Creighton Basketball 2016-2017

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:42 pm

The foul disparity is rather interesting. Xavier is in bonus already, 13 minutes to go.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:25 pm

Wow, what a finish by the Jays. Despite foul trouble and of course Mo going out in the first half, the Jays held on for the 5 pt win.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:26 pm

Huge road win at a hard place to play...

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:28 pm

If you told me Creighton was going to be 18-1 and 5-1 in the Big East at this point, I would have said you were crazy. What an awesome year.... That said, Watson injury has me slightly worried.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:32 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:If you told me Creighton was going to be 18-1 and 5-1 in the Big East at this point, I would have said you were crazy. What an awesome year.... That said, Watson injury has me slightly worried.

Totally agree about both of your points. The good thing was that Watson bounced up off the bench and ran down the length of the bench when we Thomas was shooting free throws.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:33 pm

Also heard the announcers mention that Xavier was 6-0 at the Cintas Center in matchups of top-10 teams....make that 6-1 now...haha.

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:33 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:
MadMartin8 wrote:If you told me Creighton was going to be 18-1 and 5-1 in the Big East at this point, I would have said you were crazy. What an awesome year.... That said, Watson injury has me slightly worried.
Totally agree about both of your points. The good thing was that Watson bounced up off the bench and ran down the length of the bench when we Thomas was shooting free throws.

Thank goodness.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:43 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:Also heard the announcers mention that Xavier was 6-0 at the Cintas Center in matchups of top-10 teams....make that 6-1 now...haha.

Also heard that in the 17 years of Cintas Center history, only one visiting team now has three victories on their court.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:02 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:
skinzfan23 wrote:
MadMartin8 wrote:If you told me Creighton was going to be 18-1 and 5-1 in the Big East at this point, I would have said you were crazy. What an awesome year.... That said, Watson injury has me slightly worried.
Totally agree about both of your points. The good thing was that Watson bounced up off the bench and ran down the length of the bench when we Thomas was shooting free throws.

Thank goodness.

I'll second that. Great win by the Jays. Let's hope Mo is out for only a minimal (if any) amount of time...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:09 pm

It sounds like their is no ligament tear. They will do an MRI to see if their is anything going on with the minuscus. Near the end of the game he was off the crutches and ran up to some players.

choke · Post by **choke** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:49 pm

Coyote wrote:Huge road win at a hard place to play...

No doubt Xavier will be spending a lot of practice time at the free throw line. Gritty performance from Creighton though. Roll Jays.

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:50 pm

Absolutely atrocious reffing on both sides of the court.. especially that pivotal missed out of bounce call that should have been reviewed.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:20 am

lmdramos wrote:Absolutely atrocious reffing on both sides of the court.. especially that pivotal missed out of bounce call that should have been reviewed.

Yeah not quite sure why that wasn't reviewed. I have seen many games that weren't even close and they spend forever looking at the review. This is a top 25 matchup and they don't even give it a second look.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 11:04 am

What happens to Creighton if Maurice Watson is out long term?

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:33 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:What happens to Creighton if Maurice Watson is out long term?

Fingers crossed

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Post by **Brad** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:10 pm

Damn!

: C2Ze6IQVEAA85ff.jpg (154.16 KiB) Viewed 1886 times

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:16 pm

Yeah, the shoe definitely dropped. The W-H and KETV both reporting that Mo is lost for the season with a torn ACL

..

Sh!t...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:27 pm

|expletive|

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:46 pm

Wow, terrible news of the day. This team is still very good, but tough to take. Similar to losing your QB in football, it is going to be hard to pick up the slack. As mentioned on the Bluejay forum, why did this have to happen this season, when we were poised for our deepest run ever in the tournament. Rather have that happen last year.

Mintz is going to have to step up...and in the long term it will be good for the maturation of some of the younger players, but no one can push the tempo quite as much and as often as Mo.

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:18 pm

Reading the internet, it seems like Creighton should just pack in the season and call it quits. I find this "doom and gloom" to be very premature...this isn't the Doug teams that if Doug went down, the world ended. This team still has A LOT of talent, and I think a combo of Harrell, Zierden, and Mintz will be just fine. It won't be AS GOOD, losing Watson was a terrible loss, but it's still a pretty damn potent team.

Onwards and upwards.

Post by **Coyote** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:59 pm

I think this will show how good a coach McDermott is. He needs to change their game plans, but fortunately has some time to work it out. Mintz is the only other true point guard, will he receive significant playing time? Will Zierden take over this duties...

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:05 pm

IZ will no doubt get mins at the point, Mac trusts him.

Mintz is going to have to play 10-15 solid mins a game. He went from being PG of the future to PG of the present really quick.

I read some interesting ideas over on bluejayunderground. I think it would be wise to throw some funky lineups at the wall and see what sticks too. It wont work all game, but getting Ronnie out there as a point forward with other guys that can run and shoot is maybe our best bet to keep up a high pace and that lineup would have great size.

Going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. I just hope we don't have to rely on a combo of IZ and Clement at point for 30-35 mins a game b/c that will kill the pace and we will probably get pressed to death.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:45 am

Great article from Seth Davis of SI:

Inside the rapid rise of Bluejays big man Justin Patton

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:48 am

Also, great to see Coach Mac, Patton and Watson get some mid-season love:

FOX Sports’ college basketball midseason All-Americans and award winners

Coach of the Year: Greg McDermott, Creighton
Behind McDermott, the Bluejays have gone from a fringe Top 25 team in the preseason, to one that is firmly entrenched in the Top 10 with an 18-1 record. But can Creighton keep things up after losing star guard Maurice Watson Jr. to a season-ending injury on Tuesday?

Breakout Player: Justin Patton, F, Creighton
After redshirting last year, Patton has been arguably the most pleasant surprise in college basketball this season. His 14 points and 6.6 rebounds per game have given the Bluejays an interior presence that they desperately needed.

Second team All-American: Maurice Watson Jr., G, Creighton
By now we all know the devastating back story on Watson, who suffered a torn ACL on Monday and will miss the remainder of the season because of it. That doesn't change the fact that through the first half of the season, he was one of the top point guards in college basketball, averaging 8.5 assists, tops in the country.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 12:26 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:Great article from Seth Davis of SI:

Inside the rapid rise of Bluejays big man Justin Patton

Really nice piece by Seth Davis

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:05 pm

Should be another great crowd on Saturday....less than 20 tickets remain.

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 2:20 pm

Well, this blows so far.

I take back everything I said above. This team appears to be screwed without Watson. It's going to be a rough last half of the season.

Post by **Coyote** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:03 pm

30% shooting vs 60% shooting hurts.

Post by **Brad** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 4:48 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:Well, this blows so far.

I take back everything I said above. This team appears to be screwed without Watson. It's going to be a rough last half of the season.

Offense was not their problem today... they scored 94 points and Mintz look good for a freshman point guard with very little playing time this year.

If they could have made some stops on the defensive end of the court they would have had this game...

I like what I saw from the offense today. Yes they have a few things to wok out and smooth over, but they need to keep Patton out of foul trouble and tighten it up in defense.

Post by **Coyote** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 6:28 pm

Sounds like McDermott wants to use the same offense using Mintz as the Point Guard, but he isn't used to playing the minutes Mo would play. They spent so much time working on the offense this week that they never really scouted very well for Marquette. Mintz looked good pushing the ball, but needs a lot of practice in set plays. They say he is better than Mo on defense, and his skill set is different on offense. It will take time to work things out, they are on a learning curve. If they can, I'm sure the selection committee will see this also... Watson out, Hegner with the same bad ankle, Huff with his knee... The future could still be great.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:10 pm

I agree with Brad, Mintz did a spectacular job in the game. The defense needs to stay tight to shooters. That is one thing that always bothers me about Creighton. They can't seem to stay tight on a guy that is having a great shooting day. Like they always say, you can't have your cake and eat it too. With the style of offensive play that the Jays do, it would be hard to be top 10 in the country on defense as well.

choke · Post by **choke** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 1:48 pm

Brad wrote:
MadMartin8 wrote:Well, this blows so far.

I take back everything I said above. This team appears to be screwed without Watson. It's going to be a rough last half of the season.
Offense was not their problem today... they scored 94 points and Mintz look good for a freshman point guard with very little playing time this year.

If they could have made some stops on the defensive end of the court they would have had this game...

I like what I saw from the offense today. Yes they have a few things to wok out and smooth over, but they need to keep Patton out of foul trouble and tighten it up in defense.

If they can get Hanson back soon that will help the Patton situation.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:36 pm

Holy cow was Saturday....um, something. The negatives from my perspective: defense. Marquette shot lights out but that happened because they have a LOT of clear looks. Passing was done well by Marquette and frankly Reinhardt owned Patton and Hegner down low. I can't underscore how horrible defense was. And Patton? Idk what to say about the foul trouble. Dude has to learn not to draw the dumb fouls.

The positive; Mintz. That's the future of the point guard position and I was greatly encouraged by his performance. Zierden may have started the game but he's on his way out as a senior. Let Mintz learn as much as he can from Mo and learn how to really command the offense. Props to Zierden for his 3pt percentage on Saturday - we needed every single one of those points. But Zierden is still an outside guy and will never be the guy who drives inside. Sorry, not sorry.

The game would not have been won with the defense, regardless of whether Mo was playing. CU can have their adjustment/panic game, but they need to retain the confidence that their roles have not changed with or without Mo. I see Foster as the real points and muscle for the rest of the season.

now, all of that out of the way......GODDAMMIT!!!!! |expletive| ACL ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS |expletive|????????

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:41 pm

Not only was the Saturday loss dissapointing, the Jays took a brutal drop in the polls this week to 16th

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:28 pm

Omaha Cowboy wrote:Not only was the Saturday loss dissapointing, the Jays took a brutal drop in the polls this week to 16th ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Creighton needed to prove to the pollsters that the team would be fine without Watson; whatever the reasons may be for the poor defense Saturday, they didn't prove it...thus, the tumble in the polls.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:47 pm

MadMartin8 wrote:
Omaha Cowboy wrote:Not only was the Saturday loss dissapointing, the Jays took a brutal drop in the polls this week to 16th ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace
Creighton needed to prove to the pollsters that the team would be fine without Watson; whatever the reasons may be for the poor defense Saturday, they didn't prove it...thus, the tumble in the polls.

Well, luckily for the Jays, they'll have more than ONE game to prove them wrong..

Or not

...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:58 pm

I understand that they didn't prove it on Saturday but did the voters forget that the won at #17 Xavier without Watson (the score was tied at 21 when he went out)

MadMartin8 · Post by **MadMartin8** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 2:12 pm

skinzfan23 wrote:I understand that they didn't prove it on Saturday but did the voters forget that the won at #17 Xavier without Watson (the score was tied at 21 when he went out)

I think it's important to be honest about the quality of writers that have a vote when considering movement within the AP Polls, haha. Also, the coaches probably can't pay attention to much beyond the box score..

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:59 pm

And honestly, I could care less what the pollsters needed CU to prove, one loss after a 17-1/18-1 start does not warrant a 9 notch drop from 7 to 16. It's ridiculous..

And I hope the Jays make them look silly in the end...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:22 pm

Hegner was seen on crutches today with his ankle injury.
Hanson is 7-10 days away from being game ready.