News and Notes from around Creighton and the Big East this week:
- Justin Patton made it official by declaring for the NBA Draft and hiring an agent.
- Here’s an archived link of the press conference, in it’s entirety.
- WBR put together a video montage of Patton’s freshman season.
- The World-Herald’s Tom Shatel thanked Patton for the memories, writing in a nice column that he should feel confident in his Creighton legacy.
- Patton was a guest on 1620’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct, where he talked with Josh Bishop and Josh Peterson. They devoted two segments to discussing the news, followed by the interview.
- The World-Herald ran a “Battle of Bluejays” bracket during March Madness, pitting former Bluejays against one another in a 64-person bracket and soliciting votes on social media to decide who would advance. The champ was a surprise: 11 seed Tim Powers, who averaged 17 points and 10 boards in his Bluejay career during the 1960s. He once scored 45 in a game, which remains the fourth-highest mark in school history. The story of his family and friends rallying support for him in this bracket was an unexpected, but quite touching, end to what was probably intended as a fun, simple exercise.
- The OWH also reached into the archives to look back at the circumstances of Powers’ 1988 suicide, re-running a Michael Kelly column.
- The CBI named their all-time team to celebrate 10 years of the event, and Doug McDermott was among them.
- The news led some Creighton fans to wonder (jokingly) why Oregon’s invisible half court line wasn’t part of the group, since it played such a large role in Oregon’s 2011 title…
- WBR’s Matt DeMarinis and former Bluejays Doug Swenson and Tyler McKinney had a funny exchange in a long Twitter thread about the places Dana Altman used to take the team to eat. Some highlights:
- Georgetown finally settled on their new head coach: Patrick Ewing. While some questioned the hire, the NY Daily News praised it and in a back-page splash proclaimed “Ewing Back to Make the Hoyas Destroyas Once Again: THE BIG, BAD EAST.” That’s pretty entertaining as headlines go, but that line in the blue box at the bottom is just hilarious.
- Some other articles of note regarding the Ewing hire:
- The Washington Post wrote that Big East buddies Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing will resume their rivalry amidst similar challenges.
- Fellow Georgetown great Dikembe Mutombo is very excited.
- Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel calls it a “fascinating gamble.”
- And finally, my favorite piece on the news comes from Casual Hoya’s Ben Standig, who writes about the two distinct opinions on the hire: those who absolutely love the hire and those are who are quietly uneasy. It does a great job of explaining both sides.
- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his way, way, WAY too early 2018 NCAA Tournament bracket this week. Creighton’s a #9 seed in Charlotte against Virginia, with #1 seed Florida awaiting in the second round.
- And finally this week, the Jays Facilities Twitter account shared a photo of the Vinardi Center (or as it’s better known, the “Old Gym”) as it undergoes a transformation to it’s next phase.