CU 74, BU 70; DU 75, CU 67
Arch Ache
Last weekend marked the 10th consecutive spring I’ve either driven or flown to St. Louis to take in the sights and sounds that are burned into my mind as the definition of “Arch Madness.” Gone are the days of stuffing 10 smelly sophomore dudes into one two-bed hotel room for the weekend, but that hasn’t changed the spring break-type feel of the trip to St. Louis for me or any of my friends who still take time out of their lives to relive a sliver of our college years.
The Jays didn’t win; they fell to eventual champions Drake (the first #1 seed in quite some time to win the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships) in the semifinals. But they won a game against a team (Bradley) they’ve struggled to defend in the two schools’ previous meetings, and they did so in front of another large contingent of CU fans.
It hurts a little bit when Dana Altman’s teams don’t win the conference tournament. I’m spoiled. I’ve either rushed the court or tried to hold back happy tears (or both) 6 times following conference tournament championship games, and regardless of how the Jays are playing in the last week of the regular season I’m always under the assumption they will turn things on at the right time and stage a three-game coup of the league. It didn’t happen this year, but the future definitely looks bright on the Hilltop.
“Yes! NO! YES!”
Think Bradley’s starters might have tired a bit in the final minutes of Creighton’s 74-70 quarterfinal win over the Braves? Jim Les’ bench played 22 minutes total against the Jays. TWENTY-TWO MINUTES! Three of Creighton’s subs — Cavel Witter, Booker Woodfox, and Chad Millard — played more than 22 minutes each.
Players from both teams have every right to be tired and sore after a game as exciting as the one the two schools staged in front of 13,000-plus fans at the Scottrade Center. After the first 3 minutes of game action, Creighton trailed 7-2 and looked, for lack of a better word, off. Then, shortly after the under-16:00 media timeout, Creighton staged what would become a 38-20 run to end the half up 40-27.
Five Jays scored 5 points or more in the first half, led by super sub and Valley 6th Man of the Year Booker Woodfox (11). More important, the Jays clamped down on Daniel Ruffin, arguably Bradley’s best player. Ruffin didn’t score in the first 20 minutes of action (actually, he didn’t score his first points until the 15 minute mark of the second stanza), and Creighton’s perimeter defense didn’t allow him to chew them up as he did in the school’s two previous meetings.
Granted, all of this balance and defensive success didn’t keep Bradley from clawing their way back into the game. And it sure didn’t stop the Braves from tying the game at 67-all with 4 minutes to go in the contest. And it didn’t stop Matt Salley from putting back an offensive rebound and staking Bradley to a 1 point lead with 2:36 to play.
But just as it looked like (yet again) this talented but inexperienced group of Bluejays would let another win slip from their grasps, the young maestro took over. Again.
Cavel Witter put the Jays back in the lead for good with a driving lay-up, hit a jump shot right after a missed free throw by Salley, and then calmly hit two free throws of his own with 4 seconds left to give the Jays the win. This is the same guy who torched Bradley for 42 points in the final conference game of the season. With Ruffin playing his last game as a Brave in MVC play, do you think Les might be wondering and worrying about whom on his roster is going to guard Witter next season?
Not only did Altman’s Jays win the quarterfinal, but the Dean of the Valley (who, with the win, became the only coach in MVC history to win 20 conference tournament games) managed the roster perfectly. Nine Bluejays logged double-figure minutes, with Witter and sensational P’Allen Stinnett leading the way with 28 minutes each. Altman had set his roster up to be as fresh as possible against Drake in the ensuing semifinal.
Bulldog Destiny?
This stat sums up Creighton’s semifinal loss to eventual Valley tourney champion Drake: Adam Emmenecker shot 13 free throws against the Jays (and made 12), while Creighton received 13 shots from the charity stripe as a team. In a game where both teams were nearly identical in almost every statistical category, it was Drake’s free throw line where Creighton fans gazed helplessly as Emmenecker and others softly hit free throws almost immediately following big Bluejay baskets.
Creighton trailed by 9 at halftime, but Dane Watts and Stinnett nearly erased that deficit themselves in the first 2 minutes of the second half (Watts with a jump shot and Stinnett with a jumper and a three-pointer). However, in a play that would foreshadow much of the cat-and-mouse chase the second stanza would become, Emmenecker came down on the next possession, drew contact in the lane, made the shot, and made the free throw after being fouled by Kenny Lawson.
The Jays would get as close as 2 points twice more in the half, and they would be within 4 points with just under a minute to play in the game, but Drake’s juniors and seniors, the ones responsible for the most unlikely of 28-win seasons in recent conference history, would continually make the plays they need to in order to fend of the feisty Jays.
Turns out that yet again, Creighton gave Drake the best test it would experience in the tournament. During the regular season, the Jays dropped a game to the Bulldogs in overtime in Omaha and then watched DU score the final 10 points in a tie game down the stretch in Des Moines. CU had the talent to stay with a top-20 team three times this year, but that same team had the experience and desire to pull the games out of the bag and saddle the Jays with 3 of their 10 losses on the year.
Does the result hurt? Sure. It hurts the players, who were so excited and happy as they left the court to at least a thousand Jays fans cheering and chanting for them after defeating Bradley Friday afternoon. It hurts the fans, who have come to bank on Arch Madness as Creighton’s time to shine. Truth be told, it probably hurt Josh Dotzler the most — Mr. Unlucky suffered a severe mouth injury in the Drake game and underwent/will undergo some dental surgery to mend his mouth.
But the beers didn’t taste bad Saturday night at Sundeckers. The Blue and White being worn around town didn’t look tattered or dull, either. The bars were smoky, as usual, but there was nothing stinky about the stat lines of the future leaders of the Creighton basketball program:
Meanwhile, back in Nebraska, Central’s Josh Jones won his third consecutive state title and finished his high school career as Central’s leading scorer of all time. He’ll be a Bluejay next year, along with fellow State Tournament participant Antoine Young.
I’ll leave you with this. The last time Creighton lost in the semifinals was March 2001, against eventual champion Indiana State. The next two seasons featured some of the most successful teams Altman has coached at CU, and those teams both won the Arch Madness tournament (2001-2002 and 2002-2003, both versus Southern Illinois).
That won’t make Dotzler’s mouth hurt any less, but the future of Bluejays basketball is definitely promising enough to help even the most die-hard of fans absorb the loss to Drake.
This is only the beginning. The beginning of something great.
Last weekend marked the 10th consecutive spring I’ve either driven or flown to St. Louis to take in the sights and sounds that are burned into my mind as the definition of “Arch Madness.” Gone are the days of stuffing 10 smelly sophomore dudes into one two-bed hotel room for the weekend, but that hasn’t changed the spring break-type feel of the trip to St. Louis for me or any of my friends who still take time out of their lives to relive a sliver of our college years.
The Jays didn’t win; they fell to eventual champions Drake (the first #1 seed in quite some time to win the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships) in the semifinals. But they won a game against a team (Bradley) they’ve struggled to defend in the two schools’ previous meetings, and they did so in front of another large contingent of CU fans.
It hurts a little bit when Dana Altman’s teams don’t win the conference tournament. I’m spoiled. I’ve either rushed the court or tried to hold back happy tears (or both) 6 times following conference tournament championship games, and regardless of how the Jays are playing in the last week of the regular season I’m always under the assumption they will turn things on at the right time and stage a three-game coup of the league. It didn’t happen this year, but the future definitely looks bright on the Hilltop.
“Yes! NO! YES!”
Think Bradley’s starters might have tired a bit in the final minutes of Creighton’s 74-70 quarterfinal win over the Braves? Jim Les’ bench played 22 minutes total against the Jays. TWENTY-TWO MINUTES! Three of Creighton’s subs — Cavel Witter, Booker Woodfox, and Chad Millard — played more than 22 minutes each.
Players from both teams have every right to be tired and sore after a game as exciting as the one the two schools staged in front of 13,000-plus fans at the Scottrade Center. After the first 3 minutes of game action, Creighton trailed 7-2 and looked, for lack of a better word, off. Then, shortly after the under-16:00 media timeout, Creighton staged what would become a 38-20 run to end the half up 40-27.
Five Jays scored 5 points or more in the first half, led by super sub and Valley 6th Man of the Year Booker Woodfox (11). More important, the Jays clamped down on Daniel Ruffin, arguably Bradley’s best player. Ruffin didn’t score in the first 20 minutes of action (actually, he didn’t score his first points until the 15 minute mark of the second stanza), and Creighton’s perimeter defense didn’t allow him to chew them up as he did in the school’s two previous meetings.
Granted, all of this balance and defensive success didn’t keep Bradley from clawing their way back into the game. And it sure didn’t stop the Braves from tying the game at 67-all with 4 minutes to go in the contest. And it didn’t stop Matt Salley from putting back an offensive rebound and staking Bradley to a 1 point lead with 2:36 to play.
But just as it looked like (yet again) this talented but inexperienced group of Bluejays would let another win slip from their grasps, the young maestro took over. Again.
Cavel Witter put the Jays back in the lead for good with a driving lay-up, hit a jump shot right after a missed free throw by Salley, and then calmly hit two free throws of his own with 4 seconds left to give the Jays the win. This is the same guy who torched Bradley for 42 points in the final conference game of the season. With Ruffin playing his last game as a Brave in MVC play, do you think Les might be wondering and worrying about whom on his roster is going to guard Witter next season?
Not only did Altman’s Jays win the quarterfinal, but the Dean of the Valley (who, with the win, became the only coach in MVC history to win 20 conference tournament games) managed the roster perfectly. Nine Bluejays logged double-figure minutes, with Witter and sensational P’Allen Stinnett leading the way with 28 minutes each. Altman had set his roster up to be as fresh as possible against Drake in the ensuing semifinal.
Bulldog Destiny?
This stat sums up Creighton’s semifinal loss to eventual Valley tourney champion Drake: Adam Emmenecker shot 13 free throws against the Jays (and made 12), while Creighton received 13 shots from the charity stripe as a team. In a game where both teams were nearly identical in almost every statistical category, it was Drake’s free throw line where Creighton fans gazed helplessly as Emmenecker and others softly hit free throws almost immediately following big Bluejay baskets.
Creighton trailed by 9 at halftime, but Dane Watts and Stinnett nearly erased that deficit themselves in the first 2 minutes of the second half (Watts with a jump shot and Stinnett with a jumper and a three-pointer). However, in a play that would foreshadow much of the cat-and-mouse chase the second stanza would become, Emmenecker came down on the next possession, drew contact in the lane, made the shot, and made the free throw after being fouled by Kenny Lawson.
The Jays would get as close as 2 points twice more in the half, and they would be within 4 points with just under a minute to play in the game, but Drake’s juniors and seniors, the ones responsible for the most unlikely of 28-win seasons in recent conference history, would continually make the plays they need to in order to fend of the feisty Jays.
Turns out that yet again, Creighton gave Drake the best test it would experience in the tournament. During the regular season, the Jays dropped a game to the Bulldogs in overtime in Omaha and then watched DU score the final 10 points in a tie game down the stretch in Des Moines. CU had the talent to stay with a top-20 team three times this year, but that same team had the experience and desire to pull the games out of the bag and saddle the Jays with 3 of their 10 losses on the year.
Does the result hurt? Sure. It hurts the players, who were so excited and happy as they left the court to at least a thousand Jays fans cheering and chanting for them after defeating Bradley Friday afternoon. It hurts the fans, who have come to bank on Arch Madness as Creighton’s time to shine. Truth be told, it probably hurt Josh Dotzler the most — Mr. Unlucky suffered a severe mouth injury in the Drake game and underwent/will undergo some dental surgery to mend his mouth.
But the beers didn’t taste bad Saturday night at Sundeckers. The Blue and White being worn around town didn’t look tattered or dull, either. The bars were smoky, as usual, but there was nothing stinky about the stat lines of the future leaders of the Creighton basketball program:
Meanwhile, back in Nebraska, Central’s Josh Jones won his third consecutive state title and finished his high school career as Central’s leading scorer of all time. He’ll be a Bluejay next year, along with fellow State Tournament participant Antoine Young.I’ll leave you with this. The last time Creighton lost in the semifinals was March 2001, against eventual champion Indiana State. The next two seasons featured some of the most successful teams Altman has coached at CU, and those teams both won the Arch Madness tournament (2001-2002 and 2002-2003, both versus Southern Illinois).
That won’t make Dotzler’s mouth hurt any less, but the future of Bluejays basketball is definitely promising enough to help even the most die-hard of fans absorb the loss to Drake.
This is only the beginning. The beginning of something great.
posted by Creighton Otter at 9:00 PM
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