You know the old chestnut that says something about Death and Taxes being the only two things one can be certain of? Recent summers have made me wonder if a third thing wasn’t pining to be added to that list: Creighton fans griping about their non-conference schedule.
While you can’t dispute its relative putridness in recent years, I’ve come to accept a pragmatic approach to it. Because despite what spoiled brats like Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas would lead you to believe, teams of Creighton’s ilk can’t simply schedule anyone they want — most desirable teams won’t even play them in a one-and-done, regardless of the venue or the price. And the one scheduling weapon they do have, exempt tournaments, is not even failproof.
Three years ago, the Jays went to Hawaii under the premise they’d be playing teams like Michigan and Alabama. Instead they got Houston and Valparaiso. Last year, they went to Las Vegas and actually managed to make their schedule WORSE by playing DePaul and a rogues gallery of 250+ RPI flotsam.
Even this year, with the Jays slated to play in the Old Spice Classic, some fans insisted on negativity. A guy at the Homy Inn told me he’d bet me a Big Ass Beer and a dog dish of peanuts that the Jays would draw the two worst teams in the field — Baylor and Iona — only getting a marquee name if they advanced to the title game. I plan on collecting on that bet.
Because the Jays drew the dream matchup: perhaps the best team in the entire field, a team that might very well be a preseason Top 15 squad — Michigan. And their second game is either Xavier or Marquette. The former recently refused to renew an entertaining series that both fan bases wanted to continue, presumably because Sean Miller was tired of losing to the Jays. The latter, almost two decades ago, refused to renew an entertaining series for a range of amusingly absurd rumored reasons.
The third game would be against one of the four teams on the other side of the bracket: Alabama, Baylor, Florida State or Iona.
A look at the Jays’ side of the bracket reveals tough matchups all around. In other words, exactly what we all want — quality, big-name teams that if the Jays can beat, will help them pass the ridiculous “Jay Bilas Eye Test.” If only someone could explain to me what the hell that is…
Anyway. Now then, a look at the three teams on Creighton’s side of the bracket:
Michigan Wolverines. Michigan returned to the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 1998, and is poised for an even bigger breakthrough this year in John Beilein’s third season as head coach. Four starters return, including the “Motor City Duo” — senior forward DeShawn Sims and junior guard Manny Harris.
Sims was a second-team All Big Ten selection last year, and is just 14 rebounds shy of 1000 points/500 boards in his career; he’d be just the 25th player in program history to achieve that feat. The 6’8″ Sims was a beast in the paint, averaging over 15 points a game and nearly 7 rebounds. Perhaps more impressively, he had his biggest games when it counted most: 29 points in a late-season upset of 16th ranked Purdue, and a 28 point/12 rebound game in their win over 4th ranked Duke. Adding to the nightmare for opposing coaches, he’s drained 69 three-pointers in his career.
Meanwhile, Harris was a first-team All Big Ten player last year, and was the team’s motor. He ranked in the top ten in the conference in scoring, rebounding, and assists…and was 12th in steals. His game is versatile, equally dangerous with dribble penetration and jump shooting. And he hits 86% of his free throws.
And then there’s Coach Beilein. His 582 victories are the most of any active Big Ten coach, and his teams have finished .500 or better 27 of his 31 years at the helm. Of course, most Creighton fans remember being Pittsnoggled in the 2004 NCAA Tourney by his West Virginia squad. OUCH.
Series History: Michigan leads 1-0, with the lone game an 81-62 Wolverine victory in December of 1962.
Marquette Golden Eagles. The trio of Jerel McNeal, Wes Matthews and Dominic James — dubbed the Three Amigos, and frequented mentioned among the best backcourts in America — is history, as all three graduated in May.
That said, their recruiting class is considered one of the top in the country, with several recruiting services ranking it in the Top 10 and one, Hoop Scoop, naming it the best in America. But the bulk of their talent is new to D1 hoops, as the Three Amigos carried the scoring and assist load — leaving this year’s team, the first with players recruited by Buzz Williams, with the unenviable task of rebuilding on the fly in the tough Big East.
Senior Lazar Hayward assumes the role of team leader, as the lone returning starter amidst a bevy of incoming players. He’s not a bad piece to build around, though; Hayward represented the U.S. on the World University Games team this summer, and was a standout player on a team of stars.
People tended to overlook him, what with Marquette’s trio of star guards, but Hayward was no slouch. He was among the Big East leaders in scoring (10th, 16.3 ppg), rebounding (7th, 8.6 rpg) and free throw percentage (4th, 82.0%). He had an astonishing ten double-doubles. He even had a Paul Silas-esque 18 rebound game. And in the NCAA Tournament, he had 26/8 in their first round win, and 13/11 in the second round loss to Missouri.
To build around Hayward, Junior transfer Dwight Buycks, Sophomore transfer Darius Johnson-Odom, and true freshman Junior Cadougan are the top three recruits, and if they can compliment Hayward, Marquette could be pretty good come February. But in November, when the potential matchup with the Jays happens, they’ll probably still be finding their way — a good thing for Creighton.
Series history: The teams have met 75 times, with the Eagles holding a 47-28 edge. They last met in the 1998 NIT, with Marquette holding off the Rodney Buford-led Jays 80-68.
Xavier Musketeers. Any discussion of Xavier has to begin with Sean Miller’s sudden departure for the desert. Widely believed to be happy with the budding powerhouse he’d built in Cincinnati, it surprised a lot of people when he bolted for a potentially difficult situation at Arizona. His replacement, Chris Mack, inherits a team that won 27 games last year but has a lot of question marks heading into this season.
The summer news has been highlighted by newcomer Jordan Crawford posterizing LeBron James at a Nike camp — and Nike’s subsequent Nixonian coverup, confiscating all existing video footage, with TMZ eventually outbidding other media outlets for the only surviving video clip.
Three starters depart, representing the bulk of their scoring, rebounding and assists — Derrick Brown, BJ Raymond and CJ Anderson are all gone, taking nearly 40 points and 15 boards a game with them. A crop of recruits surround the two returning starters, Dante Jackson (6 points/game, 3.5 boards/game, 3.5 assists/game) and Jason Love (6.7 points/game, 6.9 rebounds/game).
Much like Marquette, Xavier will be a team searching for itself early in the season — a recipe for an upset in November.
Series history: The teams have met 14 times, with Xavier winning 8. The last was a Xavier win in Cincinnati two years ago..