Wednesday was the consummate trap game. The Jays were coming off of two huge road wins, one over the defending conference champ and the other over the current leader which was on an 11-game winning streak. The game was the tweener game before the Valentines Day, ESPN televised rivalry week tilt against Southern Illinois. Even for the best teams, that's a potential recipe for disaster. That's the kind of game where teams show up too lackadaisical, hope the home crowd can give them an assist, and escape with a victory.
All of that would be trouble enough if not for Bradley entering the game licking its wounds after getting destroyed four days earlier and remembering the hurt Creighton put on them in front of a sold-out crowd in January. Unfortunately, nothing in the first 30 minutes of the game did anything to dissuade me from feeling my sad prophecy was coming true. I don't want to be Nostradamus. Nostradamus is a douchebag who says the world is going to end in 2012. But when you're coughing up multiple 10+ point leads at home, when you're allowing a half-court buzzer beater to be taken much less made, when you're expecting us to be entertained at halftime by a vaudeville reject from 1855 rolling around the court in a giant hamster wheel...
Trap game.
I'm glad to report that somewhere in the last ten minutes of the game, the Jays were tougher, stronger and wanted the game more than Bradley. On a night when they didn't shoot particularly well, rebounded basically even with the other team and were stuck in neutral most of the night offensively, they found a way to win by 14.
The toughness I'm talking about was epitomized by Kaleb Korver, who in a 30-second span showed anyone who cared to watch that the Jays of February are not the same Jays as December and January. After prying the ball loose, he dove on the floor with a Bradley player, attacking the ball and physically forcing a jump ball. On the ensuing possession, he had one the prettiest hesitation moves and drives to the basket that you'll ever see. The arena exploded. The bench exploded. Bradley called timeout to settle things down. THIS is Creighton basketball.
Unfortunately for those who were not at the arena or were not watching on TV, they might think the Jays were lucky to win despite a lack of hustle, toughness or team play. If their only recap of the game was Tom Shatel's hatchet piece in this morning's World Herald, they'd believe exactly that. The lazy, phoned-in column ignored everything that has happened in the last two weeks, reading like a piece written in the aftermath of the Drake home game three weeks ago.
Were some of the things he wrote true? They were, a month ago. No longer. This is not that team anymore, and if he spent more time actually watching them and less time sucking up to Doc Sadler and quoting anonymous Creighton fans about their supposed discontent, maybe he'd realize that. Look, I'm no saint either, and I've never claimed to be a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, but to publish 1000 words in the most widely-distributed paper in the state staking claim to an opinion that is absurd in light of the way the team is now playing? Come on. Its enough to make me wonder if he actually wrote the article in late January, sat on it while he published other articles, and then cleaned it up quickly before handing it off to his editor last night.
He's better than that, and that's what's most disappointing about it.
*****
Trying to avoid becoming one of "Those People": A Short Story
Wednesday night's game tipped a half-hour later than usual, which contributed to my genius moment of 2009 (so far). Leaving the office just a shade before 5, I thought "Hey, I've got 2-1/2 hours until game time, I should go to the gym!" So I did, and I ran, biked and worked off enough calories to be able to fully enjoy a bag of mini donuts without making it look like I fully enjoy a bag of mini donuts.
Of course, I also got to chatting with a couple of the ladies at the gym and before you know it, its 6:35. Crap! So I dash to the showers, get dressed, and begin the 25-minute trek from the gym to the arena at 6:46. I hoped to find an immediate parking spot because all of that working out and talking with the ladies had made me hungry, so I would require food upon entering the arena.
Whoever said luck isn't a part of driving in a hurry is a liar. Every single light was green for the first ten minutes of the drive, most of the lights were green for the next ten minutes, and just like that I was nearing downtown in 16 minutes and change. Could this be a new record?
Nope. Whoever said luck isn't a part of driving in a hurry has a behind kicking coming to me. All the lights had broken my way, and now a flurry of driving peers were conspiring to keep me from the arena on time. Slow cars in not only my lane but the others as well kept me from driving the speed limit -- much less exceed it -- or passing to continue my quest to the Qwest. As I sat in traffic, I listened to T. Scott's pregame show from the arena, something I haven't had the privilege of doing for a home game in years. This is not a good thing, I can assure you.
Finally, I arrived at 12th and Capitol where I generally find free parking on the street, but of course, being 15 minutes before game time, those spots were gone. The pay lots along Capitol were all full too. I remember thinking two things: One, "Craptubular, I'm pissed!" and Two, "T. Scott hasn't done his pretend-live interview with Coach yet, so I'm alright."
After two trips around the block, I found a spot on the street in front of the Omaha World-Herald Museum (sic) just as T. Scott lied to the listeners by claiming he was heading into the locker room for his pregame conversation with Coach Dana Altman, which we all know by now is called Coaches Keys to the Game and its brought to you by Allmakes Office Equipment. Why do I remember such trivial nonsense? Anyway, its patently absurd that he tells the listeners he's heading into the locker room ten minutes before tip to talk to the coach, as if that close to gametime coach has nothing better to do than to sit down for an in-depth interview.
Sidebar: I asked T. Scott about this one of the times I was lucky enough to meet him -- incredibly nice guy, incidentally -- and he told me "Radio is the theater of the mind, son. Paint the picture in beautiful colors and the audience will let their imagination do the rest." True.
7:26, and I'd just parked six blocks away. Time to put all of that time in the gym to good use and sprint!! Six blocks in four minutes. Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
To the concession stands for pizza and a beverage. As I'm waiting in line, the national anthem hasn't even begun. Sweet, I can get food, drink and get to my seat before tip and this whole story will have been for naught! I won't be one of "Those People" after all!!
Then the keg goes dry. And I wait. And I wait. Bradley gets introduced as I watch a flat-screen TV. I wait some more. For a fleeting moment I contemplate taking the pizza and leaving without the beer, which would also mean leaving without paying. I don't know what's worse, stealing or going without beer? My conscience wouldn't let me do it. Now Creighton is getting introduced. At least I've stopped sweating from my six-block sprint, I remember thinking. Still waiting. Finally the guy comes back with my beer. I pay, and the teams are at center court, waiting for the tip.
I run again, and in a fortuitous happenstance, the tip is delayed because FSN was late coming back from commercial. I hustle down the steps and into my row just as the ball goes up in the air, I plant my butt in my seat just as the game begins, and my the smallest of margins I avoid becoming one of "Those People". Yeesh.
*****
Tonight's Polyfro Player of the Game is brought to you by "Pepsi Perfect" -- the beverage of 2015, available today! Not.
While Nick Bahe gave his award to Kaleb Korver, I'm going to go with Kenton Walker. Kenton's aggressive play finally began to show in the box score, as he contributed 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal in 22 minutes. Combined with Kenny Lawson's production -- 10 points, 6 rebounds and a block -- and that's pretty good numbers for your post players.
You bet.
