February 2007 Archives

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that not one article in a newspaper or online about the game on Saturday had this for a lead:

"Saturday's white-out was not limited to the outdoors. For Creighton's home finale, 17,200 fans dressed in white packed the Qwest Center to watch the Jays defeat Wichita State 71-57."

There's sometimes when a cliche is just TOO easy, I suppose, even for me. Which has never stopped me before...

There are losses and then there are LOSSES. Teams that have NCAA-asperations do not lose by double digits to the last-place team in the league. And if they blow a 10-point lead in the second half of that game, getting outscored by one player in the half -- well, that's bad. I'm an optimistic fan to the end, but even I can't spin that one.

Tuesday night, the Jays went into Normal, Illinois looking to rebound from a disappointing home loss to Drexel in the BracketBuster. Normal is a place where the Jays have traditionally struggled, but those teams they struggled against were Kevin Stallings' coached Redbird squads. Not the Porter Moser-led lower division finishers of late.

It was also the first time in the last 15 games that the game wasn't televised. For me, this couldn't have set up better. Over the weekend, I'd gone out on a first date with a girl I met earlier in the week. Now, if you didn't do anything too heinous to mess up the first date and she actually wants to go out again, you do what you can to make that happen on her schedule. Her schedule said Tuesday night. Great. No really, that's fantastic. Tuesday it is. (Damn it!)

Even before the game Saturday night, I heard calls from several readers that the Jays should opt out of BracketBusters. Among the commonly cited reasons is this gem: the game is a lose/lose situation. If they win, well, they were supposed to win. And if they lose -- even to a solid team -- many fans will immediately head for the ledge to proclaim the team is "horrible".

P: Que pasa, pot!

K: Hey, what's up kettle?

P: Did you know you're black?

K: I am? Shit. I always thought I was a dark shade of navy blue.

A few months back, Creighton fans were lamenting how teams from the so-called BCS leagues wouldn't play them. The excuse most often given by BCSissies?

My buddy John has repeatedly said all year that Manny Gakou is, quote, My Boy. As in, "Your boy Manny Gakou had a stellar 46 seconds of court time there!" or "Two fouls in 12 seconds by your boy, Manny Gakou?"

First off, Manny Gakou is not my boy. If I was sitting in for Tony Kornheiser on PTI (and frankly, why not?) and Michael Wilbon accused me of this being true, I'd have the same answer. But I can see where the genesis of this accusation comes from. All year long, I have hoped against all odds that Gakou could become the solid backup post player the Jays so desperately need. That's why I try to make a point of applauding him when he shows signs of improvement or makes solid plays. That's why I even gave him the coveted Polyfro Heee-Haw POTG award a couple of weeks back.

The lack of a solid backup for Anthony Tolliver hurt the Jays chances against Southern Illinois in the game in Omaha, and it hurt them Saturday against Drexel. The Dragons are big, athletic and tough, but with Tolliver on the court, the Jays were the better team and led for most of the game. However, with Tolliver on the bench, the Dragons were a nightmare matchup. Drexel's bigs, Chaz Crawford and Frank Elegar, absolutely destroyed the Jays when Tolliver wasn't in the game, going on a decisive 14-0 run after he picked up his 4th foul midway through the second half.

Since I can't quite figure out what the hell happened in this game -- which is probably the result of sneaking into the UNI party at Old Chicago before the game, where its a distinct possibility that my drink was spiked -- this recap is going to use what we writers call "gimmicks". Lots of them. It will be pathetic. It will be awesome. It will suck. Pathewsomeck. There's the first gimmick: inventing a new word!

My response:

Since the Jays/SIU game was a 5pm tip, and I had a lame black-tie event to get to later in the evening that precluded me from either going to the bar to watch the game, or from having a few beers while watching it at home with the guys, I decided to keep a running diary during the telecast. Why? Because I can, and because it costs you nothing to read this stuff, I expect that answer to be sufficient.

You bet.

This was almost a grave situation. For 20 minutes of this game, I was sure I would never be able to eat Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donuts again. Not at the Iowa State Fair, not at the Qwest Center, nowhere, ever again.

They're the greatest culinary creation in the world, but I only get them once or twice a year -- the insane amount of sugar combined with whatever beverage I choose that night leaves me obnoxious and nuts. Think this guy:

I've been to a few places in the Valley, and the fans in Des Moines are by far the most hospitable and welcoming. I wouldn't say that about a couple of other places *cough* Carbondale *cough*...

So this year, once again the Polyfro Basketball Blog took the show on the road to the Knapp Center in Des Moines for the Creighton-Drake tilt on Saturday night. As a graphic designer, I find the Knapp Center to be a doozy. I used to write a piece for a prominent design publication called "Awesomely Bad Design", and I've always regretted not making the Knapp Center the feature of an article there. I won't get into too much here, but the purple banners with yellow highlights that adorn the ceiling are just the tip of the iceberg at this place. When your colors are blue and white, and to a lesser extent, black, why decorate your arena in purple and yellow? The section we sat in had giant aquamarine banners hanging above it; other sections had magenta, brown, and even red. Why, Drake, why?

If you had "at Bradley, 1/31" in the "When will Creighton score the most points this year" pool, well, congratulations. I sure didn't. To hang 82 points on the Braves in Carver Arena is awfully impressive. But here's what's most impressive to me: The Jays led by double-digits for all but 3 minutes, 36 seconds of this game. Those 216 seconds of single-digitness were the beginning of the game, when Creighton jumped out to an 11-2 lead at the 17:26 mark, and 62 seconds between when Daniel Ruffin's threeball cut the lead to 71-62 and when Nate Funk answered with a three for the Jays.

So the bottom line is, when you have a double-digit lead on the road against a good time for practically the entire night, you did a lot of things right. They made 51.2% from the field, which is great, but they also played really solid defense for almost the entire night. They were rotating to the shooters, talking to each other to make sure spots were covered, and with the exception of a few slip-ups, did a fabulous job.

Now, the pessimist (and I've had IMs and emails in my inbox this morning from these negative nancies, believe it or not) would point out the 19 turnovers, Josh Dotzler's sloppiness, the near-invisibility of the bench on the stat sheet, and the fact that if Bradley was hitting their shots, the Jays might have lost. Guys, come on, this was an 11-point win on the road! Did it occur to you that maybe the reason Bradley wasn't hitting their shots was because of the Jays defense?