Northern Iowa 69, Creighton 66

Bizarro Valley

By all accounts, and according to my own jaded memory, 1996 was a fine year for sports. The Summer Olympics took place stateside in Atlanta. The Chicago Bulls won a record 70 games in the regular season and won the NBA title. The Big 12 Conference came into existence. ’96 was remarkable, too, for the reelection of Bill Clinton, the cloning of a sheep named Dolly, and other worldly matters of politics and science.

1996 also marked the 8th season of Seinfeld, a television show so ingrained in the culture of the 1990s that it was able to launch an above average stand-up comedian into the stratosphere of celebrity and Q Scores. One of the most memorable episodes from the 8th season is entitled “The Bizarro Jerry,” during which the usual dynamic of Jerry Seinfeld and his group of friends is turned upside down and inside out; where behaviors and interactions are the opposite of normal.

The spring of 1996 was also the last time Creighton lost to Northern Iowa at home. That is, of course, before last night. In a game featuring freshman Rodney Buford (14 points, 9 rebounds in 37 minutes) and UNI’s Darian DeVries (12 points, 7 rebounds in 33 minutes), the Panthers beat Dana Altman’s second Bluejays squad 58-57 in overtime. That’s right; neither team scored more than 60 points in a game that actually saw 45 minutes of action. Four days later Creighton lost in Cedar Falls, but starting in December of 1996 Altman’s Jays would build a record of 21-4 against UNI in the next 25 meetings (including 9 straight wins coming into Tuesday’s game).

Great mustaches, but a so-so 9-9 record in 95-96.

Every Valley team is now 4 games into an 18-game conference schedule, and one look at the standings fills me with “Bizarro Jerry”-type flashbacks to the mid-90s. Bradley currently leads the MVC at 4-0; they won the 95-96 regular season crown (15-3 record). Illinois State finished the 95-96 campaign in second place (13-5), and once again they look like one of the top teams in the conference. Southern Illinois and Wichita State each finished 4-14 and tied for dead last in 95-96; the two teams are similarly at the bottom of the standings right now, with WSU one of two 0-4 teams in conference play this season.

Sure, there are exceptions to this Bizarro comparison. Drake and UNI were 8-10 that season, whereas they are both 3-1 right now (including important road wins). Southwest Missouri State (a.k.a. Missouri State) finished 11-7; even the most ardent of Bears supporters would consider that kind of record a long shot in Cuonzo Martin’s first MVC season this year. Heck, Tulsa was still in the Valley at that point.

Creighton? Buford and Ed St. Fleur led that team to a 9-9 record. Right now they are 2-2 and facing a looming road game at league-leading Bradley on Saturday. After staring conference play with wins against Wichita State and Indiana State and rolling into last weekend’s game against Illinois State on a 9-game win streak, two sub-par efforts (and subsequent losses) leave the Jays and their fans feeling lost again. After battling back from consecutive 2-point losses in November, Creighton was perfect record-wise in December. January hasn’t proven too friendly, with the Jays 0-fer in the New Year. And the loss at home to Northern Iowa, a team that has never recorded a victory at the Qwest Center, was the Bizarro Icing on the Cake. Something is just not right.

So how do the Jays fix things? The rebounding difficulties plaguing the Jays are by now well-publicized (Creighton is 9th in rebounding margin, minus-3.3). Add to these deficiencies noticeable lapses in judgment during recent games and a team that one week ago looked ready to battle other members of the Valley’s upper division doesn’t resemble a squad fit for the tough conference season battle for the top spot in the MVC.

But looking at the statistics, neither does Bradley. They are middle-of-the-pack performers in scoring offense (67.6 ppg), they give up the second-most points per game to opponents (67.0), and they are just about even for the season in scoring margin (plus-0.6). They are 3rd in the MVC in field goal percentage defense, but they are tied with Wichita State for the bottom of the barrel in 3-point shooting (31.5%) and aren’t much better standings-wise in 3-point defense (36.5% allowed). Plus, they are technically being outrebounded for the season, too (minus-0.2 for the year).

Throw in their negative turnover margin and a poor assist-to-turnover ratio, and the Braves on paper look to be nothing more than a middle-of-the-pack Valley team. Except they are not. They don’t even have their best returning player — Andrew Warren, who will miss the season with a foot problem — yet they are doing all of the little things in his absence to make the difference and put themselves in position to win the league. By all reports, Jim Les’ players have bought into the concept of the team, and that they are effectively combining their efforts to make up for the individual shortcomings they may possess. Sam Singh calls it toughness and togetherness.

Against the Panthers, Creighton was missing that toughness. Those are words I haven’t had to write in nearly five years of writing this blog. That’s the definition of bizarre. Altman’s Jays must find the toughness and the consistent performance necessary to avoid more 1996-like moments this season. It starts in Peoria on Saturday against the undefeated Braves.

How bizarro.