This is the eleventh of our “Meet the Jays” segments featuring the 2009-2010 Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball players. Join us as we profile different scholarship players every day leading up to the season opener at Dayton on November 14.
Photo by www.gocreighton.com
The line reads almost like poetry:
15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.
That was Chad Millard’s line in the box score for his very first regular season game as a Creighton Bluejay, against DePaul two seasons ago. Unfortunately, his career output as a Bluejay has probably not been what he envisioned after leaving Louisville after his freshman season.
Millard started the first 12 games of his redshirt sophomore campaign for Creighton until shooting woes and a bum wrist cut into his playing time. Injuries have plagued Millard throughout his career at Creighton. Last season, Millard suffered a concussion in the opening game against New Mexico, which caused him to miss some time. Then, as he was working himself back into the rotation, he suffered a high ankle sprain against Southern Illinois that sidelined him for almost a month. After that playing time was very limited throughout the rest of the season as he only appeared in 9 of the last 18 games.
Coming into Millard’s senior year, he was the odds on favorite to backup Kenny Lawson in the low post following Kenton Walker’s transfer to the Left Coast. After Lawson, Millard is CU’s tallest forward and has a great wingspan. But again, the injury bug bit: Millard injured his foot during a workout in September, which has sidelined him ever since, but he fought a battle with Bell’s Palsy where one side of his face went numb. The Bell’s Palsy has subsided, but Chad’s foot is still not 100%. It has to be killing Millard to spend yet more games during his CU career in street clothes on the bench; at Media Day, Millard proclaimed to White & Blue Review, “I’m really excited to play, and I just can’t wait to get the boot off.”
The injuries have frustrated the senior, who has a lot of goals for this year’s squad.
“Our big goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament. We went my first year here and we haven’t been back and we are really, really excited to hopefully make a run toward that. Individually, I would like to be more consistent, rebound a little better, and be a consummate team player.”
One way Millard took that last challenge head on was to spend a lot of time over the summer getting the players together and building some cohesiveness among newcomers and returners alike.
“I have been making a conscious effort getting everybody together, to build camaraderie and have stuff going on at my place. We’ll watch a movie together, trying to get everyone to be a family. We have definitely made strides in doing that. That is a role I have taken on.”
But when will Millard be back on the court, playing basketball? Missing the start of regular season practice and the exhibition games has set him back in his attempt to be a major contributor this season. It is too bad he won’t be ready to play at Dayton, as he was most excited to play there heading into the season.
“The game I am most excited about I would probably have to say at Dayton. It’s a great game, a great environment. We played them last year and it was a great game for us and I am excited to play there again. I think it will be a good game.”
The Dayton game is Saturday, and Millard will be on the bench — in street clothes yet again. Here’s hoping he gets back on the court sooner rather than later this season, his last as a Bluejay.