Tonight, the Greg McDermott Era officially kicks off when he coaches his first regular season game. Mac is the 16th head coach in Creighton’s 93 years of hoops, and not to put any undue pressure on him, but only three of the previous 15 lost their first game:
- Arthur Schabinger lost 25-7 to Kansas on January 3, 1922. He would ultimately coach 14 seasons and compile a 165-66 record.
- Willis Reed lost 57-51 to Wisconsin-Stevens Point in his debut on November 28, 1981. In four seasons Reed went 52-65.
- Rick Johnson suffered a 92-75 drubbing at the hands of Iowa State on November 26, 1991, the first of many lopsided losses during a disastrous three-season tenure that saw him compile a 24-59 mark.
Every other coach in CU history won their debuts. In fact, winning debut games is something Creighton has excelled at over the years. The Jays are 77-15 in season opening games, 81-11 in home openers and have not lost a home opener since Dana Altman’s first season when he lost to SMU (as “schargis” correctly answered to win tickets to tonight’s game in the WBR Trivia Contest). They went a remarkable 41-2 in home openers from 1936 to 1980, and won 21 straight between the end of WWII and 1966. Adding further to the success, Greg McDermott is 13-3 in season opening games all-time, and has won eight straight.
As if those numbers didn’t give you confidence that tonight will likely end with a win, the opponent tonight, Alabama State, hails from the SWAC, a conference that has never beaten the Jays and has rarely even provided a competitive game. The Jays are 20-0 against the league, which includes a 7-0 mark vs. Mississippi Valley State, 5-0 vs. Southern, 4-0 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 3-0 vs. Grambling and 1-0 vs. Alcorn State. How uncompetitive have those 20 games been? The average margin of victory in games versus the SWAC is a monstrous 23.35 points!
With that said, Alabama State and Creighton have never met, and the Hornets might just be the class of the SWAC. Hailing from Montgomery, Alabama, the historically black college has 4,600 undergrads and a litany of famous alums including Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson, former Jaguars receiver Reggie Barlow, singer Clarance Carter (a one-hit wonder with “Strokin'”), and London “Deelishis” Charles (winner of “Flavor of Love 2”).
Head coach Lewis Jackson has won 80 games over his first five years at the helm of the program. He has two SWAC Regular Season Championships under his belt to go along with a SWAC Tournament crown, and has led ASU teams to both a NIT and a NCAA appearance. In their history, the Hornets have appeared in three NCAA tourneys: Twice they were a 16 seed, losing 69-35 to Michigan State in 2001 and 95-61 to Duke in 2006, while in 2009, they were in the play-in game, and lost to Morehead State 58-43.
This year’s Hornets team is picked third in the SWAC, and returns two starters from their 16-15 team a year ago. Junior guard Tramaine Butler is the team’s top returning player in both scoring and rebounding, and averaged 10.4 points and 4.9 rebounds a game last season. Senior point guard A.J. Spencer averaged 2.8 points and a team-best 3.4 assists per game last year, and together with Butler gives them the most experienced back court in the league. They’re also experienced in the front court, as senior forward Christopher Duncan was been named preseason SWAC Defensive Player of the Year after tying for the league lead with 50 blocked shots last year; he was also named to the second-team preseason all-SWAC team.
They’re a competitive bunch, relatively speaking, and won their only exhibition game 67-57 last week. Kenderek Washington scored 19 points and Ivan Johnson added 16 in leading them to a win over Georgia Southwestern State. The Hornets jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the first nine minutes of the game, but they scored just six more points over the final 11 minutes of the first half. After the game see-sawed back and forth, Washington scored 10 consecutive points on four free throws and two three-point shots as the Hornets built a 47-41 lead they would not relinquish.
With that said, the reality of their budgetary situation forces them to play eight of their first nine games on the road, all in guarantee games that help pay the bills. Its a challenge they readily accept and use to prepare them for the rigors of conference play, as coach Jackson told WBR’s Danny O’Byrne. They’ll probably lose a good chunk of those games, but they’ll pay the bills, toughen up for SWAC play, and come March, likely be in contention to win the conference tournament and make the NCAA’s for the fourth time in a decade.
Unlike the 30 and 40 point pastings the Jays handed to fellow SWAC member Arkansas Pine-Bluff on a routine basis in the middle part of this decade, the Hornets should at least give the Jays a competitive game, though I believe the final margin of victory will ultimately wind up north of 20 points.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Alabama State’s head coach Lewis Jackson is a former Alabama State standout who was named 1984 SWAC Player of the Year, invited to try out for the US Olympic Team and was drafted in the third round by Golden State … Each of Creighton’s last three season-openers have seen a team rally from a 10-point deficit to win the game, though in each case, the team leading at half would go on to lose the game (Creighton rallied from 17 down to beat DePaul in 2007; the Jays rallied from 16 down to defeat New Mexico in 2008, and lost a 10-point lead and later the game to Dayton in 2009) … The last freshman to start his first game for Creighton was Ryan Sears in 1997, as we detailed in our profile of Sears this summer in our “What’s in a Number?” series. Doug McDermott could be the next tonight … Doug McDermott led all players with 18 points last Thursday, making 6-of-9 shots from the field and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. His 18 points are the most by a Bluejay in their exhibition debut since Rodney Buford scored 24 points on Nov. 14, 1995 vs. Poznan (Poland) … Each of the last nine times that Creighton has held its season-opening opponent to 50 points or less, the Bluejays have advanced to the postseason. That includes a win over SWAC team Mississippi Valley State in 2006 where the Jays held them to 42 points … Creighton has won 31 straight regular-season November home games, with their last home loss coming in November of 1989, when they fell to Coppin State on Nov. 27.
The Last Time They Played: The Jays and Hornets have never met, though they almost did in 2002. The first and second rounds of Creighton’s bracket in the Guardian’s Classic at the Civic featured three teams, one of which was Alabama State. They lost to Furman 74-73 in the first round, and the following night, lost to Texas-Arlington 59-47. They were the only team to not play the Jays, which was probably a fortuitous thing considering the Jays beat Texas-Arlington 102-50 (!) and Furman 82-57.
Gratuitous Linkage: I’m old enough to remember when TV shows had 60 or even 90 second theme song intros. It was awesome — think about all the great songs that became seared into your brain. Magnum PI. Miami Vice. Hawaii Five-O. TJ Hooker. OK, so maybe not the last one, but my point remains.
Here’s a compilation of the 25 greatest themes, as compiled by Entertainment Weekly. Good times. No pun intended.
Out of Context Simpsons quote: “Marge, you being a cop makes you the man! Which makes me the woman — and I have no interest in that, besides occasionally wearing the underwear, which as we discussed, is strictly a comfort thing.” -Homer Simpson
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: Creighton defeats UNO in an exhibition game, 74-53, on November 12, 2000. The Bluejays trailed by as many as six points in the first half before taking the lead for good on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Terrell Taylor with 5:22 left in the half. Taylor’s foul shots gave Creighton a 29-27 lead and started a 15-4 run which helped the Jays build a 42-33 halftime advantage. Taylor scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the opening half. preseason all-Missouri Valley Conference guards Ben Walker and Ryan Sears also reached double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Walker grabbed six rebounds to tie for game-high honors with Dabbert and UNO center Darran Miller. Despite a noticeable height disadvantage, the NCAA Division II visitors worked the boards for a 37-35 edge in rebounding.
The Jays have never played a regular season on November 12, and in fact, have only played a game as early as the 12th once (the 2007 game with DePaul).
The Totally Random Song I’d Play Right Now if I was Still a Radio DJ: For some reason, I’ve been listening to a bunch of old early 80s metal records lately (on actual vinyl, too). One of the more obscure bands that I’ve really been digging is Krokus, a Swiss metal band. This song in particular was a staple of MTV’s Headbangers Ball back in the day, and the video has it all: heavy video filtering, cheap effects, a strange fetish with the Dark Ages … I mean, it has everything a good metal video should have. Oh, and the song kicks all kinds of you-know-what too.
Prediction: The first half will be competitive, as the Jays in their first real game under the new staff will come out struggling to click. However, their superior athletic ability and depth, combined with what should be a fiesty home crowd on a Friday night, will allow the Jays to take over and make this one a convincing win by nights end.
Creighton 78, Alabama State 64. Kenny “The Sheriff” Lawson leads the way with 17 points. Pizza will be won by season ticket holders. The contestant in the “Find Billy” game will miraculously find Billy. And the contestant in the putting contest will somehow not be aware that it breaks left, and miss horribly. The crowd will boo lustily.
You bet.
