Remember two weeks ago when all those Debbie Downer Jays fans flooded the Bluejay Cafe and talk radio with their Armageddon talk? The Jays had lost two particularly ugly games, falling to 0-2 in the league for the first time since the Rick Johnson era. Well, don't look now, but the Jays have won four straight, three of them on the road, and now sit at 4-2 in the league, 13-3 overall.
Remember two weeks ago when an interview with Dana Altman on a local radio station led a sports talk host to speculate that if a certain Freshman didn't stop whining to the refs and didn't start buying into the Creighton system, he might transfer? Again, don't look now, but that same Freshman has since gone on to be the MVC Newcomer Of The Week in BOTH weeks since that erroneous speculation, has earned a starting spot at guard, and made clutch plays down the stretch in two consecutive road wins.
Tuesday night, a national TV audience (or at least, the 1% of the U.S. not watching American Idol or Ohio State-Michigan) got a chance to see this new crop of Jays first-hand. And they saw a pretty good representation of what this team's made of.
The Jays made exciting plays, and had great stretches that made you think, "Man, this is a really good team!" And then they had horrible stretches that made you think, "Wow, this team has a long way to go." In other words, a microcosm of all the games hardcore Jays fans have been watching all year. This team's motto should be Consistently Inconsistent.
If this game was the first time you've seen Creighton play this season, I don't know what you'd think. The Jays had a 17-0 run, and then were victims of a 15-1 run to almost completely erase it. Like I said, Consistently Inconsistent.
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With the game tipping off at 6pm, I barely had enough time to get home from the office before tip. I decided to live dangerously and stop by Little Caesars for a $5 "Always Ready" Pepperoni pizza, and you'd think this would be a great decision. Sure, its not a great pie, but you don't have to plan ahead to get it either. For an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment guy like me, the tradeoff in taste versus convenience is worth it.
I get inside, and some guy is buying eight pizzas. Completely cleans 'em out. Talk about rude. Anyone wanna take a guess what large capital consonant was on his jacket? Hint, if you're reciting the alphabet backwards while standing on one hand upside-down to show off because hey, you're just that cool, its the letter that comes after "O".
So I had to settle for an extremely lame-o cheese pizza. Not Gary-Cherone-More-Than-Words-Extreme(ly)-Lame, because that's REALLY lame, just Not-Pepperoni-Extreme(ly)-Lame. Just wanted to point out the distinction.
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When I finally did get home with my extremely lame-o cheese pizza, I flipped on the TV and VH1 Classic was on. They were playing the video for "Without You" from Van Halen III. The singer in that version of VH? Gary Cherone. You can't make this stuff up.
I quickly turned it to ESPN2, and the Australian Open was on. The match they were showing was only in the third set, and the announcers were talking about the anticipation for a riveting fourth set. It was 5:58, and the Jays were about to get pre-empted by tape-delayed tennis? ESPN is the best.
Luckily, they signed off, telling viewers they could see the rest of the match on something called The Tennis Channel, thus enraging the 26 die-hard tennis fans who were about to see their version of the "Heidi Game". Incidentally, The Tennis Channel? What in the name of Bjorn Borg is that? The next thing I know, you're going to tell me the NFL has a network too. Oh wait...
I signed onto IM, and my brother and I proceeded to exchange messages throughout the game. It was hilarious, and I wish I'd saved the transcript. Alas. All I managed to save was this:
Brother: "I paid for a Whopper and that's what I want, a WHOPPER! Discontinue the Whopper? Why don't you just call yourself the Burger Queen?"
Me: "I'm FREAKED out."
Oh, that's embarrassing, that's from some other conversation. Sorry.
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After jumping out to a 16-11 lead in which the Jays made their first six shots -- reminiscent of their trip to Cedar Falls last year in which they buried the Panthers in the first ten minutes of the game -- the game tightened. In fact, down the stretch of the first half, it was a great game. With the score tied at 28-all, the Jays ran off a 7-0 run to lead 35-28 at the half.
P'Allen Stinnett, in his first ESPN game, did not have any rim-rattling dunks in the first half. He did however have two enormous three-pointers, including one from about 140 feet away. (Actually it was only 106, but I tend to exaggerate sometimes. My apologies.)
The Jays opened the second half with a 10-0 run that gave them a 45-28 lead, making it 17 consecutive points. That stretch at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half was the key, because it gave Creighton the cushion they needed when the inevitable collapse came.
In this game, the collapse came almost immediately on the heels of that 17-0 run. Up 45-28, they were promptly outscored 17-4 over the next eight minutes, and saw their lead cut to 49-45. The Jays had 'em right where they wanted them. I made a comment to my brother that the Jays were going to take a page out of the Wichita State gameplan by baiting the UNI bench into a technical foul, at which point they'd break the game open.
I was joking. But that joke became prophetic when Ben Jacobson was called for a T just two minutes later, with the score 51-46. Now, the crux of his complaint was that Eric Coleman was shoved to the ground in a somewhat dirty fashion, and no foul was called. In the replay, it looked like one of three things happened:
A) Chad Millard threw a glancing blow elbow that knocked Coleman down;
2) Nick Bahe shoved Coleman in the back, which obviously hurt because Bahe is only eight inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter than Coleman; or
III) Jacobson freaked out like someone had just told him BK wasn't selling the Whopper anymore.
If you answered all of the above...well, you're indecisive, that's what you are. Pick a damn answer, would ya?
Nick Bahe made both T-throws, and then hit a jump shot on the ensuing possession, and it was a four-point swing. 51-46 had become 55-46, and UNI would never get closer than 8 the rest of the way.
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POLYFRO HEEE-HAW PLAYER OF THE GAME: I toyed with the idea of giving it to Nick Bahe for the first time in his Bluejay career last game. I made the case for him, and almost convinced myself to do it. Tonight, I can't deny it. Just look at the majesty of this line: 5-9 shooting, 2-6 from the arc, 6 boards, 15 points. He did have three turnovers, but if you win, its all good.
You bet.
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