Didn't See That One Coming!

***

Halftime: 17 turnovers. 15% shooting on 4-26 from the field. Trailing 31-11. And where's Collier? Sitting on the bench, with a look of puzzlement about what was happening. Your team was getting run out of the gym, Barry, and with the fans in a frenzy, he let his players twist in the wind. Absolutely the worst coaching job I've seen in many many years. His players were utterly, disappointingly unprepared.

Creighton did not have the luxury of doing anything fancy. Playing a matchup zone much of the game, time after time Nebraska would seem confused on how to break the zone. Time after time they tried a crosscourt pass over the top of the zone. Really? Why would you think a pass over or through 3 defenders would go anywhere? Bad coaching. And this happened the entire game. No adjustments were made. Time and again, Dane Watts, Anthony Tolliver and the Jays post players got steals on passes through the zone.

Meanwhile, Altman is standing, directing, playing the role of General comandeering his troops. Pointing out weaknesses in Nebraska's gameplan. Teaching his players to take advantage. His gameplan was flawless; although, if there's one thing you can expect from Dana Altman its that he will not be outcoached by anyone.

Somehow, some way, he was able to motivate Anthony Tolliver and Jeffrey Day to simply dominate the inside game. Tolliver had stretches where he was unstoppable. During one first half stretch, on consecutive possessions he had a massive fastbreak dunk and a big-time swat into the second row. My brother and I commented that it was probably the finest 60 seconds of his Bluejay career. But all day long he was an intimidating force against much bigger, stronger and arguably talented Husker post players. He got two of them to foul out. Just an overwhelmingly dominating performance.

And Johnny Mathies? 29 points. Hit all the big shots. Nailed the free throws at the end when it looked like Nebraska was making a run. Took over the offense when the game tightened up to relieve some pressure off freshman sensation Josh Dotzler. Mathies is clearly the player who needs to be The Man without Funk, and he is talented enough to do just that.

It was interesting to see the Nebraska fan contingent punch-drunk, silent, dumbfounded. As I've said many times and will now reiterate, I hold no ill-will towards the Huskers. I find some of their fans highly annoying, and their taunts a bit aggressive at times, but when they don't play the Jays, I maintain a laissez-faire attitude towards them. Still, you have to love when a visiting team brings lots of fans, and they are stuck in silence as their team gets taken behind the woodshed.

Interesting, also, that many of their fans had seemingly more energy for this game than the players did. Also interesting that they knew exactly what was happening, while their coach seemingly couldn't figure it out.

--

So against a short-handed, reeling -- nay, staggering -- Creighton team missing its leading scorer and two solid role players, in front of the largest crowd ever to witness a basketball game in the state of Nebraska and on statewide television in HD on NET, Nebraska gets:

-Outcoached

-Outhustled

-Held to under 25% shooting

-Forced into 32 turnovers

-Beat by 26

Ouch. I actually kind of feel bad for Nebraska. How long can Collier continue to be allowed to run that program? I mean, he quit on his players today, and they on him. Plain and simple, they did not show up for this game. Just a bad situation. I think we've seen the last of Barry on their bench.

Good win for the Jays. Next up is the Xavier Musketeers, a week from today. And good luck to Nebraska the rest of the way, although if they play anything like they did today, you can stick a fork in 'em -- they're done.