The Others

Since 1999, the year Dana Altman’s regime at Creighton produced its first MVC tournament title, the Jays have played 24 games in St. Louis as part of Arch Madness. And in more than 60% of those games, Creighton’s leading scorer per game in the regular season led the Jays in the points column in the box score.

The names Rodney Buford, Ben Walker, Ryan Sears, Kyle Korver, and Nate Funk compose a venerable list of the most indispensable Bluejays to don the White and the Blue during Altman’s tenure on the Hilltop. Buford led the Jays in scoring during each of his four seasons. Korver and Funk each led the Jays in 3 of their years at CU. Walker and Sears seemingly split the scoring duties evenly during their four years together as Bluejays.

But who are the others? Who stepped up above and beyond their regular season statistics and displayed the determination and effort necessary to become X factors as the season started to wane and one bad game meant a team’s year could be finished?

Today we take a quick look at The Others; those whose play down the stretch in key games during some of the most memorable seasons under Altman’s watch helped the Jays cut down nets and hang banners.

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Ben Walker, 1998-1999

As a sophomore, Walker and fellow guard Sears conceded the spotlight to one man, Buford, the senior who almost single handedly helped Altman pull Creighton out of a Rick Johnson-induced coma. Buford never won an MVC Player of the Year award, losing to Rico Hill during his junior season and Marcus Wilson as a senior. For Jays fans, though, the votes shouldn’t have been close. Buford was The One who quickly brought the Jays back to the NCAA tournament – and respectability – again.

But down the stretch of the season and in the MVC tournament, Buford would need some help. All tournament runs require multiple men to step up and make plays, even though they’re tired and their opponents are seeing them for the third time in a season. The stakes are great, the competition is fierce and familiar, and it takes just a couple of mistakes to end a season. Those characteristics were no match for Walker.

For the season he averaged just over 9 points a game, and with Buford shut down in the quarterfinals against Illinois State, Walker posted a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds). In the semifinals, Walker went for 23 points and pulled in another 5 boards. And in the Valley championship game, a win over Evansville (and Marcus Wilson … take that!), Walker added to Buford’s 20-plus point night with another double-double (18 points, 11 boards).

Then, two weeks later, Walker put up 16 points and 5 rebounds in an opening round upset of Louisville in the NCAA tournament and 15 points and 4 rebounds in a second round loss to Maryland. If you could Walker’s last game of the regular season, a feisty 14-point, 4-rebound effort against Wichita State, the sophomore averaged 16 points and more than 6 rebounds during the final 6 games of the 98-99 season.

Terrell Taylor, 2001-2002

The mercurial yet talented junior from Connecticut began his Creighton career the same season as Korver – early in their careers, it was evident they had the talent to be another 4-year, 1-2 punch for Altman as Walker and Sears had been before them. Korver was more consistent than Taylor, however, and his efforts more well-rounded both on and off the court. There was no questioning Taylor’s abilities, just his focus on doing what was needed to play for Altman and the Jays faithful.

In February 2002, a story came out in the local paper telling of a visit that Altman and Taylor had with Terrell’s mother. I don’t remember all the details, and I won’t say I do, but the gist of the resolution was this: Taylor could fall in line, or he could sit on the bench. So for the final few weeks of the season, at least, Taylor did more than fall in line; he took his teammates and CU fans on one of the wildest rides they’ve experienced.

It started on Ash Wednesday with 28 points at Drake, in a 95-91 road win in Des Moines. Then came double-digit point totals in 3 of the final 4 regular season games, as the Jays won a co-championship with Southern Illinois. And after scoring just 9 points in the quarterfinal round win in St. Louis, he poured in 19 points in 20 minutes of a semifinal win and 20 points in 26 minutes in the finals against SIU.

Those efforts were just a precursor, however, to the biggest day of his basketball career, and the most clear image of Creighton basketball for the general fan base of March Madness.


I never get sick of watching this. I'm sure Donovan does, though.

In what still remains the highlight of my 28 years of watching sports, Taylor hit 8 3-pointers, including the game-winner shown above, on his way to 28 points in 40 minutes of action in CU’s 83-82, double overtime victory over Florida in the NCAA tournament.

Forget that in his next outing, a virtual home game in the second round for Illinois in the United Center in Chicago, he scored just 10 points on 4-14 shooting. And forget, for a moment, that the March Madness of his effort against the Gators would be Bluejay fans’ lasting (and final) impression of him as a basketball player. While he didn’t finish his career at Creighton, he certainly left a legacy that, for at least one shining moment, is worth recalling year after year.

The last 10 games of his CU career saw him score 17.5 points per game and shoot 44% from 3-point range.

Larry House, 2002-2003


La Casa once stayed at my house in college; that’s another story, for another time. During his senior season, which coincided with Creighton’s 29-win campaign and season-long flirtation with a top 10 national ranking, House averaged 11 points per game as he admirably deflected at least a small amount of defensive attention teams were paying to Korver, the Valley’s Player of the Year in both 01-02 and 02-03.

House really kicked things into gear as he saw the final few games of his college career in front of him. He helped Altman, Red McManus, and the rest of the Bluejays past and present close the Civic Auditorium by scoring 28 points and grabbing 6 rebounds on Senior Night that March.

Then he scored 7 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in a 1-point win over Indiana State in the quarterfinals. He scored 12 points and pulled in 7 rebounds against Wichita State, in another 1-point tournament win. And in what arguably was the most fun game to be present for in my years of watching CU hoops, House (and his 20 points) brought the Salukis to their knees almost immediately in Creighton’s 80-56 championship game drubbing.

He even scored 11 points in The Game That Will Not Be Mentioned, which ended his career and Creighton’s magical season. His last 5 games as a Bluejay saw him score 16.7 ppg and average 5 rebounds a contest.

Jimmy Motz, 2004-2005

He is maybe the most unlikely of people on this list, just based on what his entire 04-05 season looked like under full inspection. Coming into the MVC tournament, Motz was averaging 5.9 ppg and was just one of a number of sub-double digit scorers Altman could bring off the bench at the forward position.

That was until Motz hit 75% of his field goals, including 71% from deep 3-point range, and helped Nate Funk and Johnny Mathies win Arch Madness and send the Jays back to the NCAA tournament after a one-year hiatus.

Motz hit 10 of his 14 3-pointers in St. Louis and averaged 12 points per game, more than double his season scoring average. The image of him pumping his fists after a dagger 3-pointer in the second half of the championship game against Missouri State might sound familiar: it graces the pregame Tunnel walk video for this season’s Bluejays home games.

Nick Porter, 2006-2007


From the moment Porter stepped on campus, albeit with a bum knee, it seemed all we heard about the beefy guard-forward was his ability to be the X Factor Altman was looking for. He had to sit out his first season with the Jays due to that knee, and then an injury to Funk and a late blossoming for Anthony Tolliver into an All-MVC player set the stage for all three men to share their senior seasons together.

Funk lost the Player of the Year award to Jamaal Tatum. Tolliver was a beast in the paint. And Porter was the third option, the 10.7 ppg player who could crash the boards and make free throws no matter the size and strength of who was pounding on him. And with just a few games left in his career, Porter turned in some of the most well-rounded efforts of his Creighton career.

On Senior Day, or the White Out Against Wichita, Porter put up 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists versus the Shockers. He didn’t have to take a lot of shots against Indiana State in the quarterfinals, as his 7 points and 6 rebounds came in just 24 minutes of play due to a 59-38 throttling of the Sycamores. But it was his last two games of that season’s Valley tournament that cemented his status as the X Factor Altman so desperately needed.

While Funk was busy dropping 33 points on a game but ultimately overpowered bunch of Missouri State Bears, Porter posted a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds. And in the championship game win over #11 Southern Illinois, Porter beat the Salukis seemingly at their own strategy: his 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists each came under enormous physical and mental pressure, applied by the SIU defense and the weight of the situation. The Jays needed to win the tournament to get an NCAA bid, and to win the tournament they needed Porter to post a great game. He did, and they did.

He put up 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists against Nevada in Creighton’s overtime loss in the first round to Nevada in that year’s NCAA tournament, a noble final effort for a Bluejay who stepped up at the right time.

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Who will be the Bluejay or Bluejays to step up this postseason? Who will help deflect the attention from Booker Woodfox and P’Allen Stinnett? This year’s team is full of players who can score, defend, and make plays for teammates: who will do it with the pressure at its highest level?