Creighton Game thread

[pdxmuskie]

Kunkel had a nice game. Free was fantastic on the offensive end. Jones played well.

[Anti-Homer]

Great Checkers move by SM calling his last timeout down 17 with 6 to go. I hope he dispenses more sage wisdom like most teams try and score out of inbounds plays. I wonder if they also try to have more points on the scoreboard at the end?

I guess AH has turned on Sean. Must be tough to be one of his family members

Nah,

Not at all. When I was unanimously brought on as a moderator seven years ago, I told all on the panel including the great Neutral and Shadow, two preceding Mods who adored me, that I would be objective. You were/are the biggest Jim Jones Kool Aid poster on the board, and that's fine. Working out well overall this year. Not so much when you died being a sycophant on the Travis Steele hill. That is what makes this the 2nd most popular board in all of CBB.

My posts are 96.5% positive about Sean. His obtuse strategy of never varying defenses zones except for about 5 possessions this year is baffling. I concede he has a lot of zone loyalists on this Board, who, like Sean, if the sport was football, would stay in a zone defense against Patrick Mahomes and play two very deep safeties and 5 DBs while KC's backs averaged 8 yds a carry, despite being down six touchdowns. But I digress. Kalkbrenner was unguardable and got the bigs in foul trouble in the first six minutes. Yes, one foul was bull sh"t, but it didn't matter. Nunge wouldn't have been a match if he was afforded 10 fouls today. Kalk is a top 7 center in CBB and will be a lottery pick next year. That’s a mismatch seven days a week.

I expected Creighton to win today. Best personnel in the league. I also said if X goes 2-1 ag Conn, Creighton, and Providence, that would be a win. They are a FF contender along with UConn, and X, due to the great Sean Miller. MM, it's ok to admit the team and coach have warts. Some other pearls from today's game:

• I think it’s unfair for McDermott to have 9 guys play 7 minutes or more per game, including three freshmen. I wonder if that’s the formula to develop them for the following year, and the current one too? I acknowledge that is a crazy concept. I mean, it’s not like X has had very comfortable leads in about 8 games this year.
• I recall someone saying after Creighton played at X that Nunge was better than Kalk. No further commentary is needed.
• I’m glad X stayed in man, and not zone, despite the fact that Creighton and UConn shot around a 60% clip in the 2nd half against man. If in zone, the teams would have scored 82 ppg vs the 81 avg ag man. Thanks to Creighton for calling off the dogs within the final four minutes.
• Bringing in Edwards who still had street clothes since he has only played about 10 minutes in the last 10 games was genius. He got smoked, as anyone in that circumstance would.
• SM commented how he decided to play fast by watching Tommy Lloyd. I am going to call Tony Bennett and ask him to send SM a book he and I co-wrote (I can’t get them printed fast enough for Amazon) about defensive principles.

I reiterate, X is miraculously a viable, not probable, but viable qualifier for the FF. This is principally due to SM, as I’ve said all year. If he heeds my advice this time, the chances of that being realized will only increase.

Faithfully submitted by Junior, soon to be Sr Moderator, AH.

[Kevin Reilly]

Tough afternoon in Nebraska. I didn't like the effort or fight today. Nunge getting those two quick fouls and Kalkbrenner blocking everything kind of took the wind out of our sails. Need to put this behind us quick and get ready to kick Providence's ass next week. At this point it looks like the defense is what it is and we need to outscore everybody,. Get back to passing the ball quickly and driving to the basket and putting up 85 points. I say party at Kunkel's. He looks like the social chairman to me. Have a couple beers.... regroup and win out at home. That's the winning formula. Go X.

[muskieman]

Speaking of players not getting playing time, where is Craft? He is racking up DNPs this year, and if he is part of the future for X maybe he should show if he can hang with the big boys. Wasn't he supposed to be the hot shooter? At 6'6" and with his wing span he could be a nice size addition when Kunkel goes out but I'd like to see him with Des for a few minutes.

Team ranking only gave X a 36.3% of winning today and was one of the three losses out of the last 10 X would lose.

[Kevin Reilly]

I agree muskieman. Craft needs to play. He wasn't that bad on defense I thought. Hard to play well or gain any confidence with limited time. I think he can play just needs to get a chance. I don't like a 7 man rotation. Foul trouble and conditioning come into play .Edwards has the grit to bang in there. If you only play limited minutes you can't play free. Boum is horrible on defense. He is all league on offense but fresh bodies mean more energy and hustle. Don't pretend to know Miller's intentions but wish he would trust the young guys a little more.

[Kevin Reilly]

I watched a lot of B-Ball yesterday and came away with a lot of admiration for the way Kansas plays defense. I know they get 5 stars and are one of the top 3-4 programs of all time but they really care about defense .It's in their DNA. They take pride in it. It would be a good idea to show the team the Kansas vs Kentucky tape. I watched college basketball all day long and didn't see any team with a 7 man rotation .Tennessee, Houston, Alabama, Kansas state all play 9-10 guys a minimum of 16-18 minutes. The way we play offense is tiring. Wish we had a deeper bench. I am not jumping off the Miller Bandwagon. I still can't believe he came back and right now he is probably Coach of the Year in the Big East. Wish the bench guys got some time is all.

[muskieman]

Wish the bench guys got some time is all.

My guess is Sean does too! All we are asking is for Edwards and Craft to be worthy to play and contribute, especially when the team needs a shot of D or O

[X-lucidity]

Concur with most of AH’s diatribe earlier. SM is a top 5% overall D-1 coach. We can nit-pic, (as AH can’t help doing), but them’s the facts. I trust that Coach Miller knows his team. He tried the bench a bit 1st half. Edwards immediately traveled and was late on help D. Ok, so he was a bit stale and needs PT, that is fair. But my eyes tell me he is a huge step down from top 7. Kyky, well, the young man is a guy that can give you some minutes when needed, but again, a huge step down from top seven. And unlike Edwards, I believe Kyky is pretty much a now a known static quantity. As for Kam, I said this after about the 3rd game, and many probably rolled their eyes, but he is just athletically a twitch slow for this level. He was in late against backups and got ‘backdoored’ woefully.
You all know I realize these are super young men and I root hard for them and cherish the fact they chose C, but I think Kam is simply a “miss” on the recruiting cycles. It happens, he would benefit playing in the MAC or Horizon leagues. Maybe A-10. No one on this Earth would enjoy eating some humble pie more than I should Kam blossom here next season!!
Finally, I’ve watched basketball from many angles for over 50 years now - and I realize that in most games there are going to be lousy calls and at times it will be slanted more against a given team. But it has been quite a while since I have seen such a flat out terrible crappy call, that also was so incredibly impactful & pivotal, as that bogus offensive over the back call on Jack. Would we have won if we get that basket and Jack plays freely the rest of the half, likely not, but hell, that was a doozy. Reminded me of club ball refs who don’t wait to see but rather anticipate a foul. I hope that guy watches the tape to see that Jack’s body never came within 3 inches of the much smaller BlueJay.
Yes, the goal was always to win 2 of this crucial 3 gm stretch. And that is well within our sights.

[muskieman]

Finally, I’ve watched basketball from many angles for over 50 years now - and I realize that in most games there are going to be lousy calls and at times it will be slanted more against a given team. But it has been quite a while since I have seen such a flat out terrible crappy call, that also was so incredibly impactful & pivotal, as that bogus offensive over the back call on Jack. Would we have won if we get that basket and Jack plays freely the rest of the half, likely not, but hell, that was a doozy. Reminded me of club ball refs who don’t wait to see but rather anticipate a foul. I hope that guy watches the tape to see that Jack’s body never came within 3 inches of the much smaller BlueJay.
Yes, the goal was always to win 2 of this crucial 3 gm stretch. And that is well within our sights.

That will probably get you some flak from the guy who thinks he is a mod.

The tacky fouls on Jack at the beginning were also poor. The fact that Creighton had only 3 fouls 35 and half minutes into the game when they average 13 a game is surprising, and they only had 3 more in the last 4.5 minutes might tell you the refs had one view of the court. I might add Sean let his frustration known about the one-sided calls especially when the blocks by Kav included knocking X player to the floor whith his body. It doesn't mean X wins that game but it sure as heck would have made it a level playing field.

If calls were called evenly, then Nemhards early defense on Boum would have gotten him in foul trouble. Remember before the two fouls on big men the score was close, but after Jack and Zack got those fouls Creighton closed out the first half by outscoring Xavier 23-9

[kyzrex]

Wish the bench guys got some time is all.

Pretty sure that everyone feels that way, BUT….they have to be worth playing. Which means that they have to be productive when they do play, otherwise what’s the point? This ain’t CYO ball. Sure, there’s always that POSSIBILITY that by playing more in games they MIGHT become better players and be able to produce when put into future games. But that’s not a guarantee. Not at this level of BB. Sometimes the kids just don’t have it and no matter how much playing time they get, they aren’t going to develop it. I think that’s the case with at least some of the players on the roster. A couple are still question marks, but do they want to lose a game this late in the season in order to find out?

Let’s remember that Sean hasn’t had a complete off-season with his players here yet. He is doing this with someone else’s players too. Unless they have a complete disaster of a finish, they are playing with house money at this point. I’m certainly not giving up on them after just a couple of losses. I’m of the opinion that they could go 7-2 or even 8-1 over the rest of the BE season and place in the top 3 at the conference tourney. And I think that this is just the beginning of where this program can go over the next few years. When he gets his recruits in, and has a chance to work with them in the off-seasons, they are going to develop depth and we will see a longer bench with future teams.