December 2006 Archives

2006-07 Game 11: Jays 77, Missouri State 74

By
Max Univers
on December 31, 2006 5:35 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
At the under-12 timeout, I had a strange feeling of Deja-Vu. Not because the people behind me were once again pissed at my propensity to stand up during the game -- seriously, who do I think I am, a fan? -- but because the game looked, superficially, a lot like the Hawaii game. The Jays come out firing, grab a big lead, only to relinquish it as a sharpshooter knocks down open three's all over the court. And just like in Hawaii, once the opponent got the lead, it grew until the Jays were buried.

Blake Ahearn, who has to be about 35 by now (how long HAS that guy been at Missouri State? Hell, he had to have used up his eligibility when they were still named SMS. I think Steve Alford signed him before he left for Iowa.) was torching the Jays much-maligned perimeter defense. Ahearn is a guy who, when open, never, ever misses. He doesn't create his own shot, he can't get open looks for his teammates, but my God, can he knock down an open look. He never even draws iron. All net. So you cannot lose him on defense...yet time after time, I'd look out on the court, and he'd be standing all by himself on the wing, six feet from the nearest defender. Eventually, he'd get the pass and a Jays defender would come flying in after the shot was released. It was frustrating to watch.

He had 21 points at the 12 minute mark. At the end of the game, he still had 21 points. A box-and-one face guard technique kept him from even catching the ball, much less shooting it, over the final twelve minutes. Despite this, the lead grew to 70-59, and as ESPN2's national TV audience went to commercial, the game was for all intents and purposes, over. Creighton was about to drop to 6-5 on the season, 0-1 in the Valley, and their season was in big, big trouble.
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 11: Jays 77, Missouri State 74.

Ty Morrison Quits

By
Max Univers
on December 31, 2006 5:32 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
From the official press release:

Morrison decided to leave the team for personal reasons after struggling with Graves Disease during the last six months. The junior forward indicated that he felt he wasn't making the progress he wanted to and has returned home in an effort to get healthy.

"We're disappointed that Ty has decided to leave the team," said Altman. "We wish him all the best. It's been a struggle for him to play up to his expectations."

A 6-7 Phoenix, Ariz. native was in his first year with the Bluejays after transferring in from Redlands Community College. He was averaging 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds while playing in all 10 games off the bench to date.

Morrison had been the prize of this year's recruiting class, picking CU over Arizona, Gonzaga, and others. His defection leaves Creighton with Anthony Tolliver, Dane Watts, and not much else in terms of frontcourt depth.

In October, when the World-Herald ran an article on its front page quoting Morrison as wanting to redshirt -- almost whining about his predicament -- and Altman's reaction telling Morrison "no, you're not redshirting", I wondered if there wasn't some tension developing there. Now, two months later, he's going home.

There are a number of interesting angles here. As a junior this year already, if he were to transfer somewhere else, he has just one year of eligibility. Who is going to recruit a guy that has now departed not just one but two schools after what appears, from the outside at least, to be disagreements with coaches? His collegiate career is basically over. And his skills are nowhere near those necessary to have a pro career -- and health concerns with his Graves Disease probably scare off anyone thinking about taking a chance based on raw talent.

I heard someone at the game today call him "Thyroid Morrison", and say "if he doesn't want to be here, then good riddance! We don't need him!" Snide remarks aside, the statistics bear that out.

Its not difficult to replace 2 points and 1.8 rebounds a game. It hurts us next year, when his health would hopefully have allowed him to be the athletic power forward that had drawn the attention of all those "big name" schools. But in terms of immediate effect, it means Manny Gakou gets more minutes. So maybe that is more of a concern than I thought...

MVC Play Starts with Jays at 6-4

By
Max Univers
on December 30, 2006 5:31 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Before the season began, I was trying to talk myself into the idea that this year would be THE year. From the time I was 14 until I turned 25, I'd be delusional about the chances my baseball team, the Twins, had. I was absolutely convinced on an annual basis that a collection of old guy has-beens and young guy never-weres would somehow find enough left in the tank to make a run. These stiffs, of course, routinely lost 90 games despite my optimism, leaving me and about six other people interested in the team come September. But the next year, I'd be delusional again, believing THIS new collection of old guy has-beens and young guy never-weres would be different.

I'd like to think I'm older and wiser now, and beyond all that blind optimism and excited anticipation of a new season. By the end of writing that article, I'd given in to the hype and predicted a 27-4 record (10-0 non-conference, 14-4 Valley, 3-0 in the Valley Tourney).

You bet.
Continue reading MVC Play Starts with Jays at 6-4.

2006-07 Game 10: Jays 60, Hawai'i 76

By
Max Univers
on December 24, 2006 5:30 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Mele kalikisucka.

Mr. Lojeski, you have ruined my Christmas. I hope that you are happy with yourself. Your 33 points on 12-15 shooting (5-6 from beyond the arc) were like somebody taking a dump under my tree.

Bah humbug.

2006-07 Game 9: Jays 80, Houston 72

By
Max Univers
on December 23, 2006 5:28 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
"Hate is a strong word, but I really, really, really don't like you."
-Plain White T's, 'Hate (I Really Don't Like You)

I'd like to dedicate that song from the Plain White T's to Tom Penders, the head coach of the Houston Cougars. I don't hate the guy, but I really, really, really don't like him. And the same thing for his players. All of them.

This started last February when, during the media's frenzy to figure out how the Missouri Valley had cheated the system, Penders opened up to the Washington Post. Among his thoughts:

"What is RPI, garbage in and garbage out? How do you build RPI, go out and play no one? If it's just a computer thing this year, I was born in 1945, I don't know much about computers. . . . The committee will dictate what guys do the next few years. If MVC teams are rewarded for playing no one in the computers, then we should all do that."

"Creighton couldn't even get the ball across half court against my team, but they're rated higher in the computers."

"The Missouri Valley Conference has built a hype machine for themselves."
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 9: Jays 80, Houston 72.

2006-07 Game 8: Jays 68, Valpo 43

By
Max Univers
on December 22, 2006 5:25 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Reports of Nate Funk's demise have been greatly exaggerated. He'd been 20-64 from the field in the last five games, and just 3-26 from behind the arc. And he had just two points -- on two free-throws -- in the first half of last night's first-round contest in Hawaii. But in the second half, holy baloney, he lit it up. 20 points on 8-11 shooting, including 4-5 from behind the arc. His last shot was from Korver range, 30 feet out as the shot clock was set to expire.

Its amazing what good shooting does for a team. Creighton suddenly plays well, and beats Valparaiso by 25. They played with intensity of both ends of the floor, disrupting and contesting almost every Valpo shot attempt while knocking down open looks on their own end. At the final horn, Creighton had shot over 50% from the field for the first time all year.

The 13-2 to start the second half was the best stretch of play they've put together all year. Valpo didn't know what hit them -- and before the under-16 timeout, a 7 point halftime lead had swelled to 18. From there, Valpo made a run or two, but was never closer than 13 the rest of the way and ultimately fell 68-43.
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 8: Jays 68, Valpo 43.

2006-07 Game 7: Jays 54, Fresno St. 69

By
Max Univers
on December 18, 2006 5:23 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Discouraging.

That's just about the only word I can think of to describe what transpired out in Fresno on Saturday night. Discouraging. The energy, the effort, all of the progress showed the previous weekend against Xavier, gone. What's the deal, guys?

Late west coast games are supposed to be awesome. I'm a night owl and I pine for the days when my Minnesota Twins played in the AL West and had a chunk of their schedule in the Pacific time zone, with games starting at 9pm. That one lone west coast road trip they now make every year is cause for celebration, as I actually get to see games live (otherwise I have to TiVo them and watch on delay -- when you're out livin' life, 7pm starts are just damn inconvenient).

I remember one time a couple of years ago, I got home from the bar just after 1am, turned on the TV, and they were still playing in extra innings. That's what I'm talking about! While I ate my Taco Bell, I sat at the peninsula in my kitchen and watched live baseball. Good stuff.
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 7: Jays 54, Fresno St. 69.

2006-07 Game 6: Jays 73, #24 Xavier 67

By
Max Univers
on December 10, 2006 5:21 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
There's nothing like bad calls to get a crowd riled up. Exhibit A: Saturday night's game against 24th ranked Xavier. At tipoff, the crowd wasn't all that different from other games this year. But three terrible calls, all against Creighton, in the first 150 seconds of the game changed all that.

It was a double-edged sword. Josh Dotzler had two fouls by the 17:30 mark of the half, and sat the bench the rest of the first 20 minutes. One of his fouls was highly questionable and got the crowd incensed. I had barely settled in, and already I had to tell the ref that the only way he would stop blowing is to put his whistle in his pocket. Not the way I like to start a Saturday night, let me tell you.

Barely a minute later, Dotzler was trailing on a fast break, and he absolutely laid out the Xavier shooter. This is the kind of foul that sets the tone for a big game, telling the opponent that you are bringing it tonight. This is also the kind of foul that lands your point guard on the bench for the next 17-1/2 minutes.

But the crowd was crazed. When Isacc Miles was whistled for a questionable foul a minute later, after I'd settled down from telling the referee that his mother is a very ugly woman, my brother announced that if his chicken strips hadn't cost 5-and-a-quarter, he'd have thrown one at the ref. (He wouldn't really have done it, don't worry, but just the thought of wasting quality poultry on such a despicable ref should tell you how bad the call was.)
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 6: Jays 73, #24 Xavier 67.

The Nate Funk Video

By
Max Univers
on December 10, 2006 5:20 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Thursday night, I was out at Barrett's with some of the video production team, and a couple of guys from Creighton Athletics. They told me that the "Nate Funk Video" was going to make its debut Saturday. I was psyched.

What is the Nate Funk Video, you ask?

During our brainstorming for the tunnelwalk video, we toyed with the idea of shooting footage of players in the Old Gym, lights off, just ambient lighting shining in through the translucent windows of the venerable old building. Tolliver dunking. Funk hitting threes. Good stuff. While this never came to pass for various reasons, one idea of ours did get shot.

In years past, a clip from "Cheers" of Norm tapping his pencil on the bar, followed by the patrons starting a rhythmic clap to the beat of his pencil tap, was often played late in games coming out of a timeout. It was cool, and it worked, but it wasn't Creighton. Our idea was, how can we do something that accomplishes the same thing, but make it our own?

A basketball bouncing on the court is rhythmic. Easy to clap to. And it would excite people. So we brought Funk into the gym, and set up four cameras at varying angles. Funk, standing on the Jays logo at center court, dribbled the ball slowly, side to side, back and forth, speeding up, faster and faster, faster and faster, and finally spikes the ball on the floor and walks away. When it was edited together, it was a fast-cut between the four cameras, from intense zoom on the face to wide view of him dribbling, and back again. And it was presented in stark black-and-white, except for Funk, who was completely blue thanks to a filter we applied in post-production.

I remember well the first time I saw the final edited video on a computer screen in the video booth at Morrison Stadium. My first thought was, "My God, that is the greatest video I've ever seen." Supremely edited by, as ProfessorX calls her, AZ the Video Queen, this video needed to be saved for a big moment in a big game, and it needed to be kept a secret until then.

I had told my brother the video was coming. He wasn't sure it would be as cool as I told him it would be, and to be fair, its kind of hard to describe. I was excited to see what the crowd response would be.

Coming out of the under-eight timeout in a close game against the 24th ranked Xavier Muskateers qualifies for a "big moment" I would think. And there it was. My brother's jaw dropped. He finally understood what I'd been talking about. The crowd was initially shocked. For the first 2-3 seconds, you could see people's jaws drop. Then the entire arena was transfixed with the video board. And finally, they started clapping along with the video, and the place was as loud as I've ever heard it. Proud moment.

I was glad to hear all the folks on the Bluejay Cafe message board echoed those sentiments. We spent an awful lot of time working on this stuff, and to see the fruits of that labor be so well received, well, its pretty damn cool.

You bet.

2006-07 Game 5: Dayton 60, Jays 54

By
Max Univers
on December 8, 2006 5:19 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
My internet access was down the latter half of the week, so I was unable to publish this recap, written on Thursday on my internet-less computer. Some might think I cheated and didn't want to write a recap until after the Xavier game. Not true. But you'll believe what you will, I suppose, regardless of what I tell you. So be it. With that, on to my recap of the Dayton game. You bet.

***

The addition of ESPNU to Cox Cable here in Omaha meant I would not have to go out to a bar to see the Jays/Dayton game -- I could watch it in the comfort of my own home, on the couch, in front of the 52" big screen in my basement. So several of my friends came over, and we gathered to watch the Jays and Dayton on The Ocho, I mean, ESPNU.

This raises an interesting question. If ESPN2 is "The Deuce", is ESPNU "The U"? Or does the University of Miami have dibs on that name? Doesn't it kill you when players who played for the Hurricanes announce their school as "The U"? Do doctors and lawyers who graduate from Miami list "Graduated from The U" on their resumes? I mean, the ever-popular (sic) Gloria Estefan refers to it as The U in their TV ads. I don't remember, but when VH1 did her "Behind The Music", did they say she went to "The U" or "The University of Miami"? I need to know these things.
Continue reading 2006-07 Game 5: Dayton 60, Jays 54.
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