Just got back home from the game. I was very happy with our turnout. I'd say we had about 35% of the Indiana State fans, which isn't bad considering they were the second seed basically all year, and the top threat to upset Wichita State. Great sudent section, considering it's our first year. Nice to see a few familiar faces--- tried to visit ahunte1, but I couldn't find him in the section at halftime.

Lots of layups fell off the rim or were blocked. Fatigue from yesterday's game seemed like a factor. I was actually surprised we were within four points at halftime, considering Doyle only played about 8-10 minutes due to foul trouble. If a third of our missed layups fell in, we might have made it a much tighter game.

I haven't complained about officiating ONCE this year, but there were a lot of ticky tacks we got called for, and by the end when they at first tried to call Bobby Clark for goaltending, I involuntarily yelled out "take a look at the replay!!!" out of frustration. Another call that bugged me was Jeff White getting absolutely mugged by three guys in a triple team, doing a 360 to spin out of it, only to be called for travelling. We got away with one pretty obvious traveling call I remember, and an Indiana State player made an obvious foot shuffle that didn't get called. Didn't think this was one of the zebra's best....

But it was the great atmosphere I expected. It's great to see a lot of bona fide college basketball fans there, unaffiliated with any of the teams in the conference, who just came to see some competitive hoops. I'd estimate 15-20% of the fans there were just plain hoops fans with no dog in the fight. And very well run, as usual. Maybe it's a little less intense with the absence of Creighton, but I was pretty happy with our first time showing.

I agree that there is reason for optimism next year...but a couple of things are going to have to happen for us make a move up in the Valley. And they involve coaching.

1) We need to improve dramatically on defense - and specifically our team defense. I would like PM to stay because in the long run I believe he will bring in the talent we need to compete, but he needs to hire an assistant who can coach defense. When we need a stop - we rarely get it and its ususally because of a breakdown or because we foul with 3 seconsd left on the 35 second clock. How many times did we see that? And this new assistant needs to help wiht in-game adjustments. An analytical X and O guy. Because I have not seen this out of PM. He has to acknowledge that this is not his strength and do something about it.

2) PM needs to make more objective substitutions. I know our big bigs are not ready for prime time - but neither were Osborne and O'Leery this year. Let's admit that. King and Johnson should have played 5 -10 minutes each per game. At least in the second half of the season when our fate was very clear. The only time I saw Johnson play - against Evansville - he was a difference maker. And then he doesn't see the floor for 2 games? Makes no sense. I hope they both stay - because if I were them I would be very upset about playing time. We need their size to compete in this conference and while neither will ever be a star - they sbhould both be very sold contributors if they are brought along properly.

3) We need to shoot better. It's that simple. The new recruits need to help us here I love Joe Crisman and I understand what he brings to the game and why he played so many minutes. But he is no threat on offense - his minutes will need to be shared with a shooter next year. Doyle and White will get stronger and continue to learn how to penetrate a kick out. We need someone besides Turk to kick out to.

We will be better next year....but we won't be significantly better unless a couple of these things happen.

Creighton, in my opinion will be kind of a one trick team when McDermott is gone. Yup they have a fan base for now. Other than Omaha Hockey and the Cornhusker football team--Nada !! They , in that league will be better than DePewl of course, but not by much. The Villanovas and Gtns will soon tire of the Omaha trip.
Nope I look for Creighton Butler and DePewl to be bringing up the rear of that conference for years to come.
OH ! Of course that Conf does have the Almighty Media in their pockets of course.

Here is to the SHOCKERS !! MAY THEY GO ALL THE WAY !!!

Sloth-- I agree with a lot of what you say, especially about the big guys. I think O'Leary is better suited to the small forward position, but with an undersized Christian Thomas playing the power forward and the three guard rotation, he was expected to play a different role. We did a pretty good job in neutralizing a lot of the better big men in the league (especially Mockevicius, who only averaged five points and four rebounds against us in two games, also Seth Tuttle) but the group defensive effort took a lot of the focus away from other players who ate us up (Gibson in the case of Evansville, Auston Barnes/Tyshon Pickett for Bradley, Buss for UNI, etc) at the power forward/small forward position. I think that with Doyle and White, we need to get into a position where we can play a legit big man (Sean O'Mara would have been nice...) like Johnson or King alongside Osborne AND a strong small forward like Christian Thomas or a mobile small forward like O'Leary. We were never really able to do that this year. We really miss a slasher/mid-range jump shooter who's 6'6" or taller to come off the bench.

Brot-- Creighton may be built around McDermott right now, but they're a really strong program that wins 20+ games when they have a top player and then falls back to .500 for one or two rebuilding years in between big guns. They'll be an 18-20 game winner-- even in the Big East-- in a few years. They have a great home court advantage, and they have a powerful recruiting niche given their basketball focus where they are.

My computer crapped out so I reverted to prehistoric times and didn't find out we lost until I read it in the Chicago Tribune this morning.

How very quaint...

The Ramblers acquitted themselves well in the tournament with the buzzer beater win over Bradley and being competitive against Indiana State.

Nice to see Billy Clark ending his career with a 3 in the Conference Tourney. Derrick Boone also saw the floor. Nice gesture by Moser.

Next up is to see who we sign in the spring. I think Jay Knuth is a for sure thing, and if Jordan Pickett doesn't return we have one more scholly to give. We need either a point guard to spell Keke or a big guy in the post.

Well, 63--as sometimes happens, we agree to disagree somewhat. I say that things are not equal as in 'All things being equal "--They are not--but we ought to be able to out-recruit the Jays now that we really have skin in the game. We are on the way up with a high ceiling--Chicago, upgraded Gentile , really beautiful Campus etc. If Moser can get Milton here--no matter what the reason, he will be getting more of the same. I really have changed my thoughts about him--HE did the best he could with what he had--He will build on that. Creighton has bitten off more than they can chew--Nova, Gtn, St Johns et al. WE on the other hand with some more troops will be right there with all but Shockers in the short run. I like our position vis-a-vis Valley much better than theirs.
Re Moser--both his Coaches quit at the onset--Tough break--Now then, some one or two is out there seeing what a chance exists at LUC. An up-grade at asst level will happen I wager.
One other thing--I see a boost in our Hoops budget--It needs to happen and will, I wager. I believe Fr G and Ms C got a taste--They can see the revenue enhancement being in the Valley. (Arch Madness)

Next season we WILL be a factor--you'll see. I cannot see Jays rising any higher--We are just re-starting our ship !!

Creighton has had Kyle Korver and now Doug McDermott getting some big time press and NBA draft picks. That outweighs academics, campus beauty, or market size for a lot of (if not all) top recruits. To me, Butler is the school that's going to have a hard time in the Big East. I don't think they're willing to spend as much as DePaul (or anybody else in the Big East, for that matter), and their system that they built in the HL isn't easily transferable to attract top athletic recruits that they're going to need to match up in that league.

I think CU will struggle going forward. They'll be a solid program, but nothing like they've been the last few years with Son of Wookie. They got lucky that he turned into the offensive threat that he did, otherwise, they'd just be another good team but nothing special. They could be a middle of the Big East type most years, but I don't see them challenging for the top spot anytime soon.

_________________
The Roundhouse

With Georgetown and Marquette spending more than double Creighton's 2013 men's basketball budget, and seven other Big East teams spending $2 million or more on men's basketball than Creighton, they're either going to have to spend some big money or languish. Averaging 13k at home helps, but I could see that falling into the 9k range if they have three or four bad years.

EDIT: BTW, McDermott cracked the 3000 career point plateau today, with the Big East and NCAA Tournament still to come.

This. Holy moly was this team bad at times. I hope Grace pulls Porter aside and tells him that 2 good nights in STL (well 1 great win and 1 happy-to-be-here loss) don't totally undue the dozen or so late collapses. The program really needs to turn the corner next season. If we don't have a winning record (and by that I mean not the Jim Whitesell way of bringing in cupcake out-of-conference teams to pad a terrible league record), Porter's seat should at the very least be quite hot.



I think Pickett will stay, but I have no real basis for my decision. If he was really sick, then it's a tough break for him, but a long illness in a freshman season where he wasn't going to get a lot of playing time anyway shouldn't be the cause of a breakup between him and Loyola. He's also a pretty good stop-gap right now between Keke and Harris Brown (a 2015 recruit who is apparently the real deal). I think PM would be hard-pressed to bring in a guy late in the recruiting season who won't get a ton of playing time over his 4 years. Maybe a decent JUCO guard would fit if Pickett does leave.