Well, I'm sitting here at home, its 1:35 AM, and I have a bag of ice on my knee. But I'm happy, nay, thrilled to have a sore knee. Strange, I know, but this is good pain. Tonight, the Jays rallied back from 17 points down in the second half, and 11 with three minutes to play, and won on a last-second three from Cavel Witter. When the shot went in, I jumped in the air and when gravity did what gravity always does, I slammed into the seat in front of me. This gave me the most enormous charley horse the world has ever known, and also banged up my knee pretty good. But I didn't care, and in fact I jumped a second time. And a third time. To hell with it, the Jays fought back and won!
Also, its a good thing I can type, because I sure can't speak. My vocal chords are shredded to pieces. Basically, my body is a wreak and I didn't even play. This is what happens when I'm allowed room to jump, scream, wave my arms and exert physicality as a fan. Maybe its best for the hoopdy-dooers to be in their seats after all.
Nah, who am I kidding, that was a blast. 8000 die-hard fans yelling, getting on the other team and especially on the refs. Dare I say it was louder than it is with 17,000 there? Sounded that way live, and it sounded that way on ESPNU when I saw the tape.
That was a game for the die-hards, and when I looked around at who was there, it was no surprise who came out in my section. It was the people who yell and scream all year long, minus the people who sit and complain about the rest of us standing too much. Sorry, but it was a lot more fun without you. That was the most fun I've had at a Jays game since the Civic, and do you know why? There wasn't anyone around me who mistakenly believed they were at a funeral. Just real honest-to-goodness hoops fans who cared about cheering loudly.
You bet.
***
I promised my buddy Gilby that I wouldn't complain about the referees, because that's bush league. Its bush. So I won't complain, I won't tell you how Rhode Island got away with moving their pivot foot all night, I won't gripe about Rhode Island getting away with 9000 traveling calls, and I won't moan about the game devolving into a wrestling match. What I will relay to you is an anecdote.
Late in the second half, the referee under the basket made one of his 9,000,000 horrible calls in the game and the crowd booed lustily, myself included. During the next timeout, a fan near me yelled an obscenity-free phrase at the ref -- some variation on "Excuse me, kind sir, but I do believe that last call was a wee bit shenanigans!" Now, I've been to hundreds and hundreds of college hoops games, and when I was in college years ago I used to yell some pretty horrible things at the refs. I even got warned by a ref at the Civic for "personal attacks". He deserved it, but that's neither here nor there. No, tonight this particular referee decided to get into a staring contest with the fan. Not a Conan O'Brien hilarious staring contest. A "Quien Es Mas Macho?" staring contest meant to intimidate the fan and let him know that the ref was in control.
Funny, it didn't look to me like he was in control. Players on both teams that left with bloody faces can attest to that. It was a knockdown, drag-out, East Coast basketball street fight. My buddy Gilby grew up in New York, and throughout the first half he was amazed at what URI was getting away with. Nothing dirty, just extraordinarily physical play, the kind where half the team hits the deck every possession.
I'm sorry, a ref has no business staring down a fan, and should not be instigating things. That's bush league. We get it, you've got a fancy shirt with black and white stripes on it, and you've got a sweet whistle that only seems to work on one side of the court. Good for you.
The ref didn't appreciate my commentary, either, which he could hear because of the smallish crowd and my deep basso voice. Was I over the line when I said his mother would be embarrassed by him when he goes home for Easter this weekend? I don't know that. What I do know is that the player traveled three times with no whistle...
Alright, I lied to you Gilby. I did complain about the refs. My bad.
***
In the first half, Rhode Island came out and played a tough, physical brand of East Coast hoops that the Jays simply weren't ready for. They were getting schooled in the paint, killed on the boards and dunked on left and right. It was ugly, and it was 45-30 at the break. I looked at the halftime stats and told Gilby that, surprisingly, the rebounds were closer than it appeared. If they were shooting even at their season average, this would be a much closer game.
I also told him that as bad as the refs were, the Jays weren't playing well enough to earn the right to complain. A few viciously bad calls don't make up a 17 point lead. I also had the thought, though I didn't dare give it utterance, that there are always a few teams that phone in their NIT game because they don't want to be there -- and that I never thought in a million years the Jays would be in that company. Yet there they were, getting absolutely killed on their home court.
In the second half, almost from the word "Go", the Jays decided to fight fire with fire. If Rhode Island was going to hit them in the gut, return the favor. If Rhode Island was going to hit them in the mouth, hit 'em back. Chad Millard set the tone with a near-flagrant foul early in the half, and I stood up to give it a standing ovation. Sometimes you need some well-controlled aggression to set an attitude for the game, to tell the other team you're not backing down. And from that point on, things got wild. You had people getting thrown to the ground with no whistles, players stepping in to take charges and flying around for rebounds, sheer craziness. The Jays actually played tougher than URI in the second twenty minutes.
From the 10-minute mark to around the 7-minute mark, they cut into the lead and managed to get it down to four at 54-50. During the midst of that run, I told my buddy Gilby that I was standing the rest of the night -- and if the people behind me had a problem with it, they would just have to stand up to see around me. Of course, all of the fuddy-duddies weren't there anyway, so it wasn't an issue. EVERYONE in 113 followed the lead and stood.
With the game at 54-50, URI hit a layup and drew a foul. They missed the free throw, got the rebound and hit a three, and a five-point possession increased the lead back out to 9 at 59-50. Was that the last gasp?
Not so fast. Gilby noticed that the URI players were gasping for air around the free throw line, gassed and winded from playing only 7 players in a fast-paced, up-and-down game. They did manage to build the lead back to 11, and held it to the under-four media timeout. And then the Jays started their final comeback.
Booker Woodfox hit two CLUTCH threes with defenders draped all over him to cut into the lead, and then with 11 seconds left and the Jays down 2, Cavel Witter brought the ball upcourt. The play was clearly drawn up for P'Allen Stinnett to create a shot off the dribble, be it a three to win or a two to tie. But with 22 points, URI had three defenders all over him. Rather than force up a shot in traffic from 20 feet away, P'Allen passed to a wide-open Witter on the left wing, who buried a three to give the Jays their only lead of the second half.
Watching the ESPNU telecast, you can hear the crowd get louder as the shot was released, and then go absolutely bonkers when it went in. Even better, Dana Altman had a grin from ear to ear, jumped up and down, high-fived anyone he could find, and ran out of the arena slapping hands with fans down the tunnel. That's how powerful Cavel Witter is: he can morph Dana Altman into Jimmy Valvano.
***
The Jays move on now to play the winner of Florida - San Diego State. I say bring on the two-time defending national champs. The Jays have never lost to Florida.
***
I know the NCAA is trying to button-up the NIT's image, but things were a little over-the-top in the arena. All of the ribbon scoreboards were devoid of the usual animated advertisements, which frankly was fine with me. But the First National logos were also removed from the court, the physical ads on the jumbotrons were blacked over, and the giant Budweiser logo on the concourse behind the students was covered. No artificial music was played during timeouts -- just the CU Pep Band. No goofy promotional games during timeouts, just the band and the Jays Dancers. No tunnel walk video on the jumbotron, no Under Armor video, no Jays-specific video of any kind. In fact, during the introductions, where the P.A. Announcer usually calls them "Yyyoooooour...Crrrrreighton Bluejays!" he referred to them as "The Creighton Bluejays". Subtle change in semantics, but important.
When the Jays players were announced, none of the fancy graphics were shown. And he didn't enunciate their names for dramatic effect as he usually does (i.e. drawing out the "W" in Wwwwwwwattts!). In other words, it was a neutral court game played in front of a partisan crowd.
***
POLYFRO REGAL BEER PLAYER OF THE GAME: I had an economics professor at the community college I attended before transferring to Creighton who used to describe economic units, or "widgets", as real life items. Sure, the text book always referred to "widgets", but he preferred to use things like "Marlboro Lights" or "Regal Beer". He used to tell us, "Regal Beer might tempt you because of its low price, but don't be fooled. If you're going to buy Regal Beer because you can't afford something better, my phone number is on the syllabus, and I want you to call me. I'll come to store and pay the difference so you can drink something better."
Ahh, Regal Beer. What else? Oh yes, the Player of the Game. You bet. Gee, tonight it COULD go to P'Allen Stinnett, who had 22 points and 8 rebounds. Or it could go to Booker Woodfox, who keyed the comeback with two huge three's in the last 90 seconds and 22 points for the game. But I'm going to give it to Cavel Witter, whose only shot of the game was the game winner.
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