Recently in 2008-09 Gameday Previews Category

Gameday: Northern Iowa

By
Max Univers
on January 6, 2009 7:09 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Eleventh Annual Polyfro Cup gets underway tonight when Creighton hosts Northern Iowa. For those of you who are new to this site or new to me or new to whatever, the Polyfro Cup is a mythical yet lightly regarded JPEG trophy that is awarded annually to the team with the best record among Creighton, Drake and Northern Iowa.

Why those three schools? Its easy: while I graduated from Creighton, my brother did likewise from Northern Iowa, and our dad from Drake. So every year since 1997, when I became the second in the Univers family to attend a Valley school, we've passed around the "Traveling JPEG" -- a JPEG version of a basketball trophy with three players, one for each school.

It was quite amusing to me for nine of those years, because Creighton won it every year. When I was in school, Drake and UNI were alternatively horrible and terrible, depending on the year. And even when UNI had their renaissance under Chewbacca, er, I mean, Greg McDermott, the Jays seemed to have their number. But then last year...ah, last year. Drake had their renaissance, but they swept the Jays in three games, they swept UNI in two meetings, and BAM the trophy was on its way, traveling via email attachment back to Iowa.

The quest to return it to its rightful place in my Documents folder begins tonight.
Continue reading Gameday: Northern Iowa.

Gameday: Indiana State

By
Max Univers
on December 31, 2008 7:59 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Wednesday, the Jays compete in the rare midweek day game. Actually, outside of St. Louis, this is the first time I can remember the Jays playing a weekday matinee. Couple that fact with Indiana State's usual tepid attendance, and today's gate numbers might be a race to 2,000. Anyone remember the game two years ago that took place at the same time as a Colts playoff game? There couldn't have been triple digits in that place, including staff and players.

The Hulman Center is a quaint place, more gymnasium than arena, and its been at least seven or eight years since I remember an imposing atmosphere in there. In February of 2001, the Jays went into Terre Haute and stole a win from the Michael Menser-led Trees, 77-71, in front of over 7,000 spectators. Every game since has been played in front of fewer and fewer people.

Add in the fact that Creighton hasn't won their MVC road opener since 2004, and this begins to look like the proverbial trap game -- mediocre opponent, no crowd, weekday matinee. Then you factor in the fact that the guy on the other bench was mentored by Dana Altman AND played for Creighton, and you start to wonder if this is a loss waiting to happen.

At least, I do. I'll try to talk myself out of it by the end of this post, when I make my prediction official.
Continue reading Gameday: Indiana State.

Gameday: Wichita State

By
Max Univers
on December 28, 2008 2:38 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Since I'm writing this from a rest area in Iowa (thank to free WiFi, woohoo!) I'll keep it short and to the point. There's a creepy guy with a scraggly beard pacing around the building who looks scared by my "demon machine", and I don't really want to hang around too long. He's asked me more than once why I have lighted fruit on my computer. Seems too much work to explain to him its an Apple, and all Mac laptops have the Apple logo on the back of the monitor, which yes, lights up from the light of the monitor. Sooo, you know, never mind.

Prediction: Jays 79, Shockers 64

Gameday: DePaul

By
Max Univers
on December 23, 2008 1:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I've made no secret of the fact that I'm no fan of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic. See here and here. Oh, and here. But since we can't change the tourney or its participants, at least the Jays opponent this evening in the title game is DePaul. While neither the Blue Demons or the Billikins are great opponents, playing a third A-10 school wouldn't necessarily be a huge boost to the RPI. Meanwhile, if they can beat DePaul, they'll at least have the benefit of the Big East's likely #1 conference RPI on their schedule strength. Granted, DePaul might be one of the worst teams in the Big East, but still, its better than beating Southern. Or playing Southern. Or having to watch Southern. In fact, lets just change the topic, shall we?

When last the Jays saw DePaul, they were a "potential" sleeper team in the Big East, coming into the Qwest Center for a rare Friday night game. I use the word potential loosely, because it was really only DePaul fans who believed they were a sleeper team, but someone believed it, which doesn't technically make saying it now a false statement. Right? Right. The Jays fell behind big early, before a huge rally led by P'Allen Stinnett's virtuoso scoring performance: 9-12 from the floor, 5-5 from behind the arc, 23 points, all in the second half. After that game, Blue Demons fans watched in horror as their team went 11-19 and 6-12 in the league.

Back is Mac Koshwal, who averages a double-double and grabbed 11 rebounds last year in Omaha. Also back is Dar Tucker, who averages 18 points and 6 boards. Tucker was in foul trouble most of the night last year, and fouled out with just 8 points, although he did grab 6 boards. DePaul outrebounded the Jays 41-38 in last year's game, and their best Windex men from that contest will be playing tonight. Sounds like a good test of the Jays improvement on the boards to me.
Continue reading Gameday: DePaul.

Gameday: Fresno State

By
Max Univers
on December 22, 2008 11:01 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I'm an optimistic fellow, and even I'm finding a tough time justifying the Jays presence in the Las Vegas Classic. If the purpose of an exempt tournament is to play top teams you couldn't otherwise play, its a failure. Fresno State and DePaul have been on the schedule recently, and St. Louis isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. If the purpose is to get national television exposure, its a failure. The games are only available via webcast from a dubious site that won't even allow customers to pre-order the game. And if the purpose is get games to impress the selection committee come March, its also a failure. If they win, tis tournament does absolutely nothing to improve their chances of getting into the field and/or earning a better seed, and a loss will absolutely be a scuff mark on their record.

As a matter of fact, the only thing I can find to remotely justify playing in this thing is that it allows P'Allen Stinnett a chance to play before his hometown friends and family. That's a good thing. But its the only good thing.

And don't even get me started on pulling out of last year's tourney to take the Canada trip. I'm officially changing my answer to that quandary to "Bad Idea". I argued until I was even bluer in the face than I normally am that it was a defensible position. No longer. This tournament is crap, there's absolutely nothing to gain from it and there's a huge amount to lose. There. I said it.

The game against Southern, while a win, dropped the Jays' RPI almost 40 spots simply by having the worst team in America on the schedule. Playing Fresno State, number 241, tonight will probably also precipitate a drop even with a win. And playing the winner of DePaul and St. Louis? 115 and 202, respectively. I'm not afraid to call a turd a turd, and this tournament is a turd sandwich made of Bulldogs and Demons (and possibly Billikins).

No, I'm not bitter or anything, but thanks for asking and showing concern for my well being.
Continue reading Gameday: Fresno State.

Gameday: Southern

By
Max Univers
on December 15, 2008 11:45 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I'm prone to exaggeration. Its just what I do. When I was growing up, my brother and I would make fun of our Dad for exaggerating stories, and yet here I am, 30 years old, and I do the same thing. Oh, I try to catch myself when I can, and I'm getting better at staying true to the facts. But then I go and do something stupid like declaring Arkansas Pine-Bluff "The Worst Team Ever".

Folks, this is not exaggeration: Southern is the worst team in Division 1. That's not me saying that. Real Time RPI says that. There's 343 teams in Division 1, and Southern is #343. They're the worst, and the amazing thing is, they've got a two-tenths point buffer between them and the next worst team, North Carolina Central. Its like Huey Lewis once sang, sometimes Bad is Bad.

Incidentally, Arkansas Pine-Bluff is currently #189, but that's mostly due to their schedule strength being the fourth toughest in the country. I suspect they'll be giving Southern a run for their money before all is said and done.
Continue reading Gameday: Southern.

Gameday: Northern Colorado

By
Max Univers
on December 13, 2008 11:34 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Friday night, I went to a fish fry in Bee, Nebraska, which is town of 209 people about 20 minutes north of Seward. I'd been in Seward to serve as a guest judge for the final project presentation in the Graphic Design department at Concordia University, and when I got word of a place offering plates the size of a cookie sheet heaped with fish, french fries, slaw and bread, PLUS beer for $2 a bottle regardless of make or model, I was sold. Throw in that the venue was a venerable old building in a small town, and I was in for the night.

I woke up around 11am Saturday, opened up my laptop, and saw the following headline on GoCreighton.com: "Men's Basketball to Host UNC on Saturday". My first thought was "Wow, that must have been some gooood fish." My second thought was "Maybe I had one too many Pabst Blue Ribbons." My third thought was "UNC? Wait, the Jays are playing North Carolina? When the hell did this happen?"

Northern Colorado. Duh. I guess the initials are the same, just like South Carolina likes to call themselves USC and Southern Illinois likes to call themselves [INSERT YOUR OWN JOKE HERE].

So that was the great excitement for me today. Five seconds of confused thoughts followed by a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. You bet.
Continue reading Gameday: Northern Colorado.

Gameday: Dayton

By
Max Univers
on December 10, 2008 10:54 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I do a fair amount of griping about the SWAC teams and their 300+ RPIs that litter the Jays schedule. Here's what I do in the privacy of my home: I put on my best medieval garb, pretend to be John Malkovich, and run around telling all of the SWAC teams that they mock me.

Mississippi Valley State? You have four "S"s, four "I"s, and only two "P"s. You mock me.

Southern? Unless there's a guy named "Southern" that you're named for, there's no excuse for your genericness. You mock me.

Arkansas Pine-Bluff? Even the Washington Generals would beat these guys. You mock me.

 

Tonight, we will not be watching a SWAC team mock us. We'll be welcoming in a team on the cusp of the Top 25, an Atlantic 10 team that may well be the best team on the schedule -- including the Valley slate. Tonight, its the Dayton Flyers in town to take on the Jays in what will be an extraordinarily entertaining game.
Continue reading Gameday: Dayton.

Gameday: Mississippi Valley State

By
Max Univers
on December 2, 2008 7:58 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
There's nothing like a Dana Altman press conference to make it abundantly clear how terrible the team is. Even in years when the team wins 20+ games, he takes every opportunity to tell anyone who will listen that they don't play good enough defense, they don't rebound, and they've got to get a lot better.

"You don't just turn it on and off like a light switch. Our habits are bad, our approach to games and practice are bad, and we've been talking about it for weeks. There's only so much the coaching staff can do. Hopefully, the players will put some pressure on each other and start being accountable...We had no attention to detail on the offensive end. We made no effort to communicate anything defensively and gave up a lot of easy shots. We had no physical play on the boards, and we committed 20 turnovers. Poor free-throw shooting showed a lack of focus. All that shows how much work we have to do." -Dana Altman

When was that quote delivered? Last week? After the Nebraska game on Saturday? Nope. November 13, 2006, right before the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils came to Omaha to play the Jays. Anyone remember the score of that game?

Jays 78, MVSU 42. Now, I'm not foolish enough to believe the problems facing that team are exactly the same as the ones facing this one, nor am I trying to say they can fix what ails them overnight. I'm just saying...
Continue reading Gameday: Mississippi Valley State.

Gameday: Nebraska

By
Max Univers
on November 29, 2008 12:21 AM | | TrackBacks (0)
First off, my apologies for the lack of Gameday Preview articles for both the Oral Roberts and Arkansas Little Rock games. The truth is, the Friday before Thanksgiving I was laid off my job as a graphic designer after nine years with the company. I spent last weekend at the bar, and this week making use of the extensive industry contacts I've made over the years.

But that's not why I didn't post previews, although it would certainly be a legitimate excuse. No, like a moron I lost my administrative password for Movable Type (the software that runs this blog), and it took me a few days to convince my web host to log in to my blog database and reset things. Incidentally, that's why the postgame articles for those two games were so late in being published. Anyway, Its back, and so am I, for better or worse! Don't worry about me, I'm actually excited for the search for my next job. Sometimes you don't find the next challenge until you're forced to look for it. To everyone who has offered me leads on jobs, purchased me beers or offered kind words, you have my sincere thanks. Now, enough sappy stuff, there's a game to talk about! You bet.

*****

Saturday night's showdown in Lincoln could well be an early turning point in the Jays' season. Coming off of a disappointing game in Little Rock in which the Jays squandered a 16-point lead and were outrebounded by an absurd 20 rebounds, the Jays travel to Lincoln for the annual in-state rivalry game with the Huskers. Win the game and the team sets themselves up nicely for a run through the rest of the non-conference. Lose the game and the season could go south in a hurry.
Continue reading Gameday: Nebraska.
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About the Author

Max Univers (not his real name) is a graphic designer and author of two books, neither of which you’ve probably heard of. A 2001 graduate of Creighton University’s Journalism program, Max takes time out of his busy nightlife to share his thoughts on Jays hoops here during the season.

Why Univers? Its his favorite font, plus it just sounds really cool as a surname.

Why Polyfro? Years and years ago, Max had a giant afro wig that he wore as part of a Halloween costume. Not wishing to retire its giant fro awesomeness after the holiday, he began wearing the wig out in public as part of his everyday ensemble. One night at a dance club, the DJ called out the moniker over the soundsystem. Max thought it sounded cool, and purchased the URL shortly thereafter.

More questions? Send me an email: max-at-polyfro-dot-com. I like jokes, story tips, and generally all correspondence involving Bluejay athletics. Emails that point out how stupid I am and/or where I should go after I die are not encouraged.

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This page is a archive of recent entries in the 2008-09 Gameday Previews category.

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