My Freshman year of high school, I played in a high school game where I was whistled for traveling late in a close game. There had been several of those “calls” during that game, and on this instance I knew damn well I hadn’t traveled. Without being as succinct and using much saltier language, I told the referee so. Of course, I deservedly got T’d up and we lost the game.
During the hundred or so laps I involuntarily ran following that game, there was plenty of time for the stern lecture from my coach to sink in: “If you don’t take care of the things you can control, don’t blame the outcome on someone else.” I was blaming the referee for blowing a call and costing us the game, when in reality our team had missed several late shots, turned the ball over and failed to do things in our control to increase our lead to a point where one missed call wouldn’t cost us the game. I was too upset at the time to understand, but the wisdom of years has taught me how true that really is.
I thought of this story after the ending of the game on Saturday. Was the blocking foul with 18 seconds left on Justin Carter a bad call? It looked that way to me, but you can’t expect to get those calls on the road. Was the technical foul that immediately followed on Dana Altman for protesting that call an overreaction, and a questionable decision given the time and score? Perhaps, but some have noted that he’d been warned several times during the game to stay in the coaches box — so the threshold for being T’d up may have been lower than it normally would be. Either way, to blame that call for the loss is disingenious.
Mind you, when it happened I was STEAMED. If you saw some of the things I texted in the aftermath, you’d think I was going off the deep end. Some of those things found their way to Twitter. They were in-the-moment things that any fan emotionally invested in the outcome would be expected to feel in such a situation.
Given time to digest the situation however, I concluded that the cold, hard fact of the matter is this: Creighton did not deserve to win this game. The Jays won the first 37 minutes. Problem is, college games do not last 37 minutes; they last 40. And in the final three minutes, Creighton was 4-8 from the foul line, they missed two easy baskets in the paint, turned the ball over twice, and in the process of blowing a six-point lead were outscored 13-4.
Whether or not those calls were bad is immaterial. Creighton put themselves in position to allow potential bad calls to cost them a game. And such a call happened. That’s not on the refs, as even the best of them are going to blow calls from time to time. In my opinion, the players and coaches have no one to blame but themselves. Finish the game, control the things you can control, and you’ll never have to worry about bad calls costing you a game. Here’s the things the Jays failed to do in the final three minutes; Look at them and tell me if you can honestly say the refs are to blame:
2:47 Missed jumper by Justin Carter
2:45 Missed front end of one-and-one by Carter
2:24 Turnover by Carter
1:31 Missed front end of one-and-one by Carter
1:06 Missed fastbreak layup by Wayne Runnels
1:01 Missed back end of one-and-one by Ashford
0:27 Missed first of two free throws by Cavel Witter
0:05 Fumbled pass, turnover by Carter
And over that same span, they scored a grand total of four points: two on free throws by P’Allen Stinnett, one on a free throw by Witter (after he’d missed the first), and one on a free throw by Ashford (after he’d made the front end of the one-and-one).
If even half of those things go the other way, Creighton has a lead large enough to sustain a bad call. But if you have all of those things go badly, in my book, you’ve relinquished your right to complain about the refs.
As my Freshman coach told me 17 years ago, if you don’t take care of the things you can control, don’t blame the outcome on someone else.
***
The final possession seemed to sum up everything that is hampering this team in late game situations — there is no one who demands the ball. There isn’t a leader who not only wants the ball, but demands it and has the respect of his teammates to give it to him. On Saturday, they dribbled around, fumbled the ball and never got a shot off.
We’ve seen it happen four times in the last ten contests, and until the team finds a leader who puts the team on his back late in games, we’ll probably see it happen again. Until that happens, the only games this team is likely to win are against opponents who aren’t good enough to come back, or in games where Creighton builds an insurmountable lead. In other words, they’re a .500 ballclub: an average, middle-of-the-pack, unremarkable team with dubious hopes for postseason play.
Early on this season, I preached patience, and urged people to not make rash decisions based on one or two games. We’re eight games in — almost 1/3 of the way through the season — and it may no longer too early to decide what this team is, or to project what it may become. I’m one of the most positive, everything-is-alright fans you’re going to find, and I’m officially worried.
The fact of the matter is, in mid-December the Jays are the only team in the MVC with a losing record. Based on results, they are the worst team in the league. And the conference opener is in fifteen days against the prohibitive favorite to win the league, with a road game against undefeated and likely ranked New Mexico in the meantime.
Ouch.