Jays get 7th straight 20 win season - a Mo Valley first

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:18 pm

OWH wrote:Creighton rides Valley to NCAAs

ST. LOUIS - Creighton's sweep through the Missouri Valley Conference tournament turned the improbable into reality Monday night.

The Bluejays, scuffling along at 15-10 31/2 weeks ago, locked up a fifth trip in six years to the NCAA tournament with a 75-57 victory over Southwest Missouri Sate in the championship game at the Savvis Center.

The win, Creighton's eighth straight, improved the Bluejays to 23-10 and completed a stunning turnaround. And they did it with leading scorer Nate Funk suffering an off shooting night and finishing with just eight points.

"We've rode Nate so hard this year," Creighton Coach Dana Altman said. "If you would have told me he wouldn't have scored well in the tournament, I would have been really concerned. But the guys played their hearts out, and I'm very proud of them."

Johnny Mathies, Jimmy Motz and the rest of Funk's teammates picked up the slack to spoil Southwest Missouri's last chance to win the tournament. The school is changing its name to Missouri State next August.

The Bears dropped to 18-12 with the loss and now must wait to see whether they will receive a chance to play again, most likely in the National Invitation Tournament.

Creighton trailed just three times early in the game but had to weather several SMS challenges in the second half. The Bears tied the game 40-40 on Nathan Bilyeau's 3-point basket with 15:01 to play, but Creighton scored the next five points on a drive by Funk and Motz's 3-point basket.

Southwest Missouri closed to within 52-50 on Tamarr Maclin's 3-point play with 7:24 to play. Creighton countered with an 8-0 run on a basket by Dane Watts and back-to-back 3-pointers by Tyler McKinney and Motz.

Mathies and Watts led the Bluejays with 14 points apiece, while Motz, averaging 5 points a game coming into the tournament, finished with 12. In three games, the junior from Lincoln Northeast scored 36 points while making 10 of 14 3-point shots.

Deke Thompson led the Bears with 14 points while Tamarr Maclin added 10.

In spite of getting just two points from leading scorer Funk in the first half, Creighton took a 38-32 lead into the break. The Bluejays, held to just three 3-point baskets in their semifinal win over Wichita State, made 8 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

Creighton (23-10).........................38 35 - 73
Southwest Missouri St. (18-12).........................32 24 - 56

SychoBC · Post by **SychoBC** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:35 pm

OK, you guys this is how it will go down, barring upsets in conference tournaments.

NCAAs- SIU and Creighton get in. Wichita State will get in too as long as the conference tourney go as planned and some team like Nebraska doesn't win their conference.

NIT- SMS and UNI are locks. No way SMS makes the NCAAs. UNI could've made it if they didn't lose in the quarterfinals.

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:01 am

Woo Hoo! Way to go Jays.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:33 pm

Did anyone watch the game? For being in a city with over 2.5 million the attendance was pretty crappy. Out of a 24,000 seat arena not even the lower bowl was filled. Another reason I think Omaha would be a better host is becasue every other game I watched one team was playing at home. Their aren't any STL teams in the Valley an since we have the nicest arena in our conferance, and a good location since most of our teams are in IA MO KS IL IN, I think Omaha and the Qwest Center would make a good fit for the Valley tournament.

Post by **Coyote** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:37 pm

ESPN's Bracketology now has CU the 9 seed facing Texas instead of Iowa St. We win the Valley and Lunardi moves us down? Then Kentucky? At least S. Ill gets UTEP. WSU isn't in with Lunardi but Glockner's Bubble watch has them in. ODU won the CAA in overtime which is good for the MVC. Still more to happen in the next few days.

GoWest · Post by **GoWest** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:57 pm

DTO Luv wrote:Did anyone watch the game? For being in a city with over 2.5 million the attendance was pretty crappy. Out of a 24,000 seat arena not even the lower bowl was filled. Another reason I think Omaha would be a better host is becasue every other game I watched one team was playing at home. Their aren't any STL teams in the Valley an since we have the nicest arena in our conferance, and a good location since most of our teams are in IA MO KS IL IN, I think Omaha and the Qwest Center would make a good fit for the Valley tournament.

The Sunday game had an attendance of 14000, which wasn't too bad. I think being on a Monday hurts its attendance. I think one of the biggest problems with having it in Omaha is that the Qwest is Creighton’s home court. While that wouldn't bother me, I think other Valley teams might have something to say about it. I think it is supposed to be on a neutral court.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:09 pm

Well every other team that I saw in it's tournament it was one of the teams home courts. I'm sure it would suck to not be at home but think of how cool it would be to win a tournament at someone elses court?

Post by **Coyote** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:46 pm

Getting back to the title of this thread - Creighton's men and women's basketball teams have gone three consecutive years with 20 win seasons. Only four other universities can boast this feat. No school has ever gone four years with 20 win seasons for both teams. If the Creighton women win in the first round of their tournament Creighton will be the first.

Anybody want to guess the other four universities?

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:55 pm

Guessing Duke and UConn... and...

Post by **Coyote** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:58 pm

Those two are correct. Those were the easy two.

and for what its worth - only five schools have done this two years in a row.

SychoBC · Post by **SychoBC** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:15 am

North Carolina and Stanford.

Post by **Coyote** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:18 am

Stanford is correct but not Carolina.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:10 am

Arch Madness will not move out of St. Louis anytime soon for a couple reasons. First, that is where the conference headquarters are located. Second, the MVC is striving for higher profile; how many BCS conferences have their tournament at member schools' home courts? Zero that I can think of. That system is relegated to small conferences that couldn't draw at neutral sites. Third, the MVC tournament is actually one of the best attended conference tournaments in the nation. I seem to remember last year's tournament was the 7th most attended in the nation.

Post by **Coyote** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:47 pm

The Creighton women lose to Drake in the Quartefinals of the MVC Tournament and end the season with 19 wins - so the streak ends at three years of both men and women having 20 win seasons - not becoming the first school in NCAA history of a 4-peat.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Fri Mar 11, 2005 10:27 am

Don't the women still have the WNIT?

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:56 am

I didn't know if they would make it, but...
The women's team does have one more chance - making the WNIT
Creighton will play at Iowa, Friday, March 18.