Men's Basketball

From the Other Side: Tribstar’s Todd Golden

Creighton returns to the CenturyLink on Saturday afternoon to take on Indiana State.  The Sycamores have been on a roll as of late.

It all started in Hawaii with the Sycamores upsetting Mississippi in the opening round of the Diamond Head Classic.  They capped that trip with an exciting win over Miami.  After a 5-3 start, Indiana State has now reeled off four wins in their last five games including a 2-0 start in MVC play.  Indiana State knocked off Illinois State before getting a nice road win at Northern Iowa.  A win against the Bluejays could really make a statement.

To get us up to speed on the Sycamores recent success, we talked to their beat writer, Todd Golden of the Terre Haute Tribstar.  Here is what he had to say.

White & Blue Review:   Heading into the season, what were the expectations for the Sycamores? Is Greg Lansing taking the program in the right direction?

Todd Golden: The expectations were modest. ISU has seven players who made their Indiana State debuts this season. It would have been eight if starting center-to-be Mike Samuels hadn’t broken his foot on a preseason Bahamas trip. Given the inexperience, there was the optimism that comes with fresh talent, but little to base real expectations on. I picked ISU seventh in the preseason poll.

Lansing is moving Indiana State in the right direction. He’s done a good job recruiting players that mesh with others. From a recruiting standpoint, he’s also made ISU relevant again in Indiana circles. ISU has successfully recruited players from Indianapolis (Khristian Smith) and Fort Wayne (Brenton Scott, who will be on the team next year) for the first time in a long time.

WBR: What was it with the trip to Hawaii that seemed to make everything click for Indiana State?

TG: Indiana State found its defensive mojo and Justin Gant became a force in the paint. Gant had a double-double in ISU’s win over Ole Miss and his confidence has been high ever since. ISU also re-established the defensive personality it had when it was at its best in the 2011 season.

WBR:    Jake Odum suffered from a nagging foot injury all of last season. How have things been with the foot this season and are there any signs that he even had the foot injury before?

TG: The foot has been fine and there have been no signs of recurrence of plantar fasciitis, though that’s always a concern.

WBR:   Which player has been the biggest surprise this season that Creighton will need to watch out for?

TG: Gant has given ISU an inside scoring threat it was not expected to have and has made the Sycamores a bigger challenge to guard, but Devonte Brown is the player that will surprise people. He’s replaced Steve McWhorter as ISU’s best on-ball defender. Brown is also a drive-first guard who gives ISU a different dynamic when he enters the game. He gets to the free throw line, though he’s struggles once he gets there.

WBR:  What defensive schemes will Indiana State use to try and limit Creighton’s offense and specifically, Doug McDermott?

TG: If you have the answer to that question, I’m sure the Sycamores would love to know.

ISU rarely plays gimmick defenses and play man-to-man almost exclusively, so I expect them to guard McDermott with R.J. Mahurin, et al, with plenty of help flashing in from the perimeter and from the paint.

WBR:  Indiana State is 310th in the nation in assists. Are there a lot of situations where they try to play one on one or what is the reason they have so few assists?

TG: Arop plays a lot of one-on-one, but part of it is that ISU primarily plays low-possession games. Part of it is that several Sycamores like to put the ball on the floor before taking a shot or attempting a drive. Another is that Odum is almost exclusively the source for assists. But another is that ISU isn’t a very good shooting team and is prone to turnovers at times, so assist totals suffer with it.

WBR:  How strong do you think the Valley is so far this season? If the season ended today, how many bids would the MVC get to the NCAA Tournament?

TG: As it usually is, the Valley has extremely good balance. Nothing can be assumed against teams one through eight. Missouri State has been bad, but has proven to be competitive so far in MVC games. Southern Illinois is depleted, but Barry Hinson has squeezed the most from what he has. Everyone else is capable of beating the other teams on a given night.

It’s early to be projecting bids, but Creighton and Wichita State would be in right now. Indiana State has to prove it can stay among the league’s elite, but if it can, it’s non-conference strength of schedule will keep it in the conversation. I think the league is good for two bids, perhaps three.

WBR:  With the changing landscape due to conference realignment, what impact would it have on the MVC if Creighton did leave at some point? Would Indiana State look to stay in the MVC long term?

TG: Unless something crazy happens, Indiana State isn’t going anywhere, and if Creighton leaves, and with the caveat that you never say never in the current landscape, I doubt anyone else is going anywhere either.

Losing Creighton would hurt the MVC, the Bluejays are a great program (in several MVC sports) with name-recognition in a vibrant city. I know I’d miss them, though I understand the move completely if it were to happen.

But would a Creighton exit be a fatal blow to the MVC? No way. Allow me to rant for a moment.

I read a lot of fan reaction to the MVC and it amazes me how there’s a significant portion who think so low of a league that’s never been out of the RPI top 10 in my nine seasons in covering it.

Fans see a Xavier in another conference, such as the Atlantic 10, and get excited about the possibility of joining them, but forget there’s a St. Bonaventure, Duquesne and Fordham there too that make the A-10 comparable to the MVC in most seasons, and sometimes, inferior to it.

The bain of conference realignment is that it’s made everyone think the grass is greener on the other side. There are fans of some schools who have their bags packed and have one foot out the door because the MVC doesn’t live up to their perception of where their school is and should be because their knee-jerk reaction is to think less of it.

The truth is much harsher than that … but with an upshot.

For all of the fan hysteria about what conference their school is going to jump to if the MVC were to implode, I’ve never seen a single reputable source that has any of the MVC schools — aside from Creighton — going anywhere.

A scientific study could be done on the group-think it takes among some on a message board fanbase like, say, Wichita State’s, to speculate amongst themselves about moving to the Mountain West Conference, then collectively convince themselves it could happen, and then think it’s a distinct possibility it will happen.

This despite the fact that WSU doesn’t play football, which drives the vast majority of these moves, and that it’s never once been mentioned as an expansion candidate for that conference, or any other that I’m aware of, by anyone other than people speculating on message boards or blogs. It’s pie-in-the-sky.

Same goes for the assumption among some that Northern Iowa and Illinois State will move up to FBS football.

Though both schools have talked about the possibility of exploring a move, neither is immediately ready for it, nor are there any FBS conferences knocking down the door to get them. A school can’t just move up from FCS football to FBS on a whim, it has to be invited by a conference, and that’s not a gimme for either school by any stretch because neither brings the all-important market to the equation.

The upshot in all of this is that there’s a lot in the MVC that all 10 schools have built and should be collectively proud of despite their differences in budget, institutional outlook, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, the conference has balance that gets overlooked, which speaks to the collective quality of programs within it. The teams that are down at present, Missouri State and Southern Illinois, have both won regular season MVC championships in the last decade. Every team, save Illinois State and Missouri State, has been in the NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years, many several times over.

The MVC makes geographic sense. It has long-time rivalries. It has a storied history. It is respected nationally, in some ways, more than it is by some of its own fans.

It has a conference tournament that gets panned by fans who take it for granted, who haven’t attended other conference tournaments (as I have), and who fail to realize how vibrant and fun it is. There are conferences perceived to be “better” than the MVC that would kill for the Arch Madness turnout and atmosphere.

Conference realignment has conditioned fans to tear down what they have and look elsewhere instead of looking within themselves and realizing how good they have it.

The MVC will be strong without Creighton. It’ll be even stronger if Creighton stays. It’s time for that to be said by someone.

WBR:  What is your final prediction. What will Indiana State need to do to pull out an upset in Omaha?

TG: A lot! But I think the Sycamores will keep it close. Creighton’s shooting will prove to be too much, though, and I think something along the lines of a first-half run or an early second-half run will give Creighton a gap that ISU will have trouble wiping out. I think Creighton wins by six-to-12 points.

 

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