2006-07 Game Recaps: March 2007 Archives

In my preview of this game, I wrote "it will be a barnburner, coming down to a couple of plays late to win. Whoever makes the big play will win a game like that; the classic March Madness photo finish. And I trust the Jays to make that big play. I really do."

Well, it was indeed a game just like that. Except Creighton wasn't able to make the plays down the stretch to win. They played close the entire day, with 12 lead changes and 10 ties. Nevada's largest lead was 7 (coming in the first half), Creighton's 6 (coming in the second half).

Traditionally in NCAA Tournament games that CU has lost, Creighton has started slowly, fought back to make a game out of it, and ultimately lost in the waning moments. Only the West Virginia game two years ago broke the mold. Even in the two games they've won, slow starts were the rule.

Against Nevada, however, Creighton started reasonably well. In fact, the first half was incredibly competitive, and the Jays had a 32-28 lead with just 30 seconds left in the half. In that first half, they got points from Pierce Hibma, Manny Gakou and Isacc Miles -- all coming off the bench -- and that had to be seen as a positive sign.

What a time to play your best three games of the year! On Championship Sunday in St. Louis, the Jays finished off a near perfect weekend of hoops with a 67-61 victory over Southern Illinois.

One of the things I'm really disappointed was not brought up in either the postgame on the radio nor on the local Sunday night TV programs was how it happened. Well, I'm going to bring it up now and rectify the situation.

Fans and writers have complained for a long time about Southern Illinois' style of play. Hell, I've done it myself. Its a grudging complaint, really, because you have to give them credit for winning. You've heard the talking points: they hack, they hand check, they tackle, they turn the game into rugby.

History will refer to the 2007 MVC Semifinal as "The Nate Funk Game". In a game where his Jays and Missouri State were playing what some pundits called an "elimination" game for an NCAA Tourney at-large berth, he came up with his greatest game as a Jay, putting the team on his back and carrying them to a blowout win.

Just look at the box score:

The Jays B-team lost to Indiana State 11-10 on Friday night, small consolation for a Sycamores squad whose season ends at 13-18.

Yes, you read that right. Creighton's B-team (or the B-Jays, if you prefer) began subbing in at the 8:02 mark, and the final 7 minutes of the game was played with a lineup consisting mostly of these players:

Pierce Hibma, Nick Bahe, Brice Nengsu, Dustin Sitzmann and Manny Gakou

No starter played after the 5:39 mark when Nick Porter came out, and still, this team of B-Jays managed to hand a one-point loss to the Sycamores over that span.