After the game last night, the discussion on the Bluejay Wrapup Show on Big Sports 590 was dominated by talkers ripping the crowd. For being too passive. For showing up late. The students for not showing up at all. The discussion has continued to swell over at the Bluejay Cafe message board. I tend to look at this as glass half-full -- 13000 on a Wednesday night against a struggling opponent? That's fantastic, IMHO -- so I'm only going to devote one paragraph to this. Because its a non-story. So here it is.
Its the classic chicken-and-the-egg cliche. Does the crowd feed off the players, or do the players feed off the fans? I've always believed its a symbiotic relationship, and while both feed off each other, they are both also dependant on each other. The team needs to show the effort to make the fans feel their cheering can make a difference. Standing and yelling for 35 seconds on defense does no good if the team is lackadaisical and gives up a wide-open easy basket. I'm sorry, but would cheering louder stop David Moss from draining wide-open threes? Would yelling louder make the zone defense work better against a team shooting lights-out? Would screaming constantly for the first 20 minutes of the game keep Johnny from slipping three times and turning it over? No, no and no. And that's all I have to say about this.
***
One of the local TV stations listed the A-Train's line thusly:
15 points, 5 boards, 8 stitches
Once again, AT got bloodied and had to go to the locker room for stitches. You'll recall his face met a similar fate against Bradley in January, but this time it was friendly fire, the result of a violent collision with Nick Porter.
The A-Train and the bandage covering 8 stitches
On Senior Night, it was same song, eighth verse: Creighton fall behind big early, regroups, and finds a way to come back and win. No two comebacks are alike, no two key stars of the comeback are alike, and on this night, it was senior Jimmy Motz who kept them in the game until the rest of the team could find the energy to mount a comeback. Generally, these games have played out thusly: CU comes out flat, falls behind early; a furious rally after the under-4 timeout closes the gap before halftime; Dana's adjustments at half propel the Jays to a fast second half start and taking of the lead; hold on for victory. On this night, the furious rally did not happen until the second half was nearly half over. Makes for better theater on senior night, I suppose, but it also makes for a general lack of fingernails and a hoarseness of voice the next day...
--
The Jays came out flat, and Indiana State came ready to play. Simple as that. With the fantastic David Moss back healthy, the Sycamores had the firepower to capitalize on the Jays poor play early to jump out to a big lead. The Jays came out in various forms of zone defense, but when you combine zone defense with no energy and hot shooting, its a recipe for disaster. Sure enough, open looks abounded and the Trees hit most of them, en route to a 62% shooting percentage in the first half.
Fans were restless, and called for coach Altman to switch to a man-to-man defense. With their depleted corps -- starting point guard Josh Dotzler still out with that pesky PCL injury, and Dane Watts weakened from Mono -- I'm sure he hesitated to switch to the man for fear it would wear his team out and make them fade down the stretch. But by the four minute mark, he apparently came to the conclusion that it was a risk that had to be taken.
At the half, it was 38-27 Indiana State. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, a collection of the worst shooters in Omaha were assembled for the halftime show. First up, the Con Agra Foods shootout, where for the first time that I'm aware of, a contestant failed to even make a single basket. Not a one. Even "Proposal Guy" who wasn't trying because he was only participating to have a stage to propose to his girlfriend made one! Then a shootout to win tickets to Arch Madness next weekend took place, and wasn't much better. The first matchup of two female students was won 3-0 -- they had 60 seconds to make free throws -- which elicited groans from the audience. They were shooting as poorly as the Jays! And the two middle-age guys who were next weren't much better. An omen for things to come? We hoped not.
In the locker room, Nick Porter, Pierce Hibma and even Jimmy Motz made sure they had their Arrid Extra Dry on so they could get a little closer in an attempt to lock down David Moss. Did their aggressive defense work? He had 14 points at halftime. He still had 14 points in this morning's box score. Zero points in the second half. Bravo, gentlemen, bravo.
And without David Moss, the Sycamores turned back into the team that went 0-8 in his absence. The Jays went on a 16-0 run midway through the second half. They extended that run to 20-2, and later 30-6, and were in control of the game, coasting home and allowing Dana to take his seniors out for one final standing "O".
Johnny Mathies had a great night (or at least, a great half), scoring 8 straight points in the midst of that 16-0 run. Jimmy Motz hit a couple of final threes for the home crowd, and drew a charge to boot. Another one of those and my brother and I will have to retire this exchange, inspired by the Chris Berman/Tom Jackson exchange when a highlight of Cris Carter scoring a TD was shown:
Me: Jimmy Motz...all he does?
Bro: Hit threes!
Nice. And Jeff Day had a solid performance again off the bench in his Omaha swan song. For the Jays, it was the perfect way to go out. This team has time and again fallen behind at home, and every time but once, they've found a way to pull out the win. Why should the home finale be any different.
Thanks, Jimmy, for hitting threes and providing "Instant Offense" off the bench. Thanks, Jeff, for being a key player off the bench and a solid contributor on both ends. And thanks, Johnny, for being the most indispensible piece on three Jays teams, and for taking on uncomfortable roles after injuries decimated other starters three times in your career.
Now, lets go beat Missouri State and finish this thing, boys.
Up next, its the Missouri State Bears in a 7:30 tip Saturday night from Springfield. The Jays win, they secure the #2 seed in Arch Madness and a matchup with the winner of the 8-9 game. If they lose, they're the #4 seed and draw Bradley, unless UNI can knock off Southern Illinois in Carbondale. Just win and remove all doubt, guys. You bet.
Leave a comment