You know, at this point I'm not sure what's more amazing: Creighton having to cap season tickets because they don't want to sell too many, or seeing 2000 people show up for a freaking open house.
2000 people was a good crowd for a non-conference game against Grambling State my freshman year (1997). Now they get that many people to show up to a scrimmage! Well, they don't call it that -- its called an Open House, and its stated intent is to allow season ticket holders to find their seats, and prospective buyers to find open seats. While that's going on, Coach Altman runs a practice and gets his players some time on the Qwest Center court, which for the newcomers is their first experience in the building.
Maybe I'm a dreamer, but wouldn't it be cool to call a rose a rose and market this baby as "The Blue/White Scrimmage", akin to football programs' Spring Game? Its clear the interest is there, and last night's "Open House" was essentially that anyway, disguised as a practice. The 20-minute scrimmage featured referees, five-minute periods, shot clocks and a cheering crowd.
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I rolled up to the Qwest Center about 5:25, and discovered a line outside. A line! They were holding the gates until 5:30, so that everyone came in at the same time. Meanwhile the pep band was on the second level playing, and as far as I'm concerned, proving to all the haters that the reason they sound so small is because of the size of the arena -- not because of their numbers. Because I have to tell you, in that smaller space, they sounded pretty damn good.
At 5:30, the gates opened and the crowd spilled inside to get their posters, roster sheets, and six-dollar PBRs (the dirtbags raised the price on what had been the greatest bargain in sporting-venue-alcoholic-beverage history, which frankly is preposterous, horrendous, and utterly outrageous!!! Three exclamation points!).
Coach Altman was already conducting a practice by that point, and to me, this is always the most fascinating part of the open house. I've seen an awful lot of coaches conduct practice (and been yelled at in most of them) and to see him run practice is to understand his success. Like most coaches, he has two or three sayings he repeats over and over and over -- in his case, its "Lower your base!", "Box out!", "Get the rebound!", etc.
Just after 6, the de facto Blue/White Scrimmage started unannounced. The "White" team, which included the most experienced players, consisted of Dane Watts, Kenny Lawson, P'Allen Stinnett, Nick Bahe, Josh Dotzler and Pierce Hibma. The "Blue" team, made up mostly of newcomers, included Cavel Witter, Booker Woodfox, Casey Harriman, Dustin Sitzmann, Kaleb Korver, Kenton Walker and Chad Millard.
They did keep score, but not individual statistics. See, its just like a spring game!
As for individual performances, a lot of people in attendance will probably tell you P'Allen Stinnett was the surprise star, because he was easily the flashiest player on the court. While I won't deny that two-handed alley-oop dunk where he took off from seven feet out was pretty sweet, my favorite part of the play was watching Altman's grimace and order to "Be smart!". This is a dangerous statement for me to make, but it reminded me of a guy named Buford. You might remember him. He was kind of a big deal. People knew him.
The rest of the new guys, and my impressions:
Chad Millard is a hybrid small-power forward. He can shoot it from the arc and make it consistently, but looks like he prefers to drive inside and bang in the lane. An awful lot of Valley coaches will pull their hair out trying to match-up with him the next three years. Granted, I said the exact same thing about Jeffrey Don't Call Me Jeff Day a few years ago. However, Millard seems to have a wider range of skills than Day, and he is a grittier player.
Cavel Witter is the backup point-guard, although I would imagine (and salivate at the thought of) he'll play alongside Dotzler quite a bit. He's a very nice compliment to Dotzler, who we all know is a pass-first PG. Witter is a slashing, drive-the-lane point guard who defenses will have to respect, a trait Bluejay point guards haven't possessed since Ryan Sears. I remember thinking as I watching him, "Holy six dollar beers, this is the type of player we missed last year!" Pass-first, unselfish players are great and all, but sometimes you just need someone to make a damn shot. And to have the confidence to shoot -- and to make -- big shots.
Kaleb Korver can shoot, but his lack of size and the glut of freshmen on this team still leads me to believe he'll redshirt. As for his play, if you thought he was invisible because he didn't score much, you missed a lot. He sets up his teammates to get good shots, can make shots when he takes them, and just has that hard-to-quantify "makes solid basketball plays" skill. He looks like the quintessential Altman player, and he reminds me of Michael Lindeman -- the guy The Voice Of The Valley Mitch Holtius nicknamed "The Mosquito" because of his ability to drive opponents crazy by always being in the right spot at the right time.
Casey Harriman is a shooter, pure and simple. Nice, quick release, and reminds me of a grittier, more versatile Jimmy Motz. A shooter off the bench who can guard people? What a luxury.
Kenton Walker is a load, although his skills a tad on the raw side for D1. Someone behind me said derogatorily "he's a project!", with a touch of smarm in his voice. Hmm, do you remember what Anthony Tolliver looked like as a freshman? The guy seemed to be uncoordinated, had trouble catching the ball (much less shoot it) and looked like an erector set falling apart when he ran up the court. Now he's in the NBA. I'm just sayin'.
Booker Woodfox left for class before the scrimmage, so we didn't see much of him.
Kenny Lawson. Wow. He was on the boards, to cop a phrase from my grandma, like white on rice. Always moving, always trying to get in better position, and more often than not, pulling down rebounds. He will lead the Valley in rebounds at least one season before he graduates, I promise you that. I mean, during one stretch, he hauled in five straight tough rebounds in traffic -- on five consecutive possessions!
As for the returners, Dane Watts is bigger and stronger than a year ago -- and can still shoot from 25 feet. He should be, and needs to be, a leader on this team for it to succeed. Josh Dotzler's movements are fluid, his cuts are crisp, and he shows no signs of the injury, which is great. Not so great: he still struggles to make layups and the hitch in his jump shot that drives us all crazy is still there. Pierce Hibma is who he is, and his hustle and defensive ability will get him minutes at least early in the season -- anything you get on offense from him is a bonus. Ditto for Nick Bahe, although once Cavel Witter gets acclimated, he will probably get a lot of Bahe's minutes. As a "glue" guy, though, Bahe is an All-American.
Overall, there wasn't much surprising. Its a young team, which we all knew going in, but this is perhaps the most talented group of incoming players in school history. I'll have my full team preview next week, but for now, just sleep well knowing that whether they win 25 games or struggle to get 20 wins, this will be a very fun team to watch. They will score in the 80s more often than they score in the 50s, I promise you. Which means free pizza for everyone!
You bet.
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