Well, here we are in Mid-February. The Jays had a great January run, going 9-0 for the month. They have been ranked in both major polls for the bulk of the season, falling out this past week.
Creighton is having a great season thus far…amassing a 21-3/11-3 record heading into Week 14. The Jays had lost at UNI on 04 February, on a last second, buzzer beating shot. They went on to lose again at Evansville on the 7th of February and were shocked at home with a blowout loss to WSU on 11 Feb 12. Poor defense, coupled with turnovers and a shooting slump resulted in the worst week of this season – the Jays going 0 fer 3 during the week. Creighton, which had been receiving preferential media and polls treatment heretofore, was summarily bounced from both polls (from 17th in the AP, and from 15th in the ESPN-Coach’s polls). That is more like it…no more media darling.
At 21-5 for the season, many of the fair weather fandom and the national media were pillaring the Jays, and abandoning ship for greener pastures. Many went so far as to suggest we are heading to the CBI/CIT again. Several of our ‘fans’ laid forth all of their vitriole, disgust, and diatribes on the players and the head coach. Boy – were those fans happy. They had not had much of an opportunity to rail and spew forth their venom all season – to date. So at least they had an opportunity to vent.
This week the Jays broke the MVC shooting percentages record (a 20 year old mark) against the Saluki’s and moved to 22-5/12-4 on the season. They await a visit from Dan Monson and his Long Beach State club on Saturday – a part of the Bracketbuster’s fiasco.
The final week of the regular season is next week. CU has a very slim chance of tying WSU for the conference crown. WSU has already secured at least a tie for the RS Championship. The Jays are the only team with any chance to catch them and will probably finish alone in 2nd place.
Seedings for the MVC Tourney will come out next week – the Jays the likely 2-Seed. Creighton is still firmly ensconced as a 6-Seed in the NCAA Bracket projections this week. Closing out the regular season with wins should maintain these projections. (Although media projections and the actual selection committee picks could be miles apart) With some Big Six conferences weaker this season, it appears that more non-Big six teams may get a shot in the NCAA’s. That however is a projection based on weaknesses in the SEC, ACC, BE, and PAC-12. The committee may not agree with their infamous “S Curve”.
The next two weeks should prove to be very interesting and entertaining.
Bluenotes 