White & Blue Review’s Max Univers will be reporting back from MVC Media Day in St. Louis with a running diary, updated frequently throughout the day.
5:23am // As I was walking down the tunnel from the parking garage to the terminal, I heard giant footsteps in the tranquil predawn hour. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Coach Mac, Gregory Echenique and Doug McDermott, along with Antoine Young, who were parked two stalls down from me. I said Hi but it was clear we were all pretty groggy given the ridiculously early hour.
By the time I got through security, the TSA agents were all talking about the Jays players who’d just come through. One of them told me his five-year old daughter was in love with two people — Justin Bieber and Doug McDermott — and that he wished his duties allowed him the opportunity to snap a photo. Alas.
5:37am // Waiting at the gate, Jim Flanery and the women’s basketball contingent met up with Coach Mac. The Robs (Anderson and Sims) were there as well, and I was able to snag a printed media guide from them to read on the plane, which Rob A. told me was a rarity these days — an actual printed media guide. Illinois State is rumored to be the only other school still printing it, with the other eight going to a completely digital PDF version.
The men’s players sat and studied up on the media guide, as well:
5:49am // Getting the year kicked off right — the Jays haven’t scored 75 points in a game yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a personal pizza from Godfather’s anyway. Breakfast pizza variety, no less — sausage, egg, cheese, delicious. The dude sitting next to me is envious. Too bad.
6:07am // Wondering if the team will practice tonight upon their return. It’s not a crazy thought — for years, Creighton held their Open House at the Qwest Center on the same day as MVC Media Day. The team would fly back right after festivities concluded, rush directly to the arena, quickly change, and run a practice.
6:18am // I’m one of the last people to board the plane, and get stuck in the very back row, right behind Echenique and Doug McDermott, who are sharing a row, their long legs stretched out taking up the middle seat. Stewardess comes up to GE right before takeoff and says she feels sorry for him being so cramped, and offers to move him up to First Class, but he opts to hang back.
7:40am// On the ground in St. Louis, and I send off a text message to WBR’s Patrick Marshall with some info about the MVC preseason polls that I tell him he has to wait until 8 to publish. Steve Pivovar of the World-Herald and I had learned the results of the polls just before boarding. With Piv on board, I think about half the plane was somehow related to MVC media day between actual legit media like us, Creighton support staff, coaches and players.
8:01am // The Creighton Contingent moves onto the train, and move en masse to the Union Station Marriott. It’s a short one block walk from the train station to the hotel, but I opt to take the scenic route past the ScottTrade Center as a precursor to Arch Madness in a few months. I had to do it. Plus, it’s gorgeous weather for a walk. Might take a stroll over to the Landing for a cold one at Sundeckers after things wrap up…
8:33am // The scenic route finally gets me into Union Station, where the first sign that I’m in the right spot appears. It will be another half-mile of indoor walking before I’m actually to the Ballroom, however.
9:03am // Check-in begins, and I make a beeline for the food table. Yes, I had a breakfast pizza earlier, but that was in a different state!
9:22am // Perusing the Illinois State media guide, which is a nice publication but is perfect bound. This means nothing to you if you’re a non-designer or not familiar with printing, I’m sure. The spine is glued, in layman’s terms. Makes it annoying to lay open on a table while writing. Creighton, it should be noted, uses the much more media-friendly spiral binding. Yay, Creighton.
9:53am // Good stuff on the swag table — koozies from FS Midwest, flash drives from Wichita State, photo-copied media booklets or media guides from every school except Missouri State and Evansville (whose designated space on the table is completely empty, and very lonely), and other goodies. Tim from Bluejay Banter watched me grab a Shocker flash drive and made a snide remark I’d best not reprint. But yes, I took one. Took two, actually — one with the men’s basketball media guide pre-loaded, and one with the women’s guide pre-loaded. I’ll be designing a label to cover the WuShock logo when I get home, don’t worry.
10:21am // Coach Jim Flanery just wrapped up a segment on the dais — fancy word for table with a podium in the center — along with coaches from ISU Red, ISU Blue, UNI and SIU. Some highlights from his time at the mic:
“College Athletics is about being the best you can, not how many games you win. How close to your potential can you get?”
On Realignment: “It’s too early to get excited about it from a women’s basketball standpoint. I think we just have to wait until it plays out.”
On this year’s team: “It’s a solid group that will get better and better as the year goes on. We have a young team, with nine of our 12 players underclassmen. We’ll play a a lot more people than we have (in recent years), and press a lot to make up for that lack of experience.”
10:44am // Just walked past the room where the MVC is taping their promo spots. These are the clips they show in TV commercials during FSN games, and the jumbotron clips at Arch Madness featuring players imploring their fans to cheer. Gregory Echenique was having quite a tough time getting his lines down, and there was a lot of laughter coming out of his session when I peeked in as he did take after take.
10:50am // Coach Mac is on the dais now, along with Coach Lansing, Jank and Gregg Marshall. Ben Jacobson is late because he’s still doing his TV promo spots — I wonder if Echenique’s countless takes are the cause of the delay? Haha!
Quick highlights from Mac’s time at the mic:
“This level of basketball is little more pure, and I’m blessed to be at a place where basketball is so important. We have such a great fanbase, it’s hard not to be happy at a place like Creighton.”
On Realignment: “It’s unfortunate so many great rivalries will cease. Having been in the Big 12 for four years it’s hard to fathom Texas and Texas A&M not playing. Depending on what happens with Missouri, it’s hard to fathom them not playing Kansas. I like the traditions that have been established, and I don’t like the idea of flying all over the country to compete. I feel like these decisions are not being made with the interests of student athletes in mind.”
Off to hear Doug Elgin’s “State of the Valley” address, where the topic of realignment is sure to come up again…
12:02pm // Lunch was a delicious array of sliced deli meats and cheddar cheese chowder. I ate them too quickly to take a photo. Sorry.
12:10pm // Doug Elgin’s “State of the Valley” address had some interesting things in it:
On Scheduling: The President’s Council has mandated all Valley schools play in MTE (Multi-Team Events) every year. There is no financial penalty for not doing so, but it has been strongly encouraged. Schools can request a waiver if they feel their schedule is sufficiently strong enough without an MTE.
On the new TV Package: The league is excited that more games will be on national TV than ever before, including 28 on ESPN/2/U. In addition, Fox College Sports will show all FSN telecasts live, meaning those are now national telecasts as well — bringing the total number of MVC games televised nationally to 42 in the regular season. CBS will continue to sublease the MVC Men’s Basketball championship game from ESPN in 2011-12.
On Arch Madness: The contract to keep the tourney at ScottTrade Center in St. Louis runs through 2015, and they’d like to extend it. There has been talk, both among MVC staff and the President’s Council, about moving the tournament back a week. The sticking point, Elgin said, is finding time in ESPN or CBS’ schedules to clear the games. Also, FSN shows the PAC-12 tourney that weekend and would not like the games pre-empted in midwest markets. The issue is “on the table” but it’s not a “front-burner issue”, according to Elgin.
On Expansion/Realignment: Nothing new here — the MVC is listening but is not proactively seeking to expand. The President’s Council believes 10 is the optimal number of members, but is open to expansion if the right team became available.
12:34pm // Creighton has been awarded the MVC Academic Award for the seventh time in eight years, and the players in attendance are called up on the stage to accept the award:
Photo courtesy Creighton Women's Basketball Twitter
1:00 pm // The second batch of men’s basketball coaches take to the dais, with a much smaller crowd in attendance. A lot of media members are standing around Doug Elgin in the hallway talking about scheduling issues, TV contracts, conference expansion/realignment, and other stuff. Meanwhile, Geno Ford, Mark Phelps, Marty Simmons, Paul Lusk and Chris Lowery are answering questions.
Quick hits: Lusk says Kyle Weems won’t win the league for the Bears by himself, and will need his teammates to step up their games for them to win it.
Lowery mentioned he’s happy to finally have some young players who are “drinking the Saluki kool-aid”, in his words, and are willing to work hard to get back to the days when they were the best-conditioned team in the league.
Simmons is, as always, the most gregarious and outspoken coach on the docket, and talked enthusiastically about the Ford Center, Colt Ryan, getting Butler and Indiana both on their schedule, their hopes to compete for a Valley title, conference expansion, and any other topic brought up. Completely steals the spotlight.
Phelps says Seth VanDeest is 7-8 weeks away from being cleared to practice, and that they haven’t ruled out applying for a medical redshirt — they’ll discuss it with him but they’re leaning towards not wanting to waste a year when he won’t play for half the season.
1:08pm // And with that, 2011 Media Day wraps up. Coach Mac and the Jays players are already en route back to Omaha, while legit media like Piv and myself are finishing things up in the media workroom.
I’ve got tons of great interview content that we’ll get up in the next day or so, along with previews of every MVC team. Thanks for following along today, everyone!