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.
One Big Paragraph With Lots O'Dots (TM): Tonight's game is televised by KMTV in Omaha, as last week's Indiana State game was the last untelevised game remaining on the Jays schedule. That means Pierce Hibma gets color duty on the radio broadcast. Also, the UNI feed is available on Sirius, which is of no help to XM guys like myself or to people actually in the arena, like myself ... The Jays lead the all time series with UNI 25-11, with their last loss in Omaha coming in 1996. They're 16-2 overall in Omaha, winning 12 straight at home; 9 straight overall, and 20 of the last 23. Furthermore, Dana Altman is 22-7 versus UNI and 4-0 versus Ben Jacobson ... UNI comes in at 8-6, a record that may be deceiving due to early season injuries. They're 2-1 in league play, with a double-overtime loss to Indiana State the only blemish on their ledger ... Of biggest concern to the Jays is the presence of 7'0" center Jordan Egel... (I'm going to butcher this name so let me copy and paste, just to be safe) Elgseder ...there we go, that's correct. His height is certainly a problem, but his 10 points / 7 boards average is too. The Jays big men have been bullied and pushed around at times this year (I'm being kind) and going up against that big of a body is an advantage UNI would be wise to exploit. Of course, they won't, because they're UNI and they never play well in Omaha ... Coach Ben Jacobson is in his third year as the head man, and owns a 44-33 record but has failed to take UNI to the postseason after McDermott took them to two straight NCAA Tourneys.
The Last Time They Played: Last year's meeting in Omaha, nationally televised on ESPNU, was described by yours truly the same way I described the game Saturday night in Normal, only this time it was the Jays visiting the buffet. A 74-50 win for Creighton that featured Kenton Walker's first start of the year -- a reward for outrebounding usual starter Kenny Lawson in practice.
Gratuitous Linkage: An investigation into the sad existence of Musak by producer David Was of NPR. I hate Musak, you hate Musak, so why does Musak exist? If I hear another Musak version of Europe's "The Final Countdown", I'm going to inflict serious physical damage on some inanimate objects. Arrrrghh!!
Official Gametime Snack: In honor of UNI, where I had dozens of 2:30 AM slices of pizza at "The Stein" in Cedar Falls' festive Hill neighborhood, may I suggest pizza for tonight? After a night of drinking, I mean, socializing with my brother and his friends at bars I can't recall the names of, the night always ended with pizza from the Stein that was so hot it burned your mouth. And somehow, it didn't even matter. Good times.
The totally random song I'd play right now if I were still a radio DJ: "Handle With Care" by The Traveling Wilburys. Take good care of that trophy, fellas, because when I get it back in a few weeks I expect it to be in good shape. Ha!
Prediction: The Jays mastery of UNI, particularly in Omaha, continues. Kenton Walker and Justin Carter have huge nights on the boards. Everyone gets free pizza.
Jays 82, UNI 60
Leave a comment