Last night, Creighton held an open practice at the Qwest Center as the team makes final preparations for their first exhibition game this Sunday. Polyfro.com was there, and here's my official (and unofficial) thoughts on what was seen.
-It remains to be seen what uniforms they wear Sunday, but if there gamers look anything like the practice gear, they might actually have decent looking unis for the first time in years. This is great, because the jerseys -- particularly the home jerseys -- they've worn the last 8 years have been various shades of atrocious. Seriously, the black outline around the blue letters? Way too thick, and it makes CREIGHTON almost unreadable. And don't get me started on the gigantic nameplate on the backs. (What, I'm a designer, I wonder about these things).
-The Jays will seemingly be 12 deep. Yes, you read right. They have 12 legitimate players who could, and will, see minutes this year. With that said, we all know the bulk of the minutes will go to Watts, Funk, Mathies, Tolliver, and some combination of point guards. The rest of the minutes will be a fight to earn. This is not a bad thing.
My quick thoughts on everyone who played tonight:
-Anthony Tolliver was apparently kidnapped and replaced with an imposter over the summer. Seriously. The guy wearing AT's uniform was big, strong, aggressive, had 10-15 foot range on his jumper, played heady defense, sealed off his man in the blocks very well, and used his wider frame to throw people around in the paint. In short, everything a big center should be -- and everything AT has never been while at Creighton. Seriously, what happened to AT? Not that we want the old guy back, I was just wondering. You bet.
-Jeffrey Don't Call Me Jeff Day seemed, on the other hand, to be exactly the same player. Salivatingly athletic, but still not as aggressive as you'd like a big man to be. Doesn't seem willing to go hard to the boards. Still makes way too many stupid mistakes and got chewed out by Coach Altman several times.
-Jimmy Instant Offense Motz was still just that. Lots of open looks, and he knocked most of 'em down. As Travis Justice said on the Jays Preseason show last weekend, Motz is not the most athletic guy, and he seems to give up nearly as many points on defense as he scores. But man, that 3 point stroke is a weapon.
-Johnny Killin' Them Softly Mathies looks, if that's possible, even quicker to the hole than last year. He just has a knack for driving the lane with the ball and making plays. Gets the defense to collapse in on him, before either making a play or kicking it out to a perimeter shooter. I'm speechless, honestly. What a ballplayer. Easily the most athletic player the Jays have had since DeAnthony Bowden.
-Josh Dotzler is the real deal. At least, as far as one can tell from a scrimmage. It certainly appears he will be the next freshman to start at point, following Ryan Sears and Tyler McKinney. Once he faces real opponents with actual defenses, that might change of course. One guy I talked to said he looks like a quicker, stronger T-Mac. This is of course, ridiculous. But he has the ability to perhaps eventually get to that point. Of that there is no doubt.
-Pierce Tweak Hibma is still Tweak. The most spastic player I've ever seen, it always seems like he's running 100 MPH. He doesn't look near as confused on court as he did last year, and his persistant hustle and tough defense will certainly earn him brownie points from Altman. And likely 10 minutes a night.
-Nick Porter showed some explosion on offense and made some nice moves both with the ball to get a shot, and without the ball to get open. However, he seemed quite lazy on defense, which doens't bode well for getting many minutes with Altman. Hopefully he just had a bad night on D.
-Brice Nengsu, one half of the vaunted "French Connection". I see two scenarios with Brice this year. On one hand, I'm almost positive he will fill up the highlight reel with plays, and play the most ferocious defense you've ever seen. On the other hand, I'm also almost positive Coach Altman will become frustrated with him at least once per game for going too fast and making an idiot mistake.
-Manou Gakou, the other half of the French Connection, is the big, strong inside presence the Jays have lacked for years. Did I mention he's big?
-Dominic Bishop is a nice, if unspectacular, point guard who should help fortify the position. The Jays will have no problems replacing McKinney with the three-headed monster of Dotzler, Bishop and (if needed) Mathies.
Am I missing someone? Oh, right.
-Nate Funk looked to be determined, significantly stronger, with a quicker deadlier stroke from three-point range. Seriously, he looked to be in midseason form already. If Ben Jacobson up at UNI is going to be better than Funk this year, I would hate to see it. Funk was one of the most unstoppable players in the country last year when he was on, and it looks like he's only gotten better.
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Check back tomorrow for a look at the schedule and an outlook on the season. Go Jays.
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