Half empty, or half full?
Driving home from Barrett’s following Creighton’s first season-opening loss in 12 years, that simple question-as-metaphor kept cycling through my thoughts.
Weighing all of the personnel problems presented to Dana Altman and his travelling bunch of Bluejays heading to Dayton, it is easy to take the positives from their performance on the road and amplify them based on what CU didn’t have on the bench — a healthy starting point guard (Antoine Young), starting forward (Justin Carter) and two important contributors (Chad Millard and Casey Harriman).
“They scored 80 points!”
“The newbies looked great!”
“Dayton’s a tough place to play!”
But why make excuses? I believe — and I’m sure the players and coaches and thousands of other Creighton fans do, too — the Bluejays had enough on their bench to beat the Flyers. Even with 10 scholarship players. Even at UD Arena. Even in the first game of the season.
That’s where the half full thoughts take over. Creighton squandered a double-digit lead late in the first half, but still led at the break. The Bluejays were even on the boards with the Flyers through 20 minutes. They were aggressive on offense, drawing 16 free throw attempts to Dayton’s 6 in the first half. But Creighton faded in both categories in the second stanza, getting outrebounded and shooting fewer free throws in the second 20 minutes.
Reading some of the message boards and game previews Saturday morning, you’d think Hickory High was travelling to take on a much more athletic South Bend team for the Indiana State Basketball Championship game. But the Bluejays displayed plenty of talent Saturday morning; they just couldn’t finish around the basket as often as Chris Wright and the high-flying Flyers did. To have a similar amount of run-out opportunities and find shots either blocked or altered significantly or to simply dribble the ball off one’s foot or leg, we’ll that’s aiding to the “half empty” feeling.
Dayton’s two main low post threats played 11 (Kurt Huelsman) and 23 (Devin Searcy) minutes, yet Creighton’s main post threat, Kenny Lawson, could only muster 8 points and 3 rebounds in 18 minutes. Sure, Wayne Runnels was effective and efficient offensively, posting 16 points and 9 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. Half full. But where was his help in the paint? Half empty.
Kaleb Korver got the start in Creighton’s three-guard backcourt. By all accounts, he knows where to be … and how to communicate to other, less experienced, players where exactly they should be, too. Half full. But is it wrong to want more than 3 points, 1 rebound (offensive), and 1 assist in 28 minutes of time? Half empty.
Ethan Wragge isn’t waiting his turn to slowly establish himself as a true freshman. He wants to shoot. And he wants to shoot right now. He was 4-5 from 3-point range, with the quickest long-range release the Bluejays have put on the court in awhile. Half full. But he only played 13 minutes, thanks in part to a few out-of-position fouls. He looks like one of Creighton’s best shooters. But to stay on the court, you have to play good defense. Half empty.
So, the Bluejays scheduled up this season. The non-conference slate of games, or at least those on the road or in Orlando at the Old Spice Classic, is formidable, or at least as much as it can be without Creighton selling its mid-major soul to play the wrong ends of 2-for-1s. Half full. But it doesn’t matter what a team’s schedule looks like: as my man Herm Edwards always says (OK, said that one time), you play to win the game. That’s what made me lean toward half empty as I drove back from the Barleycorn Saturday afternoon: when I look back on this season opener, I won’t explain the loss with the caveats that Carter et al were MIA, or that Dayton is a good team. I’ll look at another instance in a string of games against good opponents when Creighton held leads and couldn’t hold on, or when the Bluejays blew opportunities to beat similar teams, regardless of where the games were played.
Am I happy Altman’s team played well enough to win, given the circumstances? Yes. But I’m more upset they let another one slip through their fingers, given the roster’s experience and insistence that this year would be different. In this battle of half full vs. half empty, the lesser prevails.