[dropcap]If[/dropcap] you were thinking about staying home over the week of Thanksgiving to watch the Bluejays instead of going out to Las Vegas to watch the Creighton men’s basketball team in person, you may want to reconsider. For the second straight year, fans who aren’t at the tourney in person may be trying to find a working stream at their local bar or in their homes.
The Creighton men’s basketball Twitter account released the first set of times for games to go with the recently released non-conference schedule. Included in that were times for the recently renamed Men Who Speak Up Main Event tournament that includes Rutgers, Clemson, and UMass.
Schedule update #1: Our Nov. 23 game vs. Rutgers will be at 11 pm Central (9 pm in Las Vegas) and is not currently scheduled for TV.
— Creighton Basketball (@BluejayMBB) August 24, 2015
Schedule update #2: On Nov. 25th, the championship game will be at 8:30 pm CT on ESPN2. The consolation game follows at 11 pm CT (no TV). — Creighton Basketball (@BluejayMBB) August 24, 2015
In other words, only the championship game of the Main Event will be on TV — ESPN2 at 8:30 p.m. on November 25th. Absent at this time is coverage for the other three main games of the tournament.
Most of the other major MTE (Multi-Team Events) and bracketed tournaments released their times and TV a couple weeks ago while Creighton was in Italy. Noticeably absent was any information regarding this event, which debuted last season with a tie-in to ESPN. Matt Sarzyniak who runs a site dedicated to providing times and channels for college football and basketball games had theorized times here and here when the games would happen based on slots available on the ESPN family of networks after all the other announcements were made. However, once again, a tournament that Creighton is involved in will scramble to find a home on network and cable television amongst today’s plethora of options.
Of course, streaming is an option, but apparently even ESPN3 hasn’t been solidified yet.
@wildjays I’ve asked and been told that they are exploring ESPN3 or other streaming options.
— Rob Anderson (@_robanderson) August 24, 2015
I think most fans would be in agreement that anything other than streaming on ESPN3 would be a failure. While not television in the strictest sense of the word, ESPN3 is a top-notch streaming platform and offers something very close to HDTV-quality; more importantly, it can be easily viewed on your big screen via many common devices (AppleTV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox, etc.) An in-house streaming option would fall short in all of those areas, and likely bring back nightmares of the webcasts from the Emerald Coast Classic a year ago; the constant buffering left Jays fans scrambling to follow along via the radio broadcast or live stats online.
Partially, it’s a bi-product of the proliferation of exempt tournaments — 10 or 15 years ago, there were far fewer events and were something teams did once every few years, but they’re now an annual tradition for almost every school. There’s now over 35 of these events, allowing nearly every D1 team that wants to participate in one an opportunity to do so. And most do. Mid-major teams use them as an opportunity to get games against major schools they couldn’t otherwise play, with some leagues going as far as requiring their teams participate in a tourney every year. Major teams use them as a bowl-game-type trip to a warm-weather destination around the holidays. All teams use them as a chance to play up to four games that count as only one game on the schedule.
The downside to all that basketball is that there’s more inventory than there is airtime for the games. And over the last decade, Creighton has had an uncanny knack for landing in holiday tournaments with little or no TV coverage. Just for fun (it is the off-season after all) here’s a look back at the events Creighton has been in over the last decade, with some notes about coverage.
2006-07 season: Rainbow Classic
The 2006 Rainbow Classic had a field of eight teams, including Creighton and Nebraska, although the Bluejays and Huskers did not meet in the tournament. What had once been a staple of ESPN’s holiday tournament coverage was relegated to Hawaii Oceanic Pay-Per-View in 2006. Luckily Creighton’s games from the islands were made available to Omaha fans through an agreement with Cox and broadcast on Channel 2 (oddly, Nebraska’s games were picked up from the same PPV feed, but shown on another cable access channel). Creighton lost to host Hawaii in the finals, though Jays fans were able to watch the action called by a play-by-play announcer who looked mysteriously like Santa Claus and pronounced the school’s name with the hardest T you’ve ever heard (If you watched the three games, you probably still hear it in your sleep…Cray-Ton!)
2007-08 season: No MTE
In 2007, Creighton was slated to head to Vegas and participate in the Las Vegas Invitational, a tourney that wound up featuring Louisville and North Carolina, among other headliners. Though that CU squad was young, fans were licking their chops to see how the Bluejays matched up against some of the bluebloods of college basketball. Reportedly, Creighton pulled out of that tournament with the agreement that they would come to Las Vegas the following season when they had a more experienced team.
2008-09 season: Las Vegas Classic
The 2007 Las Vegas Classic featured BYU and Old Dominion, a solid (if unspectacular) lineup that garnered coverage on ESPN networks. When Creighton got there a year later, the field was far less exciting, and the coverage was non-existent. The opponents? The ever-popular Fresno State, a team the Jays can’t seem to avoid, whether it’s BracketBusters or exempt tournaments; a struggling Saint Louis program; and future Big East pal DePaul.
Unsurprisingly, this tournament was basically the undercard to the Las Vegas Invitational, which had Kentucky, Kansas State, Iowa, and West Virginia. It is probably not surprising either that the Las Vegas Classic, the tourney the Jays were in, was not on TV. Online streaming, which was still a new technology at the time, was offered and was surprisingly good…except for when the Jays were shooting free throws in the second half of games, which they often were because of being ahead. You see, the webcast was a direct feed from the video board, and because that video board was mounted to a wall behind one of the baskets — coincidentally, the basket the Jays were shooting towards in the second half of both games — live video would be replaced by a logo of the tournament during free throws. With no announcers, you had to guess based on the crowd reaction whether the shots had gone in or not. On the plus side, fans back home got to see Jays fans in attendance play games for prizes during timeouts! The Bluejays won the tournament, though there weren’t many eyes on it due to lack of television coverage, and the lackluster field probably hurt the resume of a team that had to settle for the NIT that March.
2009-10 season: Old Spice Classic
One of the newer exempt events managed by ESPN, the Old Spice Classic quickly became one of the signature events of Thanksgiving weekend. There was an unprecedented level of hype before this tourney, as Creighton was headed to Disney World in Orlando to play in an event with top-level competition on a national stage. The field included Florida State, Alabama, Marquette, Xavier, Iona, Michigan and Baylor. All the games would be on ESPN networks.
Their opening round game was against #15 Michigan and Creighton had the lead for a good part of the game. However, Michigan rallied late and won the game in overtime. That seemed to take the air out of Creighton’s weekend, and arguably the entire season, as they went a disastrous 0-3 in the tourney and never really recovered, ending their season in the CIT with an 18-16 record after being picked second in the MVC in the preseason. Dana Altman would leave for Oregon shortly after the season ended.
2010-11 season: MTE with Iowa State (Global Sports HyVee Challenge)
Greg McDermott left Iowa State to take over for Altman, and as fate would have it, in his first season with Creighton he had to face his old team in a previously-scheduled game in Des Moines. This was a different exempt format where there were five teams involved, with two upper level teams and three lower level teams. Creighton and Iowa State each played the other three teams at home, culminating in a featured game between the Cyclones and Bluejays at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
For the game in Des Moines, there was no TV coverage, and most crucially to the action on the court, there wasn’t even a replay monitor available at the scorers table. You sort of knew this might come back to haunt one team or the other, especially with the extra drama of McDermott facing the Cyclones just months after departing. Sure enough, the game was a back-and-forth affair, and with the score tied, Iowa State made a shot from half-court on their final possession to win. It was controversial at the time, because it seemed like there was a chance the shot was released too late, which meant the game should have gone to OT. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a video monitor to take a look, so the Cyclones took home the win. This damning photo from the Omaha World-Herald tells the story of what might have been.
2011-12 season: MTE with Iowa (Dale Howard Challenge)
With so much success the previous season, the Jays booked another MTE with Maury Hanks — the tourney organizer of the Iowa State match the year before — but this time with Iowa instead. This one followed the same format as the previous season with Iowa State, again with the featured game at Wells Fargo Arena. The game was broadcast by the Big Ten Network, since Iowa was involved, meaning replays would be available if needed.
They wouldn’t be needed.
The Bluejays ran the Hawkeyes off the court in their first meeting since 2001, and led by as many as 33 points in an 82-59 victory that made the drive back across I-80 for the thousands of CU fans who’d converged on downtown Des Moines a much happier affair than it had been the previous November.
2012-13 season: Las Vegas Invitational
After passing it up in 2007, Creighton finally competed in the Las Vegas Invitational in 2012, as part of a terrific field featuring Wisconsin and Arizona State. Both games were on ESPN networks with the semifinal against Wisconsin on ESPN2, and the championship game on ESPNU. The two gritty wins were great battles and were a breakout opportunity for Creighton on a national stage. They were able to take advantage of it, as this tournament played a big role in Doug McDermott getting national recognition early in his junior season. The move to the Big East was in motion by the end of the season and with it, new opportunities for higher profile tournaments would come their way.
2013-14 season: Wooden Legacy
The Bluejays were actually scheduled to take part in the Wooden Legacy (which was originally called the 76 Classic) the year before but pushed back that appearance until the 2013-14 season. Along the way, the event changed names to the Wooden Legacy, but it was the venue change that really came as a surprise. While all games in this event were previously played in Anaheim, in 2013 the first two days of the tournament were contested in the small Cal-State Fullerton Titan gym before moving to Anaheim for the final day. Coincidentally, Cal-State Fullerton also happened to be part of the tournament.
Creighton was matched up in the first round against Arizona State, who they had beaten in Vegas the year before. (As a side note, the Jays will play Arizona State this season at the CenturyLink Center and at Arizona State in 2016-17 season, making it four games in five seasons against the Sun Devils.) The Bluejays won again against Arizona State, but then had to basically play what amounted to a road game against San Diego State, who brought a significant portion of their student section with them.
After racing out early to a double-digit lead, only to have it completely turn on them to create a 19 point deficit, the Bluejays mounted a remarkable comeback, similar to two years earlier when the Bluejays faced the same hostile crowd at The Show in San Diego. However, they could not complete the comeback this time, and to make matters worse, the letdown of that game carried over to the third place game against George Washington where the Bluejays never got started. Doug McDermott had one of his worst games of his career going 2-of-12 from the field and finished with 7 points in 37 minutes in a brutal loss to GW.
2014-15 season: Emerald Coast Classic
Another Maury Hanks jam, the Emerald Coast Classic was held in Florida’s panhandle in Destin, Florida. This was a brand-new tournament and featured a decent field in Ole Miss and Cincinnati. However, the matchup with Cincinnati never materialized because the Bluejays couldn’t get past Ole Miss despite being ahead most of the game, leaving them to settle for a consolation game against Middle Tennessee State.
The big drawback to this tournament was again the lack of television coverage. Tourney organizers were only able to get the championship game on TV, on the CBS Sports Network, while the other games were made available through web streaming that was not very good and seemed to be put together at the last minute, compounding the frustration Jays fans felt after enduring two sub-par performances. Ironically, the Jays were originally scheduled to play in the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-off Classic in 2014, part of a field that eventually included Notre Dame, UMass and Florida State. Providence ended up taking the place of the Bluejays in this tournament and won the event, in games played on ESPN3 and ESPN2 in front of huge television audiences.
The Future: 2016-17 Paradise Jam
According to a report from an interview with the N.C. State coaching staff, it seems as though Creighton will be heading to the Virgin Islands in the 2016-17 season to participate in the Paradise Jam along with NC State, Purdue, Saint Louis, Ole Miss, Washington, Loyola-Chicago and one other team. In 2015-16, the first round, winners bracket, and third place games will be televised on CBS Sports Network, with a TBD webcast package still being negotiated for the rest. If that’s any indication of coverage for 2016, Jays fans should be able to enjoy their team on TV as long as they stay in the winners bracket.