I smell. Or at least, I need to take a shower. I reached this conclusion based on the fact that, at Monday afternoon's Creighton-Illinois State tilt, not only could I not find anyone willing to take a free ticket and go to the game with me, but no one in my entire row bothered to show up. There was no one behind me, either. And only a couple of people in the row in front of me. There was a DMZ of four seats on all sides of me.
A no-stink zone.
I don't really smell, at least, I don't think so. But you know what does stink? The Jays perimeter defense. Come on guys, this is bordering on the obscene here. Game in, game out, they fail to identify the shooter, and get torched.
On Monday, the latest Perimeter Superstar was Osiris Eldridge, who shot 10-17 from the floor, 8-11 from beyond the arc, for 28 points.
Blink. Blink.
I'm not sure what the most unbelievable number is there. Making 10 shots, taking 17, making EIGHT THREE POINTERS, or scoring 28 in a loss.
If I'm playing pickup in the gym and a guy drains 4 three pointers against me, I'm going to make damn sure he never touches the ball again. I''m going to be thankful there are no referees in pickup hoops and apply a little SIU Cobrastyle Defense.
If I'm playing D-1 basketball and a freshman, on the road, makes 4 three pointers against me, I'm going to apply some pressure to him by face guarding him until his cages are rattled. And if a freshman torches me for 8 three pointers on the road, I'd be embarrassed.
In hindsight, the Jays ability or lack thereof to a) identify the shooter and b) prevent him from draining open threes, is the culprit for their 8-4 start. At home, the combination of better Jays shooting and intimidating crowd noise has been enough to win 6 games. On the road, the Jays shooting percentage drops, but the opponent shoots better, and combined with open looks from the perimeter, it spells 0-4 on the road.
I hated on Matt Lojeski from Hawai'i, but he was just the latest in a long line of shooters to torch CU. Come on. What will superior shooters do to the Jays in Wichita, Carbondale, Cedar Falls and Peoria? Hell, Indiana State's Marco Stinson made 9 threes against Drake last week.
I'm a pretty optimistic fan, but I'm a little concerned right now. They need to shore up the defense and take better care of the ball, quickly, because the schedule makers have not done them any favors. The next five games? At Indiana State, at Evansville, Drake, at Northern Iowa, and at Wichita State.
Nice.
My only prediction is this: if Marco Stinson is left wide open, he will go for 40 against us, and the Jays will lose. Period.
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2-0 in the Valley is still a good place to be, regardless of how you got there. Wichita is 0-2 and has lost 4 in a row, so don't complain.
And there were some good things Monday, if you forget about the opponents three-point shooting (the Jays defenders forget about them all the time, so you might as well too). The team set a Qwest Center record by shooting 64% from the floor -- incidentally the second-best game ever, regardless of arena -- and won for the 4th time in 5 games to go to 8-4. They are tied for first in the Valley after one weekend of play with Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, at 2-0. Their next two road games, on paper, are the two most-winnable road games of the year.
Most importantly, they earned season ticket holders free Godfather's Pizza by scoring above 75 points for the second consecutive game. I'm dead serious. If I don't get my free pizza, you damn well better win, because if I get shut out of pizza and you lose, I'm going to be a very sad monkey!
Back to positives. Anthony Tolliver was the closest thing to unstoppable as I've ever seen on a basketball court. Double and sometimes triple teamed, he made 11 baskets and NEVER MISSED. 11 for 11. He grabbed 9 boards, and for the 32 minutes he was on the floor, he conducted a school based on Dale Carnegie's unreleased self-help book "How To Dominate, Be Awesome and Win Friends".
Nate Funk had 19 points, and once again forced the issue by driving the lane to draw fouls. When you consistently make 90% of your free throws, why not? 5-5 from the line, 6-10 from the field.
But I tell you who impressed me is Nick Porter. Since he's been the sixth man, his intensity is higher, his defense is better, and his focus is sharper. Some guys just perform better off the bench than they do when they start, and Nick's one of them. He still gets the same number of minutes. But he plays harder, like he has something to prove, and that's an attitude the entire team should embrace and follow.
This game, in many ways, was the classic conference lackadaisical effort against a bottom-division team. You lead by double-digits all day, but it never feels safe, you never can put them away, and at the end, you look at the numbers and feel lucky to have won. It happens in every league in America, to every team. In the conference, especially in a top league like the Valley, I suppose you just win and move on -- don't worry about how you do it, as long as you do it.
That's the motto I will follow the rest of the season, to help me stay positive as I'm want to do -- "Don't worry about how you do it, as long as you do it". A bit Machiavellian, to be sure, but if it works, go with it.
***
Today's Heee-Haw Player of the Game goes to Anthony Tolliver. Anytime you take more than 10 shots without missing, one of my rules is that you're automatically the player of the game. No debate, no questions, no doubt, no kidding. You bet.
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