Stuck in Omaha for Arch Madness this year due to some other commitments, I decided to see if there was any mojo left at Buffalo Wild Wings. During the NFL playoffs, a huge group of my friends went to one of their locations in Omaha for the first Sunday of games. My buddy Gilby is from Upstate New York originally, and when his Giants won, we of course had to go back for the second round. And then for the NFC Championship. And then for the Super Bowl.
So there is definitely something going on with that. Hoping to ride on the momentum, the mojo, or maybe just the overpriced beers and expensive wings, we went there to watch the inevitable smackdown to be delivered by the Jays to the Drake Bulldogs, owners of A Proud Basketball Tradition Since November.
Well, a guy has to be optimistic even in the face of a million reasons not to believe, right? Drake is having their once-every-37-years great season, they're led by seniors who look to make shots for each other, and they're easily the best TEAM in the league. Creighton is having a rare rebuilding season, they're led by freshmen and sophomores who look to make shots for themselves, and they're the best collection of young talent in the league, but not the best TEAM. Not yet.
Before the game, someone told me a pretty good analysis of how the Jays could win: play 40 minutes and avoid playing Dust Bowl Basketball for 10 minutes of a half. Dust Bowl Basketball is something the Jays have practically patented this year, going on epic droughts that last for minutes on end. Stagnant offense, confusion on defense, all while allowing the opposition to either erase a huge deficit or increase their lead.
Think back to how many times this has burned the Jays. Even in games they've won, Dust Bowl Basketball has reared its ugly head. Seems like its happened at least once a week since the first of the year, doesn't it?
Play 40 minutes, avoid long scoring droughts, and it was possible for the Jays to upset Drake. After all, the two previous games were close battles won late by the Bulldogs. Stands to reason it wouldn't take much to put the Jays over the top.
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And from the get-go, things looked great. In fact, it was 18-13 Creighton with 10:30 to play in the first half. And then Dust Bowl Basketball made a most unwelcome reappearance. Over the remaining 10:30 of the half, Creighton would score just three more points: a free throw by Dane Watts at the 8:13 mark, and a dunk by Watts with 1:56 to go in the half. Three points! In almost 11 minutes!
Stop me if you've heard this before, but with that stretch, it went from 18-13 Creighton to 30-21 Drake. A 17-3 run to close the half.
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The Jays opened the second half with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to just 2 at 33-31, but Drake immediately answered with a 10-2 run of their own to make it 43-33. That turned out to be the deciding stretch, as Creighton would make several attempts to close that 10-point gap but never got closer than four the rest of the way.
In the end, it was eerily similar to the two previous matchups, in that it was a very close game that either team could have won. If Creighton makes a break for themselves, or gets a lucky bounce once or twice, the game swings the other way. But that's why Drake is 28-4 and the Missouri Valley Regular Season and Tournament Champions: they make plays when they have to. Give Drake all the credit in the world, because that's what great teams do. In close games, they make the plays they need to make. Drake is a well-coached team that plays with great discipline.
Creighton isn't at that level with this group of players yet. They'll be there, perhaps as early as next year, but right now this particular group of Bulldogs is simply better. When you lose three times to a team, you can't chalk it up to luck or bad bounces. Drake is better than Creighton this year, period. End of story.
Good luck to the Bulldogs the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Jays have about a 10% chance of making the NCAA Tournament, and that percentage will decrease as the week goes on. The NIT is the likely destination, and before you gripe about that, think back to the Open House in October.
Almost universally, Jays fans were in agreement that this year would be enormously fun, filled with ups and downs, wins over teams they shouldn't beat and losses to teams they shouldn't lose to. In the end, most folks thought they'd be an upper-division team, probably 3rd or 4th in the league, and would go to the NIT. A good number of people actually were worried about the team not being able to continue the streaks of 20 wins and 10 in the league. Well, as postseason nears, the Jays are almost exactly what we thought they were.
4th place, 21 wins, an NIT berth. Wins over St. Joseph's and Southern Illinois, losses to Evansville and blowout losses to Illinois State and Bradley. Sure, our expectations rose as the season went on, but isn't this about where we thought we'd be? I, for one, am pretty thrilled with 21 wins and an NIT berth. If that's a "rebuilding" year, what are they building for? Think about that.
You bet.
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