DePaul 72, Creighton 57
Blown over in the Windy City
Earlier this fall, I stumbled across one of my favorite albums of 2005. It is entitled “(Come on feel the) Illinoise,” written and composed by Sufjan Stevens. Mr. Stevens set out a few years ago to do the unthinkable – he wanted to write an album about each of the 50 states, sculpting each song from each state’s long history.
The Calm Before the Storm
5:45 a.m.: Panon and I leave our house for the airport. It’s about 15 degrees outside, which will be a constant theme for the next 24 hours-plus of Bluejay fandom. We’re catching a 7:40 flight to Chicago Midway on Southwest Airlines, home of the lowest fares allowed by law. Makes you feel safe, huh? Just kidding.
Panon and I saw a couple other Jays fans boarding our flight, which was a sign of things to come. Just a great turnout by Jays fans for this game. We actually saw someone with a Jays jacket cruising down Wabash in the afternoon. Good stuff.
8:30 a.m.: Panon and I take our carry-on luggage (backpacks, like we’re still in college or something; come to think of it, this trip just screams “college kids,” but alas, we’re no such kids) and make a beeline for the orange line.
8:45 a.m.: Not being from a major metropolitan area, I find the subway, elevated trains, and buses of huge systems simply fascinating. Great people-watching, except for the fact that if you get caught staring at someone they'll jack your cell phone or something.
9:30 a.m.: We finally step foot on the north starting point of the Magnificent Mile, Michigan Avenue.
I’m not going to lie, I get the little skin bumps whenever I step foot in downtown Chicago. I’m a lifelong Cubs and Bears fan, but didn’t make my first trip to Chi-town until my junior year in college.
Did I mention it was for the NCAA Tournament? Terrell’s shot? Oh, yeah, that was pretty important. To be on hand for what will continue to be known as one of the greatest shots in Creighton history was, for the lack of a better term, exhilarating. So exhilarating, in fact, that I almost got kicked out of the United Center. But that’s another story for another time.
9:40 a.m.: Panon and I spend the next 4 hours in downtown Chicago, seeing some of the sites, taking some pictures, but mostly trying to stay warm. I mean, 27 degrees is cold enough, but the wind? Just icing (almost for real) on the cake.
We took in some sky-high scenery from the Hancock Building, one of the most unique buildings in Chi-town.
We ate some cheezborgers (“no singles, doubles!”) at the Billy Goat Tavern, home of the Cubbie curse (if you believe in those kinds of things).
2:30 p.m.: Our close college friends (and newlyweds) Jeremy and Sarah pick us up from downtown and we head through afternoon traffic to the town of Rosemont, home of the All State Arena. Too bad the huge number of cars surrounding us on the interstates didn’t come to the game, because there were plenty of open seats at the game.
5:00 p.m.: We decided to stop by the Creighton Pre-game party, thrown by the Chicago chapter of the Creighton Alumni Association. Wonderful time; it was great to see so much white and blue, including the white hair of some really old Bluejay alumni. Great to see their allegiance still runs deep.
Then, the highlight of the night illuminates in the scoreboard lights: Josh Dotzler gets the first start of his college career (the first of many, for sure).
Earlier this fall, I stumbled across one of my favorite albums of 2005. It is entitled “(Come on feel the) Illinoise,” written and composed by Sufjan Stevens. Mr. Stevens set out a few years ago to do the unthinkable – he wanted to write an album about each of the 50 states, sculpting each song from each state’s long history.
The Calm Before the Storm
5:45 a.m.: Panon and I leave our house for the airport. It’s about 15 degrees outside, which will be a constant theme for the next 24 hours-plus of Bluejay fandom. We’re catching a 7:40 flight to Chicago Midway on Southwest Airlines, home of the lowest fares allowed by law. Makes you feel safe, huh? Just kidding.
Panon and I saw a couple other Jays fans boarding our flight, which was a sign of things to come. Just a great turnout by Jays fans for this game. We actually saw someone with a Jays jacket cruising down Wabash in the afternoon. Good stuff.
8:30 a.m.: Panon and I take our carry-on luggage (backpacks, like we’re still in college or something; come to think of it, this trip just screams “college kids,” but alas, we’re no such kids) and make a beeline for the orange line.
8:45 a.m.: Not being from a major metropolitan area, I find the subway, elevated trains, and buses of huge systems simply fascinating. Great people-watching, except for the fact that if you get caught staring at someone they'll jack your cell phone or something.
9:30 a.m.: We finally step foot on the north starting point of the Magnificent Mile, Michigan Avenue.
I’m not going to lie, I get the little skin bumps whenever I step foot in downtown Chicago. I’m a lifelong Cubs and Bears fan, but didn’t make my first trip to Chi-town until my junior year in college.
Did I mention it was for the NCAA Tournament? Terrell’s shot? Oh, yeah, that was pretty important. To be on hand for what will continue to be known as one of the greatest shots in Creighton history was, for the lack of a better term, exhilarating. So exhilarating, in fact, that I almost got kicked out of the United Center. But that’s another story for another time.
9:40 a.m.: Panon and I spend the next 4 hours in downtown Chicago, seeing some of the sites, taking some pictures, but mostly trying to stay warm. I mean, 27 degrees is cold enough, but the wind? Just icing (almost for real) on the cake.
We took in some sky-high scenery from the Hancock Building, one of the most unique buildings in Chi-town.
We ate some cheezborgers (“no singles, doubles!”) at the Billy Goat Tavern, home of the Cubbie curse (if you believe in those kinds of things).
2:30 p.m.: Our close college friends (and newlyweds) Jeremy and Sarah pick us up from downtown and we head through afternoon traffic to the town of Rosemont, home of the All State Arena. Too bad the huge number of cars surrounding us on the interstates didn’t come to the game, because there were plenty of open seats at the game.
5:00 p.m.: We decided to stop by the Creighton Pre-game party, thrown by the Chicago chapter of the Creighton Alumni Association. Wonderful time; it was great to see so much white and blue, including the white hair of some really old Bluejay alumni. Great to see their allegiance still runs deep.
Then, the highlight of the night illuminates in the scoreboard lights: Josh Dotzler gets the first start of his college career (the first of many, for sure).
Like I said, that’s the highlight of the night.
7:30-9:30 p.m.: Can I just skip over this? No? OK, fine. I’ll bullet-point this game, since quite a few points of interest played out during the Jays’ first loss of the season.
Behind the Box Score
- Blame the blue-sea-like end zones of empty seats. Blame the dimmer-than-usual lighting. Blame the Billy Goat for all I care. The Jays shot horribly. End of story. Who knows if the trip was bad, the shoot-around was bad, or the basketballs were bad. The only thing we know was bad for sure was Creighton’s shooting (31%), three-point shooting (17%), and free-throw shooting (67%). Enough said.
- DePaul mismatched the Jays at almost every position, if no way else than by size. It was a testament to Anthony Tolliver, Nate Funk, and Jimmy Motz that the Jays ended up even on the boards with the Blue Demons.
- Speaking of Anthony Tolliver, he had himself a solid game offensively, and held his ground for the most part defensively. Tolliver finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and went 7-9 from the free-throw line. On a night when most Jays were flustered by DePaul’s defense and couldn’t get shots to fall, Tolliver continued to show improvement from the past two seasons.
Too bad Anthony didn’t get much help down in the paint. Jeff Day played 10 minutes, picking up 3 fouls, scoring 2 points, and grabbing 1 rebound. Dane Watts didn’t see the court for most of the second half, finished with 5 points and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes of action. Steve Smith didn’t play again, and won’t play against Chattanooga because of reoccurring back problems. With Manny Gakou not scheduled to see his first action until the Norfolk State game, the Bluejays need some help in the low post. Now. - Like I mentioned before, Josh Dotzler’s start, and his continued steady play, was the highlight of the night. Dotzler logged a game-high 34 minutes, scoring 7 points, grabbing 2 boards, dishing out 5 assists, and picking 3 steals. With just 2 turnovers. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your starting point guard for the next 4 years.
- If Dotzler was the high, than teammate Nate Funk was the low point. His effort was great (as usual), but with less than 5 minutes remaining he hit the floor for a loose ball and failed to rise to his feet. It took some time, but he eventually got up, grimacing tightly and holding his shoulder. A bad night turned horrific for the Jays fans in attendance and those cheering the White and the Blue in Omaha. Funk’s season might be over (we’ll know more later this week), but he’s out indefinitely.
In the City of Broad Shoulders, it was Funk’s that gave out. And now another Jay has to shoulder the load of this season for the foreseeable future. Who’s it going to be?
posted by Creighton Otter at 9:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home