Sometime between my first child entering the world at the end of August and an early September weekend featuring my brother’s wedding, Creighton released its updated men’s basketball schedule, complete with Missouri Valley Conference games.
To be honest, the only schedules I’ve concerned myself with the past few weeks are those for feeding what has to be one of the smallest CU fans in Omaha. But when I finally got a chance to catch my breath and glance at the schedule (here), a few things caught my attention.
Creighton ends the Valley regular season away from Omaha.
The Bluejays travel to Terre Haute on Saturday, February 25, for Senior Day/Night festivities at Indiana State. The trip away from Omaha will be just the fourth time since 1998 that the Jays play the role of visitor on the last day of the conference regular season.
The last time Creighton ended the regular Missouri Valley Conference schedule away from Omaha was 2006, when the Jays ended the season at Missouri State and suffered through a 60-54 loss. Then came one of the more excruciating games in the Altman era, a 54-47 misstep against Bradley in the Valley tournament.
Playing the last game of the MVC schedule away from Omaha turned out better for the Bluejays the previous year, when a February 2005 trip to Normal preceded Creighton’s sweep through Arch Madness for the league tournament championship.
But it could be worse. Back in 1998, the Bluejays ended the regular season on the road at Illinois State and Bradley. They lost both road tilts, ending a 9-game winning streak and leading to a one-and-done trip to Arch Madness.
The Jays only take one extended road trip.
Creighton travels to Cedar Falls to play Greg McDermott’s alma mater UNI on Saturday, February 4. A few days later, the Jays head to Evansville to face the Purple Aces. These games mark the only back-to-back road Valley games in the 2011-2012 schedule.
In each of their previous 10 seasons of conference play, the Bluejays have faced no less than two instances of back-to-back road games. In 2007-2008, Creighton had four such occurrences. From 2001-2002 to 2006-2007, the Jays had three each year.
The Drake game in Des Moines is midweek (again).
Last year, the Bluejays lost a close game at Drake on a Tuesday night in front of 4,552 fans. That came one season after losing a close game on a Saturday night, with 7,018 fans (many of the CU variety) packing the Knapp Center bleachers. This year, like last season, the Jays will head to Des Moines for the road tilt against the Bulldogs in the middle of a week, leaving DU to fill thousands of seats that are normally full when CU heads over for a weekend game.
In the past 10 seasons Creighton’s played the road game at Drake on a weekday five times and on a Saturday five times. The average crowd at the Knapp Center for the weekend games? 6,940 and change. The average for the weekday contests? 5,075. That number includes the outlier from 2007-2008, when the Bulldogs were nationally ranked and 7,152 packed the Knapp on a weekday to see Drake pull out a close win against the Jays. Take away that game during what was a special season at DU, and the four-game average for weekday showdowns between Creighton and Drake in Des Moines is 4,555.
The influx of CU fans for the weekend trips to Des Moines haven’t always meant victories for the Bluejays, either. So it is too bad that the league couldn’t find a way to schedule this game for a Saturday again. Win or lose, the atmosphere is outstanding during those Saturday night games between these longtime rivals.
No sharing required with “Omaha’s Team.”
A quick glance at the University of Nebraska-Omaha hockey schedule shows a lack of shared home dates between the Mavericks and the Creighton men’s hoops team. In previous years, at least one Saturday each season would find the Jays playing an early afternoon game and then giving way for hockey crowds later that same evening.
A few final thoughts:
- New Year’s Eve in Wichita should be, um, interesting. A few nights after hosting defending regular season champions Missouri State, no less. At least both WSU games are on Saturdays.
- The Jays travel to Illinois State for a Friday night game. Second season in a row the Jays travel for a road game in Illinois on a Friday (CU beat Southern Illinois last year on a Friday night, in overtime).
- Creighton heads to Carbondale for Valentine’s Day again. So ironic, given the lack of love between the two programs during the past decade.
- Indiana State comes to the Arena Formerly Known As the Qwest Center (AFKAQC) for a Saturday afternoon game. It still weirds me out that the Sycamores went to the NCAA Tournament last season.
- A Tuesday Trap Game awaits in Evansville in early February.
