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.
Well, on Sunday, Creighton turned the tables. From the opening tip, CU was the aggressor, the team out-muscling their opponent. Anthony Tolliver was hooking Randal Falker to get space. Nick Porter was slashing inside and instigating contact. Nate Funk was diving on the floor for every loose ball.
One SIU fan, on their message board, had this take. "Come on gang...they did to us what we usually do to most people. They out-hustled us, ou-muscled us and out played us...they were more physical than we were from the start. The reality is we get up in people, we foul, we hack, we beat you up. Well CU and Funk had an answer this time."
The gameplan drawn up by Dana Altman was genius. GENIUS. Seriously, can we call a moratorium on fans ripping him for "allowing the program to slip", "not being the right guy to take the program to the next level", or any of the other asinine comments I've heard this year? I mean, look at what he drew up for the game on Sunday and tell me he's not a great coach.
Their plan was devious in its simplicity. Drive the ball into the paint with the intent of drawing a foul -- not of making, or even necessarily taking a shot. Time after time, possession after possession, the Jays drove the ball into the paint, challenging the Salukis to foul them. And they obliged. Falker and Mullins fouled out of the game when the game was still in doubt, taking any chance for a Saluki win with them.
The defensive side of this strategy was just as simple. Deny Falker the ball, and force everyone else to take contested jump shots. I only counted three wide-open looks all day, and two of them came on offensive rebounds.
An integral piece that held the strategy together was the rebounding, both offensive and defensive, that the Jays exhibited. I lost track of the number of times SIU was one-and-done, missing a contested jump shot and then not getting the rebound.
Bottom line: They hit SIU in the mouth from the opening bell, and the bully didn't know what hit them. Beaten at their own game, they weren't sure how to react.
You can't talk enough about the quality of refereeing that took place the entire weekend. These were big-time refs, and they called the games the way March contests ought to be called: let the big guys bang inside, watch for defenders impeding a dribbler on the perimeter, blow your whistle when a guy drives the lane and gets hit, and otherwise let them play. That makes for a fun pace to watch.
This is the Jays' 6th title in 9 years, and more importantly, guarantees their 7th NCAA bid in 10 years. How many so-called big boys would DIE for that kind of success? (I'm looking at you Iowa, Iowa State and Nebraska)
Ah, the Heee-Haw Player of the Game. I've watched an awful lot of Creighton basketball for a long time, and I can't ever remember a bigger performance than Nate Funk exhibited this weekend. A school-record 66 points in three games, including 33 in the unbelievable semifinal. He even provided an all-time moment, one of those plays people will talk about 20 years from now. Its already being mentioned in the same breath as the famous Korver bounce pass half the length of the court for a dunk in the CU-SIU game in 2003. In the second half, Funk knocked the ball loose, dove to the floor to gather it in, and laying ON HIS BACK, heaved the ball downcourt to Dane Watts for a dunk and a foul.
I literally stood up in my living room and my excitement could probably be heard in St. Louis, or at least outside my house.
You sir, are not only the Heee-Haw Player of the Game, but has put himself in the pole position for the coveted Polyfro Dr. Hy-Vee Player of the Year.
You bet.
Leave a comment