Creighton Thread

[Bucky]

I have three tickets in section 102. I sold the first round session to someone in Kansas City for face because her husband works for the same company where my daughter works. And I plan on going to Session 2 after the Creighton game is over. Whether or not I attend session 3 will depend on when and if Creighton plays on Sunday.

I also had 4 tickets to all the sessions in Section 213, but sold them to a broker for just over face because I panicked thinking session 1 would be almost impossible to unload.

 

[bilsker]

3 quick keys to the game:

1. Bama's press. Supposedly it can be a little hairy. McDermott said they'd try to attach it and make them pay. If they are successful with that obviously good for CU. If bama get's to turning CU over and getting CU out of sort...obviously bad. CU was practicing against 7 and 8 guys this week v. the press. Of course, CU's bench/walk-ons are not exactly bama's starters.

2. CU's outside shooting. Bama has excellent 3 pt. defense. CU has to make at least some. Not a bunch but enough to give McD and Ech some breathing room. And those two need to get the ball back out of a double team fast enough to make bama pay for doubling.

3. Bama's 3 pt. shooting. They are AWFUL from 3. This can't be another game where a team shoots way over it's average from there. CU may run more zone than usual but I'd expect them to run what brought them...man-to-man...most of the time. This being the case the problem is bama's guards penetrating...gonna have to lay off and dare them to shoot from the perimeter.

CU wins if the press doesn't cause havoc and they shoot decently. Bama wins if they shoot well from outside and get a bunch of easy shots off the press.

 

[bilsker]

bama hitting 3 threes so far is starting to irritate me!

But if they don't CU will win. Interior defense has been excellent so far.

Good to see Wragge get off to a good start.

 

[bilsker]

Good defenses can almost always get the pace they want...and this is no different. Which is OK. It's a matter of who will shoot and rebound better.

 

[bilsker]

3 quick keys to the game:

1. Bama's press. Supposedly it can be a little hairy. McDermott said they'd try to attach it and make them pay. If they are successful with that obviously good for CU. If bama get's to turning CU over and getting CU out of sort...obviously bad. CU was practicing against 7 and 8 guys this week v. the press. Of course, CU's bench/walk-ons are not exactly bama's starters.

2. CU's outside shooting. Bama has excellent 3 pt. defense. CU has to make at least some. Not a bunch but enough to give McD and Ech some breathing room. And those two need to get the ball back out of a double team fast enough to make bama pay for doubling.

3. Bama's 3 pt. shooting. They are AWFUL from 3. This can't be another game where a team shoots way over it's average from there. CU may run more zone than usual but I'd expect them to run what brought them...man-to-man...most of the time. This being the case the problem is bama's guards penetrating...gonna have to lay off and dare them to shoot from the perimeter.

CU wins if the press doesn't cause havoc and they shoot decently. Bama wins if they shoot well from outside and get a bunch of easy shots off the press.

1. CU isn't turning it over against the press but they aren't attacking it either...which is eating clock.

2. 5-13 from three. Wragge hitting his first 2 3s was good but he's back to being cold.

3. 4-10. They do that again in the second and it's over for CU.

 

[bilsker]

I gotta say. That's as unenjoyable an NCAA win I could possibly imagine. Pure damn stress at the end. The FTs. My god the FTs! 5-13.

The misconception is CU can't win a low scoring game. Obviously they can. It's about rebounding, TOs and hitting the open shots. CU won the boards by 1. TO battle by 2 and hit just enough shots. It's a 5-6 point game if they hit FTs.

Well...it was a good season! Not much chance against UNC but stranger things have happened. I will be able to enjoy that one because there's no reason to EXPECT a win. Today CU was the better team but bama hit several more threes than normal.

And, YES....Jones fouled on that last play. Tough. The refs blew an obvious OB call on Echenique earlier so I have no tears.

MVP? Gibbs. He was a man in the second half.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

Obviously not a pretty win -- but a win. And if you can win ugly, nothing wrong with that...no style points come tournament time. means you can only play better the next game (granted, likely against UNC).

Hey, Creighton has a better chance of upsetting UNC than Calipari does of coaching Nebraska!

 

[DuckTownHusker]

Zach Lee.

 

[CombatTargeteer]

happy for the jays and all their fans

 

[bilsker]

Obviously not a pretty win -- but a win. And if you can win ugly, nothing wrong with that...no style points come tournament time. means you can only play better the next game (granted, likely against UNC).

Hey, Creighton has a better chance of upsetting UNC than Calipari does of coaching Nebraska!

Nope. Not pretty at all. But, as you said, a win is a win. Based on the way bama plays I doubt many wins against them are pretty. They looked a lot like Nebraska. Their offense was almost ridiculous. They just passed it around aimlessly a lot of the time.

 

[bilsker]

Just in case I, or anyone else, thinks CU can't win sunday...2 15 seeds win tonight! oops!

Yep, they will LIKELY lose but ya just never know!

And this is why college basketball's tourney is so great. Lehigh, as Dickie V said, was the BETTER team tonight.

 

[Blue Howl]

Oops. It sucks to be a Mizzou fan right now.

I know Mizzou people that bought up the unused Florida and Virginia tickets to make sure they can get in the door on Sunday. It's a hot ticket at least on Sunday. We had 18,500 or so of the 19,000 in the Sprint Center last Saturday for our Big XII Championship on our way out the door but I don't know how many MU fans are making the drive to Omaha.

As for me I have plane tickets and hotel in PHX. We just have to get out of Omaha with two wins! I head to Vegas tomorrow but my buddy who is holding my money is going to make a nice wager on the 'Jays on my behalf. I don't know why Alabama is a slight favorite here. I think this team could knock of a UNC team that can settle for WAY too many outside shots.

 

[Bearkat Husker]

I gotta say. That's as unenjoyable an NCAA win I could possibly imagine. Pure damn stress at the end. The FTs. My god the FTs! 5-13.

The misconception is CU can't win a low scoring game. Obviously they can. It's about rebounding, TOs and hitting the open shots. CU won the boards by 1. TO battle by 2 and hit just enough shots. It's a 5-6 point game if they hit FTs.

Well...it was a good season! Not much chance against UNC but stranger things have happened. I will be able to enjoy that one because there's no reason to EXPECT a win. Today CU was the better team but bama hit several more threes than normal.

And, YES....Jones fouled on that last play. Tough. The refs blew an obvious OB call on Echenique earlier so I have no tears.

MVP? Gibbs. He was a man in the second half.

I know Jones is an Omaha kid and I'm a homer, but I don't want him in at crunch time... Yes, he hit a 3 but took an awful 3 late and plays out of control. Almost the turnover, then the bricks at the line then the gift no call....ugh

 

[bilsker]

I know Jones is an Omaha kid and I'm a homer, but I don't want him in at crunch time... Yes, he hit a 3 but took an awful 3 late and plays out of control. Almost the turnover, then the bricks at the line then the gift no call....ugh

That's just who jones is as a player. He'll make you cringe one minute (the FTs) and then make a defensive play the next (last shot).

Jones played 23 minutes Friday, with 17 coming in the second half. All five of his shots came in the final 20 minutes, with his first 3-pointer pulling Creighton to within a point at 50-49 with 6:59 remaining.

On the Bluejays' next possession, Jones launched another shot from the corner that drew a stern look from McDermott. A few minutes later, Jones buried a 3-point shot from the wing that left Creighton ahead 57-50. He immediately looked at McDermott on the Creighton sideline.

"That was his way of thanking me for not grabbing him around the neck when he took that one shot,'' the coach said with a chuckle. "I have a better understanding of Josh now. He's going to make some mistakes at times, but he has the capability of making some big plays.''

When Josh goes in the game, something is going to happen,'' McDermott said. "You're just not sure what, but that's what makes him good. That's what makes him valuable.
"He's got a lot of confidence in his ability on both ends of the floor. He's not afraid of that (big-time) situation. He's a great kid with a heart of gold. He loves Creighton and he loves Omaha. We're lucky he's on our team.''

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120316/BLUEJAYS/703169784/-1#jays-jones-takes-aim-at-busting-president-s-bracket

7 points, 2 BIG threes, 2 steals, 2 assists...no turnovers and a big defensive stop. CU doesn't win that game without Jones yesterday IMO. Same with Gibbs.

 

[bilsker]

Searching for glimmers of hope.

- UNC shoots the 3 at a 34% clip. With most coming from 3 guys...hopefully all three are cold and allow CU to pack it in. UNC's front line is huge....especially if Henson plays. Which, of course, leads to them not needing to rely on the 3 a whole lot.

- Giving up the three is a bit of a weakness of UNC's. Looking through their losses I think all 5 times the opponent made double digit 3s and took a bunch. If CU wins I'll guess it will be something like a 13 or 14 3s made kinda night. If they are cold from three they'll get killed...no doubt about it.