Indiana State 55, Creighton 52; Creighton 75, Evansville 62
AM Radio
Well, needless to say, things have been busy around Bluejay Basketball Land.
It has been nearly two weeks since last we spoke, and those 14 days and nights have seen the emergence of the Missouri Valley Conference as a rough-and-tumble, no-holds-barred, Macho-Man-Randy-Savage-Off-The-Top-Rope college basketball league.
Creighton started Valley play over New Year’s weekend, with a come-from-behind win against Missouri State and a hold-on-tight win against Illinois State. However, the first real treat of 2007 (read: sarcasm) was waiting in John Cougar Mellencamp’s home state of Indiana. But instead of “Cherry Bombs,” the Jays met Sycamores, and in the place of “Pink Houses” and “Thundering Hearts” there were Purple Aces.
One of the ways in which Jays fans have become spoiled in recent years — aside from the almost unparalleled continued success among MVC teams and the construction and fulfillment of The Qwest Center — is the proliferation of Creighton Basketball games shown on television.
If you are able to attend Jays home games, and you have access to local and cable television in the Omaha metro area, you’ll see a total of 29 Jays games this year, not including postseason play. If you don’t live in Omaha but you have cable television, you’ll be able to watch 10 Creighton preseason or regular season games.
But no matter where you live, outside of Terre Haute, no one could watch Creighton’s road game at Indiana State. Apparently, no on in Terre Haute thought much to watch it either, as reported attendance for the game was less than 4,000.
Maybe the rest of the Sycamore Faithful knew something those 4,000 didn’t — that the Sycs and the Jays would combine to shoot 38% and keep basketball backboard and rim suppliers in Western Indiana in business for at least another week.
And what’s worse? The Jays dropped one of the “need” road games on their schedule.
No, wait. What’s worse than that? Not being able to watch it on TV.
I’ll get to the game in a second, but guess what? I didn’t get to watch Creighton’s game at Evansville on television, either. But, that was my choice. I’m getting married. My fiancé and I went back to her hometown to do some wedding planning that weekend, and so I skipped watching the game.
But before you say, “Man, how could you miss watching the game to do something you could do any other weekend.” My answer is two-fold: 1.) When it is time to plan a wedding, it is every couple in Central Iowa for themselves (just think of it as thousands of other couples getting married, scrounging after DJs and photographers like Southern Illinois defenders), and 2.) You obviously don’t know my fiancé or my future parents-in-law.
They hail from the land that produced The Ankeny Bulldog, Ryan Sears. They fly a Jays flag in the front yard. They are Jays Fans, tried and true, so much so that Saturday dinner revolved that weekend around listening to a strong Big Sports 590 signal on the home stereo, inviting T. Scott Marr and Kevin Sarver into the home.
Not Quite Hickory High
That’s kind of the focus of this installment. Kickin’ it old school. Reminiscing about the good (read: bad) old days when, before television, die-hard fans would huddle up around the stereos in their homes or kids (like me) would tune in their boom boxes in their rooms and take in the descriptions of all kinds of sports, including Bluejay Basketball. I took in the Indiana trip just like Shooter (Dennis Hopper) listened to Hickory High’s run to the Indiana State Title from his hospital bed.
And just like Shooter, I felt like I had one big hangover after listening to the Indiana State loss. Let’s just say Jimmy Chitwood wasn’t exactly in the building.
After shooting 53% against Missouri State and a then-Phone Booth record 64% against Illinois State, the Jays managed a paltry 38% on the road against the Sycamores, getting double-digit scoring from just Nate Funk (17 points) and Nick Porter (15 points). However, Creighton’s scoring defense again proved effective, limiting ISU to just 38% shooting as a team and allowing just one Syc to reach double figures (Marico Stinson with 12 points).
Both teams had less than 10 turnovers and came out even in the rebounding column, but Creighton just couldn’t get over the hump in the second half. After two gutsy performances at The Q, life on the road in The Valley of Death proved terrifying in this team’s first encounter with a conference away game.
After such a tepid effort offensively, things didn’t look to get markedly better with a quick turnaround and a game two days later in Evansville, where the Purple Aces always play the Jays tough. However, the Jays came out shooting the ball well against Steve Merfeld’s Aces, and they opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first half. But, just like so many times before during this rollercoaster season, the Jays gave up the lead — and momentum — before halftime, allowing Evansville to shoot 58% in the first 20 minutes and stake claim to a 38-35 lead at the intermission.
And then it was time for the defense to shine.
“Clank” Go the Aces
What does a 22% shooting percentage look like? I don’t know, because I was pacing back and forth across my future parents-in-law’s home, listening to 590. I can tell you, though, that 22% sounds great as a fan of the defense. Anthony Tolliver’s 4 blocks sound great. The clanks made by 21 missed shots in the second half by the Purple Aces is music to my ears, to be honest. The Jays made sure not to lose this “need” road game, shooting 52% in the second half.
In fact, it was the most balanced scoring effort of the season for the Jays, with Isacc Miles (15 points), Funk and Tolliver (14 points each), and Porter (12 points) going for double digits, and Nick Bahe (9 points) and Dane Watts (8 points) getting close, too. It was another one of the five “need” road games (Indiana State, Drake, Bradley, and Illinois State being the others) that the Jays must have if they want to win a Valley regular season title or be considered for an NCAA at-large birth.
Sure, it would have been great to watch the games (thanks to the wonders of digital recording, I was able to watch the CU-EU game in what seemed like half the time when I got back to The Big O), but there is something special about listening to a broadcast on AM radio. Maybe its because I do play-by-play for local sports as a hobby, or maybe its because I have such fond memories of listening to sports on the radio as a kid, but every once and awhile it is nice to make some dinner, chill out, and pace back and forth in the comfort of my own home (or the home of my future parents-in-law, if they’ll still have me).
Well, needless to say, things have been busy around Bluejay Basketball Land.
It has been nearly two weeks since last we spoke, and those 14 days and nights have seen the emergence of the Missouri Valley Conference as a rough-and-tumble, no-holds-barred, Macho-Man-Randy-Savage-Off-The-Top-Rope college basketball league.
Creighton started Valley play over New Year’s weekend, with a come-from-behind win against Missouri State and a hold-on-tight win against Illinois State. However, the first real treat of 2007 (read: sarcasm) was waiting in John Cougar Mellencamp’s home state of Indiana. But instead of “Cherry Bombs,” the Jays met Sycamores, and in the place of “Pink Houses” and “Thundering Hearts” there were Purple Aces.
One of the ways in which Jays fans have become spoiled in recent years — aside from the almost unparalleled continued success among MVC teams and the construction and fulfillment of The Qwest Center — is the proliferation of Creighton Basketball games shown on television.
If you are able to attend Jays home games, and you have access to local and cable television in the Omaha metro area, you’ll see a total of 29 Jays games this year, not including postseason play. If you don’t live in Omaha but you have cable television, you’ll be able to watch 10 Creighton preseason or regular season games.
But no matter where you live, outside of Terre Haute, no one could watch Creighton’s road game at Indiana State. Apparently, no on in Terre Haute thought much to watch it either, as reported attendance for the game was less than 4,000.
Maybe the rest of the Sycamore Faithful knew something those 4,000 didn’t — that the Sycs and the Jays would combine to shoot 38% and keep basketball backboard and rim suppliers in Western Indiana in business for at least another week.
And what’s worse? The Jays dropped one of the “need” road games on their schedule.
No, wait. What’s worse than that? Not being able to watch it on TV.
I’ll get to the game in a second, but guess what? I didn’t get to watch Creighton’s game at Evansville on television, either. But, that was my choice. I’m getting married. My fiancé and I went back to her hometown to do some wedding planning that weekend, and so I skipped watching the game.
But before you say, “Man, how could you miss watching the game to do something you could do any other weekend.” My answer is two-fold: 1.) When it is time to plan a wedding, it is every couple in Central Iowa for themselves (just think of it as thousands of other couples getting married, scrounging after DJs and photographers like Southern Illinois defenders), and 2.) You obviously don’t know my fiancé or my future parents-in-law.
They hail from the land that produced The Ankeny Bulldog, Ryan Sears. They fly a Jays flag in the front yard. They are Jays Fans, tried and true, so much so that Saturday dinner revolved that weekend around listening to a strong Big Sports 590 signal on the home stereo, inviting T. Scott Marr and Kevin Sarver into the home.
Not Quite Hickory High
That’s kind of the focus of this installment. Kickin’ it old school. Reminiscing about the good (read: bad) old days when, before television, die-hard fans would huddle up around the stereos in their homes or kids (like me) would tune in their boom boxes in their rooms and take in the descriptions of all kinds of sports, including Bluejay Basketball. I took in the Indiana trip just like Shooter (Dennis Hopper) listened to Hickory High’s run to the Indiana State Title from his hospital bed.
And just like Shooter, I felt like I had one big hangover after listening to the Indiana State loss. Let’s just say Jimmy Chitwood wasn’t exactly in the building.
After shooting 53% against Missouri State and a then-Phone Booth record 64% against Illinois State, the Jays managed a paltry 38% on the road against the Sycamores, getting double-digit scoring from just Nate Funk (17 points) and Nick Porter (15 points). However, Creighton’s scoring defense again proved effective, limiting ISU to just 38% shooting as a team and allowing just one Syc to reach double figures (Marico Stinson with 12 points).
Both teams had less than 10 turnovers and came out even in the rebounding column, but Creighton just couldn’t get over the hump in the second half. After two gutsy performances at The Q, life on the road in The Valley of Death proved terrifying in this team’s first encounter with a conference away game.
After such a tepid effort offensively, things didn’t look to get markedly better with a quick turnaround and a game two days later in Evansville, where the Purple Aces always play the Jays tough. However, the Jays came out shooting the ball well against Steve Merfeld’s Aces, and they opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first half. But, just like so many times before during this rollercoaster season, the Jays gave up the lead — and momentum — before halftime, allowing Evansville to shoot 58% in the first 20 minutes and stake claim to a 38-35 lead at the intermission.
And then it was time for the defense to shine.
“Clank” Go the Aces
What does a 22% shooting percentage look like? I don’t know, because I was pacing back and forth across my future parents-in-law’s home, listening to 590. I can tell you, though, that 22% sounds great as a fan of the defense. Anthony Tolliver’s 4 blocks sound great. The clanks made by 21 missed shots in the second half by the Purple Aces is music to my ears, to be honest. The Jays made sure not to lose this “need” road game, shooting 52% in the second half.
In fact, it was the most balanced scoring effort of the season for the Jays, with Isacc Miles (15 points), Funk and Tolliver (14 points each), and Porter (12 points) going for double digits, and Nick Bahe (9 points) and Dane Watts (8 points) getting close, too. It was another one of the five “need” road games (Indiana State, Drake, Bradley, and Illinois State being the others) that the Jays must have if they want to win a Valley regular season title or be considered for an NCAA at-large birth.
Sure, it would have been great to watch the games (thanks to the wonders of digital recording, I was able to watch the CU-EU game in what seemed like half the time when I got back to The Big O), but there is something special about listening to a broadcast on AM radio. Maybe its because I do play-by-play for local sports as a hobby, or maybe its because I have such fond memories of listening to sports on the radio as a kid, but every once and awhile it is nice to make some dinner, chill out, and pace back and forth in the comfort of my own home (or the home of my future parents-in-law, if they’ll still have me).
posted by Creighton Otter at 9:27 PM
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