A couple of years ago, I paid a visit to the fine city of Pittsburgh for a design conference. While I was there I took in a Pirates game, a team without a winning season in almost 20 years. Their fans were either apathetic or disgusted, mostly both, and with good reason. They’ve sucked for a very long time. Kids entering college today were not alive the last time the Pirates were even competitive. I thought of that day after a conversation I had Sunday while I was enjoying breakfast at Hy-Vee. An older gentleman at the adjacent table saw my Creighton hat, and proceeded to vent about the previous night’s game (the tables there are close enough to converse with your neighbors).
Venting was understandable. They stunk in Springfield, and there’s no way to sugar coat that. They were behind by 28 (!) at one point, a ghastly fact which doesn’t need any opinion attached to it for emphasis.
But then he started talking about things like the team being irrelevant since the early 1970s when Eddie Sutton coached them. It was fascinating to hear someone talk about a 29 win team that was rated in the top ten for a while as a massive failure, or how seven NCAA Tournaments in 10 years is the basketball equivalent of Soylent Green — a placating wafer of sustenance for people who don’t know any better, but a disgusting lie for those who know the truth. Of course, he knows the truth, and no one else does, least of all me: Creighton stinks now, they’ve stunk for decades, and he’s glad to see the masses coming around now that the phony triumph that is an NCAA Tournament bid is out of their reach. (All his words, by the way, especially the Soylent Green comparison — his diatribe was so remarkable I wrote it down as close to verbatim as I could remember in the car after I left.)
I couldn’t resist. I tore a sheet out of my sketchpad that I carry with me pretty much all the time, wrote down “Soylent Green is people…ITS PEOPLE!”, handed it to him, patted him on the shoulder and left. Very strange guy. Just imagine what he’ll think if the Jays endure 20 years of losing seasons like the Pittsburgh Pirates have in baseball! Actually, don’t imagine. Its too horrible.
Regardless of that gentlemen’s opinion, I think we’ve had it pretty good the last decade-plus. Could it have been better? Oh, absolutely. I’d take a win over Central Michigan in 2003, for starters. And if I was really greedy I’d ask for better finishes against West Virginia in 2005 and Nevada in 2007. And if I was REALLY greedy I’d ask for Ben Walker’s shot to go in at the buzzer against Auburn. But on the whole, for the last 10+ years we’ve had it pretty good. Consistent postseason appearances, usually in the Big Dance. Consistent finishes in the top three of the MVC, usually in the top two. This season has been bad, but it could be much worse. How would you like to be Evansville this morning?
Or a Pirates fan?
***
The Jays enter tonight’s game 12-12 overall and tied for third place in the MVC with three of their final five conference games at home, where they are 10-1 this year. Yes, despite their massive struggles, the overall mediocrity of the conference has allowed the team to stay afloat. At 7-6 in the league and with just 12 wins, they have no business being in third place in any league, but they are. If they win out at home and lose out on the road, they’ll finish 10-8 in the league, putting them somewhere between third and fifth place.
24 games into a 30 game schedule, I’d be insane to sit here and tell you this team is anything other than what it is: an average mid-major team. They can play well for stretches, play awful for stretches, have entire games where they look lost, have games they win that they shouldn’t and games they lose that they shouldn’t. They don’t shoot the ball very well, they struggle against good post play, and they don’t always defend well. They simply are what they are: a .500 ballclub, and so its fitting that they’ll finish right around that mark.
Luckily for tonight’s enjoyment, Indiana State is in dire straits. Their top three scorers are all injured and out indefinitely: Harry Marshall (14 points, 3.5 assists) has a fractured foot, Dwayne Lathan (12 points, 5 rebounds) has a broken hand, and Jake Kelly has a torn ACL that he suffered in the conference opener. They suit up just eight players, which has forced them to switch to running a zone defense almost exclusively to disguise their lack of depth. Any team who lost its top three players to injury would be in a world of hurt, but Indiana State was a middle-of-the-pack team to begin with so they’ve really taken it hard.
With that said, Creighton has struggled against the zone this year, partially because they’re just not able to hit outside jump shots consistently. The Sycamores proved adept at using the zone to their advantage on Saturday against second place Wichita State, when they packed in the zone and forced the Shockers to beat them with outside shots. They didn’t fall, at least for most of the game, and Indiana State nearly pulled up the upset.
I think it possible Indiana State could win this game, particularly given how Saturday’s games went (ISU nearly winning at Wichita, Creighton getting smoked at Missouri State). Their defensive style has troubled this particular Creighton team. They’re playing better than Creighton is right now. Home court in college hoops is still the biggest venue advantage in sports, though, and for that reason the Jays should win tonight. It probably won’t be pretty, though, and it’ll be close.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Indiana State is 14-10 on the season and 6-7 in the league after winning three of its last four games … The Sycamores have won five games decided by five points or less, no doubt thanks to their stellar free-throw shooting. ISU currently ranks fifth nationally in free throw percentage, one of four Valley teams to rank in the Top 20 nationally. Duke’s 77.4% mark leads the nation while the Sycamores’ 77.1% clip is tied with St. Mary’s (Calif.) for the national lead among all non-BCS conference schools … ISU has made 368 free throws this season while the opposition has made just 331 … The Sycamores are 11-3 this season in games in which they make more free throws than the opposition … Over the past two years, the Sycamores have secured a total of six road MVC victories, which is tied for third most in the conference over that span. With a victory over Creighton on Tuesday night, the Sycamores would secure their seventh road victory in the last two seasons and give ISU multiple conference season series sweeps for the second consecutive season (swept Illinois State and Missouri State last year). However, Indiana State has swept Creighton just four times, and not since the 1992-93 campaign … Indiana State averages 66.6 points per game while allowing 66.0 points per contest. The Sycamores shoot 43.2 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from downtown, but rank fourth nationally with its 77.1 percent accuracy at the foul line.
The Last Time They Played: Kenny Lawson Jr. had 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for his second career double-double, but it wasn’t enough as Indiana State defeated Creighton, 70-64 on January 1 of this year.
The Series: Creighton owns a 48-23 record all-time against Indiana State and has won 19 of the last 24 games in the series. The Bluejays lead the series 27-7 in 34 previous Omaha meetings, and have 10 straight victories.
Sixteen of the last 33 meetings have been decided by six points or less, and the teams have played at least one game decided by eight points or less in 16 of the last 17 seasons, including this year.
Dana Altman is 24-11 in his career against Indiana State, which includes a 12-3 mark in Omaha. He’s 3-2 against Kevin McKenna in regular-season contests, but did win all three exhibition games against his protégé’s Nebraska-Omaha team.
Anthony Tolliver Watch: Maybe the only bright spot this season has been the wonderful story of the A-Train, who used an uncommon work ethic to transform himself from a pretty bad player his first two seasons as a Jay into a solid NBA contributor. Last night, he scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Golden State’s 127-117 loss to Dallas. Of course, Warriors fans are ripping management for cutting Speedy Claxton to sign him, ostensibly because D-Leaguers are interchangeable parts, and Tolliver is no different from 20-30 other guys. Sure. You bet.
One guy wrote “He better not make the team next year.”
A commenter on this SF Gate article wrote, “Wow, what a pathetic move. They could call up one of many 4th tier power forwards from the D-League, but chose to waive Speedy and his expiring contract.” Within that article was this pair of quotes from the locker room, where the A-Train’s teammates apparently don’t like the move either:
“One player said, “I don’t get it,” and another said, “It doesn’t matter. No one wants to come here anyway.”
Ouch.
The Totally Random Song I’d Play Right Now if I was Still a Radio DJ: My main man, Billy Idol, coming to life inside of paintings on walls. Oh, is there something else going on this video? I didn’t notice.
The Pick: Home court makes the difference tonight, and Kenny Lawson will have a big game against the physically weak and smaller post players for Indiana State. He had a monster game in Terre Haute, and will do it again.
Jays 71, Indiana State 69