College basketball officially begins Friday, October 12. In the days leading up to Creighton’s Bluejay Madness event, we’ll try to pose (and answer) some of the most pressing questions surrounding the 2012-2013 Creighton men’s basketball team.
#10: How well will Austin Chatman replace Antoine Young?
#9: Can Creighton handle being the hunted?
#8: How will the minutes shake out?
#7: What will the newcomers bring to this team?
#6: What will Doug McDermott do for an encore?
#5 Will Creighton’s non-conference schedule be a liability come March?
It wouldn’t be college basketball season in Omaha without discussing the merits of / assigning blame for Creighton’s non-conference schedule.
The Bluejays year in and year out are in the unenviable position of being too risky an opponent for the best major conference programs to schedule. The types of teams Jays fans would want to see come to the CenturyLink Center — the ones that casual hoops fans see on ESPN all the time — don’t benefit from scheduling a home-and-home series with CU. Any proposed two-for-one deals don’t happen, seemingly because the Bluejays coaching staff know that year in and year out they are better than that and shouldn’t have to lower their standards just to get a shot at the proverbial Goliath.
Recently, that conflict has led Greg McDermott’s program — and Dana Altman’s before him — to schedule potentially beneficial series between the Bluejays and similarly situated non-BCS conference programs. Occasionally CU finds itself in true home-and-home series against middle of the road major conference teams (see: Northwestern). But teams such as Saint Joseph’s in recent seasons and Xavier a few years before that represent outstanding basketball programs from competitive, quality leagues that also struggle to find equally beneficial scheduling matches with high-major programs.
It is all about leverage. Local columnists and many fans want the Jays to swallow their pride and whore out the program, gallivanting around the country playing two road games for every one that you might get back in Omaha against a team like Kentucky, North Carolina, or Kansas. Postseason schedules forced the Wildcats and Tar Heels into games with the Jays, and CU held its own. But if you hold your breath waiting for either of those teams or the Jayhawks to come to Omaha for anything other than an NCAA Tournament game (not against CU), you’ll end up a shade of Carolina, Wildcat, or Jayhawk blue.
Creighton’s best chance for regular season matchups against that caliber of team comes from the crapshoot that is multi-team events. Usually scheduled a few years out, these tournaments litter the early season schedule of college basketball and give ESPN and other networks made-for-TV matchups in warm locations like Hawaii and Florida. This season, the Jays head to Vegas for the crown jewel of their non-conference slate: an arranged meeting with perennial power Wisconsin and then a game against either Arkansas or Arizona State.
Greg McDermott and the men’s basketball staff put together a solid non-conference schedule (Adam Streur/WBR)
Don’t listen to ignorant college hoops fans: the neutral court event is far from the only captivating non-conference piece of Creighton’s schedule. McDermott saw an opportunity and scheduled a road game at California in mid-December. Mike Montgomery’s team came on strong at the end of last season, advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and returns a few key players from that squad. Traveling halfway across the country after taking final exams isn’t easy, but a game against the Pac-12 Bears will offer CU a name opponent against which to collect a win. You can apply the same theory to the annual game against Nebraska. A win against the Huskers this season would give CU a “W” against a team from the Big Ten, which is usually one of the top three conferences by RPI.
Sure, there are some certified stinkers (Presbyterian, Longwood) scheduled for home games this season. But what college hoops teams don’t play a few sub-250 RPI schools each year? Once again, McDermott and his staff have put together a slate of non-conference games that, if thing break correctly, could leave CU in a solid position among the computer rankings later in the season. Don’t be surprised if Creighton’s home-opener against North Texas is one of the most challenging games the Jays play all season, in or out of conference play. Potential lottery pick Tony Mitchell gets plenty of publicity for the Mean Green — he graces many of the same All-American teams and lists of best college players as CU’s Doug McDermott — but UNT will put plenty of talent on the floor on November 9. The favorite in the Sun Belt Conference has road games at CU and Saint Louis and will participate in the NIT Preseason Tip Off, where a win against Alabama-Huntsville on November 12 could set Mitchell and the Mean Green up for a game against Kansas State. Its name may not carry the same cache as most major-conference teams, but come March a win over North Texas could do the Jays good.
Another such game comes in Omaha on December 1, when Creighton hosts St. Joe’s. The Hawks beat the Bluejays in Philly last year, handing CU its only regular season non-conference loss. Phil Martelli’s team returns everyone from that squad, and the Hawks are the preseason favorites in the always-competitive Atlantic 10 Conference.
Akron returns a BracketBuster game from two years ago; the Zips beat Coach Mac’s first Creighton team in February 2011 and a month later played in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Zips lost to Ohio in the MAC Championship game by a point and settled for a trip to the NIT. They return two of their top three scorers in Zeke Marshall and Alex Abreu.
The closest Creighton will come to playing Kansas in Omaha is probably when Tulsa and UAB come to town. The Golden Hurricane head coach is Danny Manning, one of the best players in KU history who most recently manned a spot on the bench for Bill Self in Lawrence. Scottie Haralson, the team’s second-leading scorer last season, returns to help Manning in his first year at the helm.
The Blazers also have a first-year head coach with Jayhawk roots: Jerod Haase, former KU standout and assistant coach for Roy Williams at KU, was hired to take over the UAB program. The Blazers lost their best player, Cameron Moore, but return three starters.
The final home non-conference matchup is a meeting with Boise State as part of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge Series. The good news? The MWC was fifth last season in conference RPI, ahead of the ACC, A-10, and MVC. The bad news? The Broncos only went 3-11 in conference play (12-17 overall) last season. Still, there’s something to be said for experience, and Boise returns four of five starters from last year, including the top three scorers from 2011-2012.
Throw in a potentially beneficial road game in the annual ESPN BracketBusters event, and Creighton will play plenty of intriguing and challenging non-conference games. The names might not be sexy, but the opponents collectively give the Jays a chance to establish more than respectable computer ratings. In the end, though, the most important part of the schedule is whether you can mark a “W” or an “L” next to each game. This year’s schedule will only really become a liability if the Jays can’t find a way to win what could be at least 6 or 8 close games.