Panon is a positive guy. He’s also a brilliant accountant and expert of all things practical and numerical. I, on the other hand, am not this type of thinker. I tend to exaggerate and speak in hyperbole, especially went it comes to things I’m passionate about. Creighton basketball is one such thing.
So as we slumped out of Barrett’s into a sunny yet frigid Saturday afternoon, I asked Panon what I should pen “Ott’s Thoughts” about this time: I hadn’t exhausted so many written reactions to losing this early in a Creighton basketball season since, well, the start of my old Bluejay Basketball blog.
Panon pondered the question for a minute, and then started talking about how, in 2005, the Bluejays went to Fairfax and handled George Mason to the tune of a 20-point win on the road. Creighton didn’t make the NCAA Tournament that season, but the Patriots did, and they advanced all the way to the Final Four. And I could tell where Panon was going with the comparison, trying to extrapolate a way Creighton could lose in Virginia early in the season but somehow make a run into (and possibly through) March Madness, since Mason had fallen decisively to the Bluejays a few years ago and then put together an improbable run through the postseason.
It was a remarkably impractical idea from Panon, one I shot down with a “are you crazy” glance and a pouty gruff. I was in no mood to hear such a ludicrous idea, having watched yet another late-game Bluejay lead disappear in a mere couple of minutes. Seriously, the Jays were up 7 with 5:25 to play. They were up 6 with 3:48 to play, and then had the following possessions to end the game:
- Missed free throw (front end of Bonus situation)
- Turnover
- Missed 3-pointer
- Missed free throw (front end of Bonus situation)
- Two made free throws
- Missed layup
- One made free throw, one missed
- One made free throw, one missed
- Technical foul assessed to Creighton bench (Dana Altman) following an offensive foul
- Turnover
- Missed 3-pointer at buzzer
Poor execution of the fundamentals of basketball litters the list above. (NOTE: I just saw Max’s write-up, and it looks like our heads were in the same place when obsessing about the brutality of the last few minutes of the game. Uncanny.) But it was even more cringe-worthy watching the game on television. If a mix of casual and die-hard fans sitting in a bar can sense impending doom watching a game being played more than 1,000 miles away, you can bet the players and coaches have to be feeling something late in games that puts the outcome in jeopardy. So when the grumbling began throughout the bar with just a few minutes to play, it was because people seemed to know exactly what was going to happen.
What people weren’t expecting, though was for Altman to pick up a technical foul. I wasn’t there, so I can’t speak to whether Altman was in or out of the coaching box, said or didn’t say a naughty word, or did or did not bring up the multitude of sketchy calls perpetrated by the officials all afternoon long, which benefited both benches. And Creighton didn’t lose because of the technical. But it obviously didn’t help the Bluejays’ cause. And it surely didn’t help right a ship that seems to be sinking, quickly.
See, there I go exaggerating things again. Is the state of Creighton hoops really that bad right now? As Max pointed out in his postgame piece, the Bluejays won 36 of the 40 minutes against Mason, on the road. The Patriots flooded the post with defenders to deny Kenny Lawson the ball, so the Bluejays hit a dozen 3-pointers and put themselves in a position to win, regardless of spotty free throw shooting and ball handling throughout the game. But it is those facets of the sport that decide games, and it is in these areas Creighton has proven deficient through the first 8 games of the season.
That’s right; we’re through one-quarter of a season that saw big things expected from the Bluejays. But through 8 games the Bluejays lead the MVC in losses. The Jays have committed the second most turnovers among MVC teams, and their per-game turnover rate (15.9) is also the second highest among Valley schools. The Bluejays are yielding the highest points per game total among MVC teams. Creighton registers in the middle of the pack or worse in free throw, field goal, and three point shooting percentages. But hey … at least they are even in rebounding margin for the season!
In all seriousness, there are serious issues with every aspect of this team’s play. The Jays are one of just three teams in the MVC with a negative turnover margin. They’ve attempted the second most 3-pointers in the league and the fewest number of free throws. Many CU fans have asked me what this team’s identity is right now, and all I can do is point at the stat sheets and the win-loss column and say “a last place team.”
It seems too rational an answer for my liking, and it completely contradicts Panon’s position that, like Mason in 2005-2006, anything is possible. And I can always pull the obligatory “well, if a couple of calls/bounces/injuries go our way, we’d be (INSERT FAKE RECORD HERE),” because that’s what fans are best at providing — excuses. But you do have to wonder: what if the Jays could have escaped their late-minute fumbling and left Virginia with a win? It wouldn’t have fixed our free throw shooting, or helped us hold on to the ball instead of handing it to the opponent.
And that’s where this team stands at the end of the season’s first quarter. Too many mistakes. Too many missed shots. And too many missed opportunities. That’s not exactly what fans thought to expect from a team of “veterans,” a team returning many of the players who helped paved the way to last season’s 27 wins. But think about how many times Booker Woodfox saved the Bluejays’ collective hides. Think about how many times Josh Dotzler calmed things down. Make shots and guard the basketball: that’s what Woodfox and Dotzler did. Right now, it doesn’t seem the Bluejays have much going their way in either area.
That’s not exaggeration; it is the truth. And sometimes the truth can be hard to accept. It is proving that way for me right now, through one of the most frustrating extended stretches of Creighton basketball I’ve witnessed since the expectations changed for this program. The basics never used to seem like the problem. When did that change?
