets to participate the one year that they're relevant. I care about Creighton, and by inviting so many teams, inevitably the best teams wind up requesting "Home" games. When they only invited the consistently solid mid-major programs, half were at home, half were on the road. Whether you had a home or road game, your odds of an exciting matchup were roughly the same. Not anymore. Generally speaking, the programs you'd actually want to play, the programs that improve your schedule, all request home games. If you have a home game, you get either a one-year wonder, or a team that you don't want to play.

Is it any coincidence that the two most exciting matchups for CU came when they went on the road? Both the Kent State and Oral Roberts games were roadies, while Drexel, Chattanooga State, and Fresno State (TWICE!) have come to Omaha. Pardon me if I'm a tad underwhelmed by those home games.

Since Valley Commish Doug Elgin was one of the masterminds behind Bracket Busters and remains a huge proponent, the Valley isn't dropping out of this thing anytime soon. So it does me no good to complain. Bleh.

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2006-07 Game 3: Jays 58, George Mason 56

By
Max Univers
on November 27, 2006 5:50 PM |
Over the weekend, Creighton welcomed a Final Four team to Omaha for the first time since DePaul in 1980. Unfortunately for yours truly, it was Thanksgiving weekend and I was hundreds of miles away at my parents' house in northwest Iowa. Fortunately for me, Big Sports 590 has an ungodly range and you can get a decent signal even up there.

I'd given my tickets to a buddy of mine, who took his wife to the game. When she found out he had my tickets for the Mason game and they were going, she made him go to the mall with her to buy her a Creighton sweatshirt at Lawlor's. Between the sweatshirt for her, one for himself, and the lunch at Fernando's I made him buy me in exchange for the tickets, he figured this game was costing him $75 before he ever set foot in the Qwest Center.

I had given some consideration to either hooking up to the webcast of the game, or better yet, setting up a connection to send the cable TV feed of KMTV's broadcast over the net to my MacBook. Alas, I was stuck at 1pm hanging lights on the roof of my parents house. So instead of high-tech webcasts or super-tech TV over Net, I was left with the decidedly low-tech option of transistor radio picking up grainy AM signals from 175 miles away.

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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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